Jules et Jim by Francois Truffaut- Film Analysis

Krutika Shinde

Jules et Jim is a french new wave film that was released in 1962. It is a film based on a love triangle. Jules and Jim are best friends but they love the same women which is Catherine. The theme of this film is love and friendship.
Both Jules and Jim are made out of great personalities, they do all the activities together which can be going to the bars or going to the gym and much more. Catherine on the other side is a very free spirit character, and entering into the lives of Jim and Jules, she made them feel more alive. Jim and Jules had a goal to marry a woman and then settle down but they fall in love with the same woman which is Catherine which made them feel alive because finally their life was filled with love and hopes.

She cheats in a race just to win it which gives her happiness. The fun fact is that before Catherine meets Jim and Jules once, they saw a beautiful greek statue with different angles which later on struck them as they meet Catherine that the statue's face looks exactly like Catherine She also plays roles like Charlie Chaplin with a cute mustache. She was passionate which makes them instantly connect with her.

The major turning point of the movie is when war occurs between the two countries which are Germany and France. As both Jim and Jules are in opposing armies. Till then, Catherine marries and settles down with Jules with a beautiful daughter but they were unhappy as Catherine cheats on Jules by keeping affairs just like she cheated in games. She felt unpredictable, her mind switches in seconds. Then as Jim returns from the war to meet them, he gets a strange feeling about their relationship and at the end, Jim and Catherine come together without Jules having any problem with it. Catherine is a very unpredictable character- nobody can guess what she might do next, maybe she can jump into a pool, have another affair with somebody, might cheat again. Nobody can guess, not even us, the audience. I think that's the beauty of the character whereas on the other side Jules became more matured when he settles down with Catherine, he gets perfect closure and hence he never had a problem when Catherine kept an affair with Jim after marriage.

Jules always stayed with Catherine because she was his wife, and he cared way too much about her and still loves her. Even though she had affairs, he was always by her side watching her and caring about her, he even lets Catherine have an affair with his best friend Jim for her happiness.

If we talk about the camerawork, it's brilliant! There were many Close-ups as you can see in the above picture. There's also a narrative done in this film, where it feels as if the narrator is telling us a story in a particular sequence. The war documentaries, the music, the narration, still images, footages, montages, made this film more beautiful, and all these concepts are actually the essence of this film.

The ending of this film was very sad. Cathrine asks Jim to get into her car, told him that she wanted to talk to him, then Catherine tells Jules to watch them and later on drives the car off the bridge into the river which kills both of them. Jules buried both of their ashes by mixing them together and was left alone living with his daughter Sabine.

This film is based on a love triangle. It's a sad film with a humorous touch.

Also, there are so many quotes or lines that I loved from this film and are as follows;