A movie by François Truffaut. In the Paris of the 1900's, two friends, Jules Oskar Wierner, who is Austrian, and Jim Henri Serre, who is French, live the poor artistic life. Then they are fascinated by the smile of an antic statue... And find a woman that has that smile, Catherine Jeanne Moreau. Both of them fall in love with her ; Jules marries her, and bring her to Germany. Then World War I breaks out, and the friends wind up fighting each other. But this does not end the friendship, and after the war they find themselves together again...

Truffaut's menage a trois story tells how the relationship of this three people evolves over time, and was one of the flag movies of the French Nouvelle Vague. Its beautiful yet sad story, its theme of friendships being more important than nationalities, recalls of Jean Renoir, yet the fresh editing made it break new ground when it came out in 1960. Its influence is still felt now ; the movie was referenced in such movies as Amelie and Vanilla Sky, to talk only about the most recent citations. The enigmatic looks of Jeanne Moreau certainly helped the success of the film, too. It used strange camera techniques, such as the camera turning quickly around one of characters, something previously thought to induce nausea.

Cast :

Jeanne Moreau
Catherine
Oskar Werner
Jules
Henri Serre
Jim
Vanna Urbino
Gilberte
Boris Bassiak
Albert