Jules and Jim [Criterion Collection] [Blu-ray]

Director: François Truffaut François Truffaut

Overview

Francois Truffaut's vibrant and adult adaptation of Henri-Pierre Roche's 1953 novel is one of the high-water marks in the French New Wave movement of the early 60s. The film examines the failure of a menage-a-trois between three people who love each other. The story begins in pre-World War I France, where Jules (Oskar Werner), a shy and studious German, befriends Jim (Henri Serre), an outgoing Frenchman. While looking at slides of Greek sculpture, a portrait of a woman with an enigmatic smile grabs the attention of the two friends. They both vow that if they ever come across such a woman in real life, they will marry her at once. Their ideal becomes reality in the corporal form of Catherine (Jeanne Moreau). They are both taken with her, but when Jules asks Jim if he could have Catherine for himself, Jim reluctantly agrees, and they are married. World War I breaks out and the three friends are separated on opposite sides of the battlefield, but they survive the conflagration. After the war, Jim travels to Germany to visit his old friend with his five-year-old daughter Sabine (Sabine Haudepin) in tow. Jim discovers that Catherine has been unhappy being tied-down as a wife and is having affairs. Jules is aware of Catherine's infidelity but still insists on staying with her. Jim comes up with what he thinks is the perfect solution: he will marry Catherine and she can stay within the tight circle of Jules and himself. Catherine agrees, to dire consequences.

Product Details

Release Date:	02/04/2014
UPC:	0715515113519
Original Release:	1962
Rating:	NR
Source:	Criterion Collection
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[B&W, Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Mono]
Language:	English
Time:	1:46:00
Sales rank:	10,579

Special Features

Two Audio Commentaries: One featuring co-screenwriter Jean Grualt, longtime François Truffaut collaborator Suzanne Schiffman, Editor Claudine Bouché, and film scholar Annette Insdorf; the other featuring actor Jeanne Moreau and Truffaut biographer Serge Toubiana; Excerpts from The Key to "Jules and Jim" (1985), a documentary about author Henri-Pierre Roché and the real life relationships that inspired the novel and film; Interviews with Grualt and Cinematographer Raoul Coutard; Conversation between film scholars Robert Stam and Dudley Andrew; Excerpt from a 1965 episode of the French TV program Cinéastes de notre temps dedicated to Truffaut; Segment from a 1969 episode of the French TV show L'invité du dimanche featuring Truffaut, Moreau, and filmmaker Jean Renoir; Excerpts from Truffaut's first appearance on American television, a 1977 interview with New York Film Festival Director Richard Roud; Excerpts from a 1979 American Film Institute seminar given by Truffaut; Audio interview with Truffaut from 1980; Trailer; Plus: A booklet featuring an essay by critic John Powers, a 1981 piece by Truffaut on Roché, and script notes from Truffaut to Gruault

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Jeanne Moreau	Catherine
Oskar Werner	Jules
Henri Serre	Jim
Marie Dubois	Thérèse
Vanna Urbino	Gilberte
Boris Bassiak	Albert,Albert's companion
Anny Nelsen	Lucy
Sabine Haudepin	Sabine
Christiane Wagner	Actor
Kate Noelle	Birgitta
Jean-Louis Richard	1st Customer in Cafe
Michel Varesano	2nd Customer in Cafe
Pierre Fabre	Drunkard in Cafe
Bernard Largemains	Merlin
Elen Bober	Mathilde
Michel Subor	Narrator,Récitant/Narrator
Dominique Lacarrière	One of the women
Serge Rezvani	Actor,Composer
Christian A. Wagner	Helga
Georges Delerue	Composer

Technical Credits

François Truffaut

Jean Gruault

François Truffaut	Director,Screenwriter,Producer
Jean Gruault	Screenwriter
Marcel Berbert	Producer,Executive Producer

