Jules et Jim

Accompanied by Georges Delerue’s whirling opening music, the voice of a male narrator tears through the first minutes of the film. There’s a lot to say from the outset: the short characterization of the protagonists  Jules (Oskar Werner) and Jim (Henri Serre), their first encounters, their special friendship, which will be expanded over the course of the film to include Catherine (Jeanne Moreau), who they are both in love with. Between dramatization and distance, the voiceover will repeatedly reappear, taking a narrative step back from the whirlwind amour fou à trois, which starts off carefree before becoming increasingly turbulent, not least due to the First World War. A sign of the film’s formal freedom that ultimately mirrors the freedom of its characters. (mg)