Jules and Jim(1962)

The Unusual TRAGEDY

I read the book 'HITCHCOCK' 3 years back as i am a big fan of Alfred Hitchcock.'HITCHCOCK was written by Francois Truffaut,at that time i did not watch Truffaut 's films but the book has made me watch his films as his insight towards films and his critical analysis impressed me a lot and there it started my journey towards films of Francois Truffaut.

My first Francois Truffaut's film was '400 Blows' which i am not gonna discuss here but i am gonna throw my thoughts on his two wonderful films 'Jules and Jim' in this post and 'Two English Girls' in the next post and also the similarities between these two films.

Jules and Jim are two friends who fight for different sides of the World War 1 and they meet a girl called Catherine,who likes both and both Jules and Jim love Catherine. Jules loves Catherine and they get married and have a daughter,Jim visits Jules and Catherine and he develops a relationship with Catherine.... this sounds like a normal story but the real pleasure of watching this film comes after Catherine develops a relationship with Jim.

We cant even predict the next scene,we don't know weather she will go with Jim or Jules,with whom she will share the bed,will she marry Jim?,will she leave Jules and her daughter?,will Jim leave Catherine?,will Jules leave Catherine and Jim for the sake of friendship and for his love towards Catherine?, or will the three stay together?

Every scene is like a simple and a silent twist without any huge impact on the screenplay and the story,these three live together for a period of time and Jim tells us that villagers called them as lunatics.Jules is loved by Catherine but she is unhappy with the marriage and tries to have an affair with Jim with the knowledge of Jules,Jules loves Catherine but he is not sure what to do as his love and friendship collide, even though its an unhappy marriage with Jules,Catherine loves Jules.Its funny that we see Catherine spinning her relations with Jim and Jules which are from a confused heart.Jules is in the favor of Catherine having an affair with Jim as Jim is his best friend and wants to see Catherine happy.

The confused plot is the amalgam of wonderful emotion between the three characters who cant live without each other and finally there can be only one perfect ending to such a story,its the TRAGEDY . The tragedy in the film makes it a perfect ending,the tragedy needs to be triggered by one of the characters and the there will be an innocent victim too.The true and complete pleasure of watching 'Jules and Jim' can be felt when we understand the characters and the relationship between Jules,Jim and Catherine.