| This is film at its purest |
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| written by Lastcrackerjack |
April 3, 2006 - 7:56 PM PDT |
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1 out of 1 members found this review helpful
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Directed by Francois Truffaut from a script adapted with Jean Gruault from Henri Pierre Rochet's novel, this icon of the French New Wave cinema bursts out in anamorphic black and white with a freedom and reckless abandon made possible only by young filmmakers paying heedless disregard to convention.
The film - particularly the early sequences before the title characters fight on opposing sides of the Great War - is filled with a sense of innocence. No one seems to hold a job. Jules and Jim fill their days with games of dominoes, French boxing, smoking, drinking, sleeping late, riding bicycles, swimming, skipping rocks, viewing art, meeting gorgeous women in cafes, at dinner parties or on the streets, and searching for meaning in the City of Lights.
Though essentially a love triangle, the film flows freely without the constraint of a rational plot line. The dialogue is fueled by discussion of literature, art, philosophy and dreams. Events unfold with little or no service to a story, but lend themselves beautifully to the fabric of who these three characters are and why they meet the fates that they do.
Catherine craves to be free, to reinvent her own life at any given moment. She resists labels and is equal parts masculine and feminine. This includes drawing a moustache on herself and going out under the alias "Tomas". Jim is an inquiring mind who seeks to travel, write and translate, to learn to live anywhere. Jules is generous and innocent but also vulnerable. When Catherine realizes his insecurities are a part of who he is and cannot be cured, she ceases to be his.
Shot at a fast pace and abound with terrific playfulness, the film succeeds most memorably with a feeling of timelessness. Characters speak with real depth and pathos without ever turning the proceedings into an abstract art film. It is cinema at its purest.
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| Classics that never grow old. |
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| written by Ultranova |
October 20, 2005 - 3:27 PM PDT |
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1 out of 3 members found this review helpful
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| This is a wonderful film with great performances and a surprise ending that I sure wasn't expecting. Light and romantic while at the same time dark and somewhat disturbing - like life can often be. |
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