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.

Best Foreign Films of 2008

I am listing out the best Foreign Films of 2008 which I could lay my hand on.The term “Foreign Films” means Non-English films,they might be even Indian films.


I’ve Loved You So Long
Original Title: Il y a longtemps que je t’aime
“I’ve Loved You So Long ” is a very rare film which we find these days,it reminded me of Ingmar Bergman films. “I’ve Loved You So Long ” is a film which is filled with emotions of a depressed sister who is released from jail,feelings of a younger sister who she used to love when she was a child,pain of Juliette Fontaine which she never exudes.The film wonderfully depicts the sense of alienation with in a women,the difficulties of life,the desperate attempts of Léa Fontaine to make her sister feel the love and affection which she has towards her and Juliette’s encouter with every day life by facing the truth that she has lost the most loved one.Director Philippe Claudel makes a remarkable debut by handling and balancing such a sensitive story.

Amelie(2001)

Amelie is directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet .Amelie is the story of a young women and how she deals with an unexpected accident. The story looks simple and complex. The story might not be the attractive element of the film, but the way the story has been treated by Jean-Pierre Jeunet is wonderful.
Amelie has been brought up very cautiously by her parents due to some misunderstanding and she never had a normal childhood and she is lonely. One day she discovers an old box of a guy who used to live in her apartment and she decides to give him back the old box in order to make him and herself happy and she decides to make everyone happy and in this process she falls in love with a guy.