Honestly, Jules and Jim did not demonstrate Cool Love to me. Cool Love is a love where each person will do anything for the best of the other. They will risk their own life. They 
will pay any price. They will say goodbye. Cool Love is not where a man allows his best friend to sleep with his wife.
What I think is Cool Love is demonstrated in Moulin Rouge!. A young writer, Christian, falls for a cabaret artist/courtesan, Satine, of the Moulin Rouge, and they pursue their love even though it is forbidden (Satine is the object of a corrupted duke’s affection). Satine truly loves Christian, but after finding out that the duke’s bodyguard is going to kill Christian if she continues to love him, she breaks Christian’s heart and says goodbye. This is Cool Love to me; she is willing to say goodbye to the man she loves so that she may protect his life. Christian comes back to Satine, trying to buy her love like the duke did, but she refuses, again in protecting him. Christian walks off depressed, but Satine calls after him, singing their secret song, so that Christian knows she truly loves him. Satine succumbs to an ongoing illness and dies in Christian’s arms at the end, and he writes the story of the Moulin Rouge, their love at the Moulin Rouge, as Satine’s dying wish. He will do anything for her, even after she is gone. THAT is Cool Love.
I don’t quite understand why in the end of Jules and Jim, Catherine drives off the bridge with Jim to their death. Was it because she didn’t want him to be with anyone else, that the only way to ensure that was to kill him? This reminds me of a song I heard once, by Good Charlotte. It is called “Bloody Valentine” and (as you can probably guess from the title), this song describes the crazy things people will do for love. It’s actually the opposite of what Catherine demonstrates in the movie. Instead of killing himself and his love, he kills his love’s interest. Rationally, I think that I could never go to the extent of killing someone to ensure someone’s love for myself. Then again, these people aren’t exactly in their right mind. I assure you that Catherine wasn’t sane; she always seemed a little crazy to me. Even in Phantom of the Opera, the Phantom aims to win Christine’s love by removing her love interest Raoul from the picture. It’s been said that love and jealousy make people do crazy things. Maybe it’s best if no one falls in love.
oh wow...Bloody Valentine is perfect for this movie! We should do a remake and incorporate that into the soundtrack. I agree with you about Jules and Jim, not my favorite idea of Cool Love. But you have to think about it, it was cool how Jules remained with Catherine and their daughter and remained steadfast. That, in one way is cool, but in another way makes you think he has no backbone. Wich one is it? Loyalty or lack of "manlyness"?
ReplyDeleteI guess it depends on what cool we are talking about. Yeah, I think it's cool that the man loves Catherine so much that he would stay with her through anything. But it's definitely NOT cool that he doesn't have enough backbone to say enough's enough.
ReplyDeleteThe argument you make about Jules could be applied to Satine as well though. While Jules was didn't have enough backbone to get away from Catherine, Satine didn't have enough of it to run to her true love.
ReplyDeleteWould the love in Moulin Rouge be as cool if the roles were reversed?