Review of Jules and Jim (1962) by Margaret M — 05 Sep 2008

"Jules et Jim" was arguably the first "bromance" film a la Judd Apatow...but made in 1962 in Europe (set circa WWI in France and Germany).

It's so good I had to watch it twice in a row. Jeanne Moreau's character is a bleak portrayal of men's insufferable passions for love and sex in a woman who only know what she wants moment by moment. Despite a sad and aesthetically appropriate ending, the film is optimistic in the friendship between Jules and Jim...through language, distance, women, war, children, and ultimately death, they remain devoted to one another in a way that the narrator in the end does not describe as love (for love apparently belongs to lovers, and is only honest for moments), but through honesty and truth.

I can identify with that. Brilliant.

I'd condemn the film for a blatant French misogyny, but I can't, because Catherine is by no means completely demonized. She is complex and feminist in her drive to connect with man and transcend gender. Her fate comes from a drive for equality to men. Both genders are ultimately doomed to the pain of loss - and Truffaut gives us characters struggling to preempt the inevitable.