Wednesday, July 05, 2006

"Jules et Jim"

In some ways, this film is a great deal like all-time greatest movie ever, "Yossi and Jagger." One of the guys is blond, one has dark hair; both are gorgeous, foreign, and in a state of emotional upheaval; both men in both movies go to war; and, at the end of both, the more classically handsome, dark-haired one dies. But the only kissing Jules and Jim do is the ceremonial French kiss on both cheeks--they are friends in love with the same woman. While their willingness to live as a man-woman-man trio suggests a certain degree of openness to things man-man, "Jules et Jim" is a straight movie, and thus does not fall under the category of "two beautiful foreign men find themselves and each other." That said, it's a tragic and stunning film, set at just the time I need to be thinking about for what will soon constitute work, and serves as further evidence that I do, contrary to my great fear of the moment, understand spoken French.

7 comments:

Reel Fanatic said...

Not much intelligent except that I love Jules et Jim unconditionally ... it is indeed a beautiful and tragic little movie

Anonymous said...

Woah woah woah. Oskar Werner? Gorgeous? That's just silly.

Anonymous said...

If you're looking for man-woman-man trios, Bande a Part is so much better than Jules et Jim...

Phoebe Maltz Bovy said...

Not silly in the least!

Anonymous said...

agree on the bande a part comment.

Anonymous said...

For some odd reason, I'm guessing that Phoebe is mainly ignorant of the oeuvre of the greatest French filmmaker of all time...

Imprez said...

completely agree with "Anonymous"....Wow