That smile

Jules and Jim was not at all what I expected.  Though I could understand the theme for the week and even its origin, it is much different than the "cool love" I thought I would encounter.  Maybe I thought cool love would be love that never fails or never ends, but this isn’t the love in Jules and Jim.

It instead is a love triangle with a few more angles added.  Catherine toys with the men as the story unfolds, first just being their friend.  Through the beginning I really was enjoying the film and her carefree lifestyle.  She seemed to genuinely want happiness out of life, and who doesn’t want that?  I found myself slightly in her shoes; many of my good friends through school have been male.  Catherine was cool and her attitude about life was cool.  When you are young, being carefree and nonchalant is perfectly acceptable, but there is a time where the youth and irresponsibility has to go and instead maturity must come.  So yes, Catherine had cool love, but that was before the war.  After the Great War ended, everything seemed to change.  Though the carefree Catherine had stayed it seemed to provoke her to be hurtful.  When you begin hurting those you love, you lose your cool.  She and Jules had a child together and by then she should have been able to settle down and really think of those around her.  She instead chose to leave for a while and even have affairs in order to somehow punish Jules. 

When she begins wooing Jim I really lose all thoughts of her cool love.  She becomes obsessive, and rather than building up good things her actions only become destructive. Her final actions really do make me believe she has fully self-destructed.  She throws away every good part of her life, her family, her peace, and even her mind once she pursues Jim.

After being truly confused about how to receive the ending, I began to realize it was a better movie than I had thought.  Right after I cannot say I felt that way, but after letting it sink it for a day I am feeling as though there are many things that can be learned from the film.  I think it is important to see that Catherine had someone who loved her enough that he would care for her even when she did not love him as she once had.  Jules was not really the leader in the marriage as most men are, but he was always supportive and would help her however he could.  What I find most cool about Jules and Jim is the friendship of Jules and Jim and the love that Jules has for Catherine, even after she has caused their marriage to fail.