Scene Index

Disc #1 -- Jules and Jim: The Film
1. Credits/A Friendship [2:44]
2. Thérèse [4:52]
3. A Calm Smile [3:43]
4. Catherine [1:08]
5. Thomas [3:13]
6. Burning Lies [2:38]
7. Traces of Civilization [3:25]
8. At the Beach [1:40]
9. Learning To Laugh [1:43]
10. Catherine's Leap [4:23]
11. Good News [3:16]
12. The War [4:48]
13. An Angel Passes [8:01]
14. Speaking of Catherine [2:58]
15. Jim and Catherine [7:27]
16. War Stories [3:28]
17. "Le Tourbillion de la vie" [2:28]
18. Elective Affinities [4:14]
19. Village Idiots [4:31]
20. Jim in Paris [3:42]
21. Gilberte [1:24]
22. Catherine the Queen [3:14]
23. Changing Alliances [6:39]
24. Parting [2:36]
25. Separation [3:34]
26. Reunions [5:18]
27. Jim's Story [4:02]
28. Catherine's Final Gesture [5:02]
1. Color Bars
1. Introductions [2:44]
2. Bernard Largemains/Marie Dubois [4:52]
3. Serge Rezvani/Common Interests [3:43]
4. The Most Compelling Creation [1:08]
5. Cutting Room/Gender Roles [3:13]
6. A Naive Film [2:38]
7. Writing and Directing [3:25]
8. Many Men/Few Women [1:40]
9. Obnoxious Kid/Complex Woman [1:43]
10. Roché/Feminism [4:23]
11. Picasso and "The Marseillaise" [3:16]
12. Stock Footage/Oskar Werner [4:48]
13. Editing/The Actors [8:01]
14. Discoveries on the Set [2:58]
15. Family/Henri Serre [7:27]
16. Recording Sound [3:28]
17. Catherine/Collective Effort [2:28]
18. The Privacy Of Windows [4:14]
19. Women Are Stronger [4:31]
20. How the Story is Told/Extras [3:42]
21. A Team Player [1:24]
22. Freedom in Editing [3:14]
23. Hitchcock/The Key Scene [6:39]
24. The Fog/An Irresistible Force [2:36]
25. The Mystery Of Catherine [3:34]
26. Going Past the Story/Voice-Over [5:18]
27. A Goddess, Not a Woman [4:02]
28. Fragility [5:02]
1. Color Bars

Menu

Disc #1 -- Jules and Jim: The Film
   Play the Movie
   Chapters
   Commentaries
      Truffaut's Collaborators
         Truffaut's Collaborators: On
         Truffaut's Collaborator's: Off
      Index
   The True Story
      Truffaut on Roché
         Play
      The Key to "Jules and Jim"
         Play
   Trailer
   Subtitles
      Subtitles: On/Off
         Subtitles: On
         Subtitles: Off
Disc #2 -- Jules and Jim: The Supplements
   Truffaut on Truffaut
      Cinéastes de Notre Temps (1965)
         Play
      L'invité du Dimanche (1969)
         Play
      Truffaut and Roud (1977)
         Play
      AFI's Dialogue on Film (1979)
         Play
      Truffaut and Philippe (1980)
         Play
   Raoul Coutard
      Play
   Jean Gruault
      Play
   Robert Stam and Dudley Andrew
      Play
   Subtitles
      Subtitles: On/Off
         Subtitles: On
         Subtitles: Off

Editorial Reviews

This beautiful period romance, a virtually flawless motion picture that encompasses all the virtues of cinematic drama, is arguably the best ever directed by French filmmaker François Truffaut, whose previous works -- The 400 Blows (1959) and Shoot the Piano Player (1960) -- had already cemented his reputation among cosmopolitan moviegoers. Released in 1961, Jules and Jim reaffirmed the critic-turned-filmmaker’s standing as one of the New Wave’s leading lights. In the years just preceding World War I, two friends -- the German Jules (Oskar Werner) and the Frenchman Jim (Henri Serre) -- both love the beautiful Catherine (Jeanne Moreau). While reluctant to hurt either suitor, Catherine eventually chooses one over the other, but the war intervenes and changes everything. Truffaut’s tale of friendship is loaded with cinematic allusions, including one to Charlie Chaplin’s 1921 silent classic The Kid, and it’s an overt homage to Jean Renoir. Yet Jules and Jim is a unique piece of filmmaking in its own right, thanks to the director’s clarity of vision and masterly employment of various cinematic devices to express the characters’ shifting moods. As convincing as they are likable, the three leading players have never been better onscreen. Moreau’s charming rendition of “Le Tourbillon” made that song a surprise hit, although the sequence is only one of many memorable ones in this unforgettable masterpiece.

Barnes & Noble - Ed Hulse

His third and most popular film, François Truffaut's adaptation of the Henri-Pierre Roché novel is a lyrical, elliptical meditation on the possibilities of love. Shot in widescreen black-and-white by Raoul Coutard in beautifully detailed pre- and post-World War I settings, the central ménage à trois of Jules, Jim, and mercurial Catherine reveals the limits placed on a woman's freedom by the men's desire to mold her to their fantasy ideal. Catherine remains an enigma to Jules and Jim, though they adore her, as they tragically misjudge how absolute her refusal to choose between them will be. Truffaut's eclectic technique (bolstered by Georges Delerue's score) evoked the shifting emotions in this ultra-modern romance, ranging from kinetic handheld shots communicating the trio's joie de vivre to freeze-frames briefly suspending Catherine's beauty in time. An international smash and instant classic, Jules and Jim cemented Truffaut's reputation as a cinematic artist, rather than just a brash critic. Despite Jules and Jim's tragic end, audiences embraced the possibility of alternative romantic arrangements, while Truffaut's bravura, resonant style inspired even Truffaut's idol Jean Renoir to say that he wished he had made the film.

All Movie Guide - Lucia Bozzola