80. Jeanne Moreau as Catherine 
     Jules and Jim (1962)

As Jules observes in the film, Catherine isn’t particularly beautiful or intelligent or sincere, but she’s a real woman, and that’s why all men desire her. Playing such a woman is no easy task, but Moreau does it seemingly without effort as Catherine embroils French-born Jim (Henri Serre) and Austrian Jules (Oskar Werner) in a ménage à trois for two decades. She behaves like a spoiled child craving attention—whether she’s running through the streets of Paris in drag or jumping into the Seine—but Moreau’s unbridled joy, grave eyes, and Mona Lisa smile convince us that she’s the mistress of ageless wisdom nonetheless.

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