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How others will see it. This subtitled black and white French film will interest most who see it, if they give it a chance. Americans may find it a revelation, since it portrays love in a knowing, decidedly non-Hollywood manner.
How I felt about it. In a Hollywood movie, two people are fated to be with each other, and finally achieve this purpose despite enormous obstacles posed by hostile outside forces.
Love is less romanticized in Europe. Specifically, in Jules and Jim, love is usually an emotion, a phase, or perhaps a fashion. True love does exist, but it is generally unfulfilled. Jules has Catherine all to himself for only brief periods, while Gilberte (Vanna Urbino) gets Jim only when he's sulking from Catherine's rejection.
Thus, Europe has something to teach America. Namely, the more you demand from love, the less happiness you will obtain from it. The only stable love is that of possession, which is both condescending and aloof.
Hollywood movies tend be more profitable than those from France. This demonstrates that while France understands love better, the knowledge falls on deaf ears. The Hollywood notion of true love conquers all creates a standard impossible to measure up to, yet the dream sells. We want to believe it, just as we want to belive our President tells us the truth and isn't a pawn of power brokers or special interests, however things may in fact be.
It is easy to understand Jules, who can love only completely, and Jim, who loves with the cool precision of a man who knows its fickle nature. Catherine is more of an enigma. She thrives on change, and basks in the attention and suspense of multiple suitors. If compelled to be monogamous, she rebels. Yet, as if to confirm her power, she likes to try to reel her old lovers back to her now and again, even if only for a moment. Throughout all of this, she never reflects upon the selfishness of her actions. This is not a woman who goes to confession.
It is logical that the film's two survivors, Jules and Gilberte, are the two characters who can love consistently. Perhaps that is why Catherine chose to go down with Jim, to punish him for his stubborn indifference, or perhaps she simply did not want to face middle age, and preferred to go out in style.