' Jules et Jim'

The charming film begins in pre-war Paris, with best friends and writers; Jules, an Austrian, and Jim, a Frenchman - the pair are tied at the hip, so close we almost begin to question the extent of their friendship. Yet the duo become a trio when another dimension to their close-knit relationship is added; introducing Catherine - a vibrant bohemian young woman whose care-free attitude and alluring good-looks, entangles the two men into her web.

Both images: Jules et Jim - Jim, Jules & Catherine

Avant-garde director Francois Truffaut, one of the founders of the French New Wave cinema, had adapted and filmed the story in 1962, a semi-autobiographical book written by Henri Pierre Roche, to become a fresh, artistic film with passion pumping through its veins. Combined with the use of freeze frames and panning shots, there is a sense of fluidity with the scenes, which drift into another, sometimes leaving the viewer back-pedalling to regain their sense of time, but when, for example, First World War begins and Jules and Jim are called away, there is a clear separation between the first-person style filming of the friendship shared between the three and the speckled film clips that are shown of war.  
Unlike the majority of films featuring war, this one maintains a light-hearted approach which begins to fade towards the end, joined by a now slower pace.

Left: Catherine, Right: Catherine & daughter Sabine

Despite it's name, Jules et Jim focuses more on the attention-seeking Catherine, who tends to steal most of the limelight. Not long after Catherine's entrance into the men's lives, does an unhealthy love triangle begin to appear, in which they develop intimate relationships that are reminiscent of The Dreamers (2003).

The Dreamers - Matthew, Isabelle & Theo

Both men find themselves attracted to the femme fatale, but surprisingly it is Jules, rather than 'Casanova' Jim to settle down with her, but marriage and motherhood are unsuited to the flitty young woman and so from here on the story takes a downward spiral, revealing Catherine to be a Jekyll and Hyde sort of character, engaging in multiple infidelities (even with Jim!). Though her addictive personality keeps Jim and Jules returning, but it is only after her quite tragic suicide, also killing Jim in the act, that Jules is eventually free of her restraint.