Jules and Jim Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack Review
“Jules and Jim” is one of Truffaut’s finest films.
Taking place over the course of several decades, “Jules and Jim” naturally revolves around the two titular characters. As we meet Jules and Jim at the start of the film, we learn that they are the best of friends. The two are virtually inseparable as they both fully embrace the arts and look for women (and or love) all across Paris. One day, the pair come across a charming, playful, free spirited woman named Catherine who Jules and Jim find enchanting. Jules, in particular, falls head over heals in love with Catherine and eventually enters a relationship with her while Jim also has strong feelings for her (even though he’s sort of a third wheel). Through this love triangle, a deep love and connection forms between these three individuals, but the friendships and relationships become strained over war, cheating, Catherine’s behavior, temptations, outside love interests, and marital issues.
Based on the personal novel by Henri-Pierre Roche, Francois Truffaut’s “Jules and Jim” is an enormously rich and complex character study about desire, friendship, love, freedom, needs, and emotions. It’s amazing how many themes, ideas, and well developed characters are stuffed into the mere 105 minute runtime as the film’s content could easily fill out three full movies.
What makes Truffaut’s highly influential film so beloved is that it breathed new life into the age old love triangle story. Thanks to the flawless performances by stars Oskar Werner, Jeanne Moreau and Henri Serre, we really get to understand each of these three characters. They’re all aging human beings filled with confusion, joy, frustrations, needs, love, and pain. In other words, they’re just like anyone making their way through life.
Video/Audio:
Presentation: 2.35:1 1080p. How does it look? This is a beautiful B&W print that offers stunning clarity.
Audio Track: Uncompressed French Mono. How does it sound? Aside from the narration, this track is a bit on the flat side, but tends to be Mono’s MO.
Extras:
* “Jules and Jim” theatrical trailer.
* A booklet featuring essays by John Powers and Francois Truffaut as well as script notes by Francois Truffaut to co-writer Jean Gruault.
* “Truffaut On Roche”- A 70 minute portion of the interview with Truffaut about “Jules and Jim” author Henri-Pierre Roche from the French series “Bibliotheque de poche.” Truffaut speaks elegantly about the novel, the author, the characters, the themes, and his film adaptation. A very revealing interview.
* “The Key to Jules and Jim”- A 30 minute documentary excerpt about the relationship between Helen and Franz Hessel and Henri-Pierre Roche (their love triangle inspired “Jules and Jim”). A fascinating story.
* Two commentary tracks. One is a rather dry subtitled track by Jeanne Moreau and film critic Serge Toubiana and the second track is a much more varied and informative track that features Suzanne Schiffman, Jean Gruault, Claudine Bouche, and Annette Insdorf.
* “Robert Stam and Dudley Andrew”- The two film scholars talk about Truffaut, the rich characters, certain scenes, etc.
* “Truffaut On Truffaut”- 5 separate interviews with Truffaut (and others) from 1965, 1969, 1977, 1979 and 1980. He discusses pre-production, exposition, cinema, “Jules and Jim,” literarture, the auteur theory, and much more. If I had to pick a favorite of the five, I’d go with the 1979 “AFI’S Dialogue On Film” segment.
* “Raoul Coutard”- An interview with cinematographer Raoul Coutard in which he talks about working with Truffaut, “Jules and Jim” (of course), filming stories, behind-the-scenes stories, and more.
* “Jean Gruault”- Last, but not least is the complete 21 minute interview with “Jules and Jim” co-writer Jean Gruault from the documentary shoot of “Working With Truffaut” (only a few minutes of this interview is actually seen in the film). He talks about screenplays, his working relationship with Truffaut, research, Truffaut’s personality and art, and so on.
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