Jules and Jim

Jules And Jim (1961) is probably François Truffaut’s most famous film. It turned out to be different than I expected. I had vague notions that it was about two friends who shared a woman so I was under the impression it was a free-love swinging 60s type of film, but the setting couldn't further than expected-it takes place at the turn of the century, however, the characters attitudes toward sex and relationships seemed progressive to me, but perhaps they are merely European. Perhaps they are universal. Since it is human nature for people to fall in and out of love at varying degrees of feeling-there is the lover and the loved. The wild card of life is often the heart. Jeanne Moreau is great as the “manizer” who is an unconventional woman and her husband Jules (Oscar Werner) is willing to put up with antics in order to keep the family together and has the greatest esteem for his friend Jim (Henri Serre). It is at turns whimsical and tragic and has the sweep of an epic as WWI interrupts the story of the Frenchman and Austrian who are great friends and transcend nationality. I think I may have enjoyed the film noir qualities of Shoot The Piano Player more than this film, but it does seem modern in many ways in that it was influential for many modern filmmakers.