Jules and Jim

Part of the Avalon’s Hitchcock/Truffaut Film Festival, May 5-7

Saturday, May 7 at 2:30pm

As a 23 year old film critic, Francois Truffaut read an autobiographical first novel by a seventy-four-year-old writer, Henri-Pierre Roché. “The book overwhelmed me,” he later recalled, “and I wrote: If I ever succeed in making films, I will make Jules and Jim.” Before turning 30, Truffaut reached his goal. Though the film was not the first to come out of France’s “New Wave,” it was possibly the best and most influential. The film’s swirling energetic camerawork, evocative score, and freewheeling characters entranced art house moviegoers around the world and helped usher in a new era of filmmaking. Jeanne Moreau’s stunning performance as Catherine, the object of two men’s affection, made her an international star.

In the carefree days before World War I, introverted Austrian author Jules (Oskar Werner) strikes up a friendship with the exuberant Frenchman Jim (Henri Serre). Both men fall for the impulsive and beautiful Catherine (Jeanne Moreau), but it’s Jules who wins her hand. After the war, Jim visits Jules, Catherine and their daughter in their Austrian home and discovers not only that his feelings for Catherine are unchanged, but also that they’re reciprocated. 1962.

The Avalon is presenting film classics from directors Alfred Hitchcock and Francois Truffaut before the theater’s spring benefit event “The Genius of Hitchcock,” on Sunday, May 8. Learn more about the event & buy tickets.