Quartile rating: 8/10 · 1 rating
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.
Truffaut's landmark New Wave film earns top marks in most categories. The plot is a genuinely original, bittersweet meditation on love, freedom, and friendship across decades — fluid, digressive, and emotionally alive. The acting, especially Jeanne Moreau's iconic Catherine, is magnetic and naturalistic in a way that still feels electric. Cinematography is exceptional: Raoul Coutard's handheld work, freeze frames, and inventive cutting defined a generation of filmmaking. Novelty is unimpeachable — the film's tone, blending lightness with tragedy, and its frank polyamorous structure were genuinely singular in 1962 and remain so. The ending, while thematically resonant, is slightly abrupt and its stark fatalism feels somewhat imposed compared to the organic rhythms of the rest of the film — the one category where the execution falls just short of the film's own heights.