FILM · 1962 · FRANCE
Jules et Jim
- Directed by
- François Truffaut
- Runtime
- 106 min
- Studio
- Les Films du Carrosse, Sédif Productions (as S.E.D.I.F.)
23 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
In the carefree days before World War I, introverted Austrian author Jules strikes up a friendship with the exuberant Frenchman Jim and both men fall for the impulsive and beautiful Catherine.
Summary: TMDB
All facts (23)
- #001
Jean Renoir was a particular admirer of the film and wrote François Truffaut a letter expressing his satisfaction. Truffaut carried that letter with him for years afterward.
- #002
When the production ran out of money, Jeanne Moreau saved it with a personal financial contribution of her own.
- #003
Cinematographer Raoul Coutard used lightweight photographic equipment that had not been used before to create a fluid style in the camera work, even mounting some of the cameras on bicycles.
- #004
François Truffaut hated shooting love scenes, so the big scene between Jim and Catherine was shot in semi-darkness.
- #005
Jeanne Moreau had to jump into the river herself because her stunt double was drunk. Moreau then had to spend 2 days sick in bed.
- #006
It was one of the first foreign films to be distributed in the United States under Janus Films, the newly founded company of two Harvard students, Cyrus Harvey and Bryant Halliday. Janus distributed classic foreign films of every kind and is now owned by Criterion.
- #007
Oskar Werner was cast because François Truffaut wanted someone who spoke French and spoke slowly.
- #008
François Truffaut was so nervous on opening night that he decided to watch a Marx Brothers film instead of his own.
- #009
It was made with a crew of only 15 people.
- #010
François Truffaut was very saddened that Henri-Pierre Roché died before he could see how Truffaut had filmed his novel.
- #011
When Jim first visits Jules's home in Austria, Catherine shows him a picture of Jules dressed in a Mozart costume. Oskar Werner, the actor playing Jules, had also portrayed Mozart in the 1955 Austrian film "Mozart."
- #012
Stephen Hawking's favorite film.
- #013
When Henri Serre was cast for the role of Jim, he was an unknown actor performing comedy at a club. He was cast because of his physical resemblance to Henri-Pierre Roché.
- #014
The narration at the beginning of the film states that the story begins in 1912. At the end of the film (the last day they spend together), as the trio leaves the cinema, a poster for Un chien andalou (1929) is visible behind them. The film premiered on 6 June 1929 in France. The story therefore begins in 1912 and ends in June 1929.
- #015
The painting hanging in Jules's apartment is Pablo Picasso's 1900 work "Embrace."
- #016
François Truffaut's screenplay also drew on the diaries that Henri-Pierre Roché kept for roughly 60 years.
- #017
François Truffaut had wanted to make a film with Jeanne Moreau since 1957. He told her so when he met her at the Cannes screening of Elevator to the Gallows (1958).
- #018
Jeanne Moreau kept most of her wardrobe.
- #019
In a 2018 critics' poll conducted by the BBC, it ranked as the 55th greatest non-English-language film.
- #020
The film is part of spine number 281 in the Criterion Collection.
- #021
At the Studio des Ursulines cinema, Jim watches a newsreel showing the Nazis burning books. This serves both as a warning of an approaching war and as a nod to Fahrenheit 451, which Truffaut would direct four years later, with Oskar Werner playing a state-sanctioned book burner.
- #022
The film appears on Roger Ebert's "Great Movies" list.
- #023
Willie & Phil (1980), directed by Paul Mazursky, is the American remake of François Truffaut's film. Truffaut directed The Last Metro (1980), which was released the same year as Willie & Phil. Jean-Louis Richard and Sabine Haudepin appear in both films, while Marcel Berbert, Suzanne Schiffman and Georges Delerue also worked on both; Delerue composed the music for each. The two films premiered about a month apart (August 15 for Willie & Phil and September 17 for The Last Metro).
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