Journal Entry #15

Jules and Jim

Movie:  1962, b/w, and             105min.

• Director:  Truffaut
• Actors: Jeanne Moreau, Oskar Werner, Henri Serre

Before the Great War, France, Two close males encounter a woman who steals their promiscuous hearts away.

What is Truffaut trying to say about a ménage a trois relationship?

Jules to Catherine's reckless lack of inhibition, Jim to Jules's emotional selflessness, Catherine to her own willingness to take what she wants and leave what she doesn't—that their shared love becomes their jailor, the shackles unperceivable to the captives. This is what holds them together as one and what constrain them from breaking apart. Truffaut is trying to say that there is a balance if the persons inside the tri relationship bounce of each other into a perfect harmony such as these characters. He demonstrates and gives the audience a taste at the perfection of a threesome relationship and states that it could work in that sense but his ending is meant to reveal that it’s rare and that her insanity over control was the nail in the coffin to its survival. If it weren’t for Moreau’s character’s need for control they would have made it.

What scene depicts the meaning of the film and foreshadows the end result of their relationship?

The scene where they are running across a bridge enwrapped in a metal fence is a symbolic scene for the film. One the two men are chasing after Jean which is representative of her queen bee like roll in which she is the leader, the controller and they are her drones… They’re chasing her shows the passion that they both have for her and the future competitive relationship. They both want her and as she is running we see her advancement which Truffaut showcases with the camera moving forward and her falling backwards with the dropping of the frame back slightly cutting off her head creating a suffocating effect to which she will later endure.