Truffaut's intention is simply to tell a love story, whatever other interpretations people might choose to impose upon the film. It is a ménage à trois, with three people involved; a love triangle. Even though each of the three is in love with one of the others, it is clear that the arrangement is fraught with problems, and a happy ending seems unlikely. And chance, fate, luck? What of the fact that fate is malleable, changed by one tiny coincidence, or is it that one is aware of one's inevitable fate, that the coming end is irreversible? It is possible to mention a dozen other themes in this multi-layered movie: a criticism of modernity, a questioning of the Bohemian lifestyle that rejects the dynamics of social life, the troubles caused by change within the smallest unit of society (the couple, or the threesome!), the family, the conflict between monogamy and polygamy, destructive jealousy, the conflict between defining life in terms of art or love, the woman as an object of art, the ambition towards freedom becoming its own kind of slavery, the paralleling of the fate of the individual and the wider society, and even War... Truffaut takes his audience along all these divergent paths. This is one of the three elements that enriches Jules et Jim and makes it impossible for it to become old-fashioned: the intricacy of the screenplay, its timelessness and the continued actuality of its concerns. And the other two elements? One is absolutely perfect characterization and consequent living, breathing characters who haven't aged in 42 years and who still remain in our hearts. The other is Truffaut's directing style a style that reflects his childish energy; in Jules et Jim Truffaut renovates the burlesque aesthetics of the silent era, uses nearly all of the imaging and editing possibilities in the cinema, and, with his unique craftsmanship, transforms the free spirit and creativity of the New Wave into something that we can describe as High Art. By underlining that sense of beauty that belongs to art and is part of life and is imperishable, he almost manages to paint a true image of happiness. Whether we can see it or not is subject to our ability… just like Jim, just like Jules. Cem Altınsaray
