Zu and Zhan

Haskell 2022-03-20 09:02:15

Jules et Jim, HKer's translation, a long and delicate French film.

Compared with the intricate so-called love in the film, the friendship between Zu and Zhan or the friendship between the three of them together with Catherine moved me more. Those are the good times in life.

A woman like Catherine who lives her life with a straightforward self and madness is destined to be a disaster for the men around her. Therefore, she is the happiness of Zu and Zhan's life and the source of their misfortune. As Catherine drove the car to the end of the broken bridge, I was reminded of Kurt Cobain's words: It's better to burn with ease than to survive.

Zu said: Catherine, you always remind me of a Chinese stage play I once watched. At the opening, the emperor said to the audience, you are seeing the most unhappy people in the world, because I have two wives, a big one and a little one.

We are unhappy people because we have too many desires and greed, and the world gives us too many choices.

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Extended Reading

Jules and Jim quotes

  • Jules: The most important factor in any relationship is the woman's fidelity. The husband's is secondary. Who was it who wrote, "Woman is natural, therefore abominable?"

    Jim: Baudelaire, but he was describing a certain world.

    Jules: Not at all. He spoke of women in general. What he says about a young girl is magnificent: "Horror, monster, assassin of the arts, little fool, little slut. The greatest idiocy combined with the greatest depravity." Wait. I'm not finished. This is marvelous: "I'm always astonished they allow women inside churches. What could they possibly have to say to God?"

    Catherine: You're both fools.

  • Jim: I understand.

    Catherine: I don't want to be understood. It's almost dawn.