Absolutely the worst movie.

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

As a Francois Truffaut film, I enjoyed JULES ET JIM somewhat less than some of the director's other work, such as THE 400 BLOWS. That's because the light and breezy love triangle plot material is less appealing to me, and the storyline subsequently feels dragged out to the nth degree as a result. It's a pity that I couldn't get to grips with the subject matter as much as I wanted to, as this is certainly a well-directed piece of cinema, with a script bringing plenty of character depth to the central roles and Oskar Werner in particular giving a solid, laconic performance.

The basis for this movie is a love triangle between two friends (Oskar Werner as Jim and Henri Serre as Jules) and a free-spirited young woman (Jeanne Moreau as Catherine). It's a joy to watch, all three actors are fantastic, and the 'New Wave' filmmaking by Francois Truffaut is very creative,with brilliant sequences which make it clear that he had an influence on Wes Anderson. It was only his third movie, and there is a freshness about it, with several iconic scenes including the ending, but I won't spoil it. The movie captures universal truths about relationships, while at the same time highlighting the very French attitude towards affairs. Never slow, and definitely worth watching.

I'd heard of this film over the years with an element of genius assigned to it, but as I viewed it the other day I was genuinely underwhelmed. The principal characters simply don't strike me as real people. They exist with virtually no reaction to situations that would make ordinary people respond with emotions ranging from jealousy and insecurity to outright rage and hatred. In fact, at the picture's finale I began wondering whether there was an element of mental illness in the character of Catherine (Jeanne Moreau). It's one thing to be driven to suicide by severe depression, but that didn't seem to be a factor in Catherine's make up. And if she wanted to kill herself on a whim, why commit murder at the same time by taking her lover Jim (Henri Serre) with her? It's not like he had a voice in the decision.Leading up to that, the whole relationship among the principals seemed rather surreal. Drawn into an affair with Catherine long after he had been best friends with Jules (Oskar Werner), Jim himself seems to have a directionless life following the Great War. He's about ready to propose to his girlfriend Gilberte (Vanna Urbino) and instead is drawn into an unsatisfying relationship with Catherine, who makes no secret of having regular dalliances with other men as well. For her part Catherine leaves Jules for a period of six months, and he's left to care for himself and their young daughter in the interim.Am I missing something here? 'Normal' people don't live this way, but then again, normal may have been redefined over the past four decades since this film came out. But there was just no warming up to these characters as the film progressed and it left me with just a perverse reaction when it was all over. I would try again, but my instincts are usually correct the first time.

At the risk of over-generalizing about an entire nation, I've come to the inescapable conclusion that the French are a very strange people, to say the least. Seriously...they don't seem to find anything offensive (I think they'd find some rationalization for having sex with chimpanzees), and they seem to find everything interesting -- even one of the most boring films in cinematic history -- Jules & Jim.The one thing this film has going for it is this: I've never seen a film in which every single character suffers from an incurable mental disease. But if I want to see such extreme mental illness, I'll go visit a local state mental hospital. This film is NOT about LOVE -- it's about raging mental illness. That's what people who claim to "get it" really DON'T get. They're as delusional as the characters in this train wreck of a film if they honestly believe this movie is a great love story.