A Very Long Engagement
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Movie Reviews of A Very Long Engagement
Movie Review: Gone with the War, but Not from the Heart
Summary: 5 Stars
"Un long dimanche de fiançailles" (A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT) is a visual wonder of a film, a tremendously entertaining epic that offers history, World War I from the French point of view, suspense, intrigue, and a healthy dose of romance. Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet conducts this cinematic symphony based on the novel by Sébastien Japrisot and has achieved that fine balance between historical incident and romantic illusion. Clocking in at 134 minutes this is a huge project but the result is as personal and tender an unpretentious love story as you'll ever encounter.
Though the plot is complex with many subplots, MANY characters, and nonlinear method of storyline, the basic tale is that of Mathilde (the beguiling Audrey Tautou), who from childhood has been crippled by polio, and Manech (Gaspard Ulliel) who has been with Mathilde since childhood in a lasting love relationship. Manech is sent to war (the war is recreated is some of the more realistic rainy trenches situations ever filmed), and when the impact of constant horror becomes too much for him, Manech arranges for a gunshot wound to his hand and thus is condemned to death along with four other soldiers guilty of self-mutilation in order to avoid further battle. The fate of the five soldiers is in question and this fact that no one is sure what happened to the five is what drives the story.
Simply stated the story concerns Matilde's unwavering hope that Manech is still alive some years after the war and she hires a detective to investigate the whereabouts of Manech. Through her own intervention and association with incidental characters related in some way with each of the five soldiers Mathilde finally discovers the truth of her very long engagement.
Tautou and Ullieil are splendid in their roles: Tautou can create a character as much from her sensitive plastique face and expressions as from her lines. The supporting cast is uniformly excellent and there is a very fine cameo by Jodie Foster as Elodie Gordes that allows her to broaden her impressive acting career with a French-speaking role! The sets and costumes of 1920 France are perfectly achieved in ambience and the cinematography by Bruno Delbonnel who has elected to shoot the entire film in a sepia-toned pastiche of historic flavor is of the highest quality. Add to this fine mix the original music score by Angelo Badalamenti and the result is a film that is bound to have a long life.
Yes, there are a lot of films about wars and their effects on mankind and A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT is as well conceived as any of them. Where this film emerges as unique in its genre is its emphasis on the indomitability of the human spirit: while the size of the project is monumental, the underlying spirit is intensely personal and as such is not afraid to add gentle humor to the mix. Highly recommended. Grady Harp, July 05
Movie Review: absolutely first rate depiction of war and young love
Summary: 5 Stars
This film has entered the pantheon of films that I can see over and over and yet understand more on each viewing - it is so subtle and intricate, as the mystery unravels, that there are always additional details to find and savor. That makes this one of the best films I have ever seen on many levels.
First, you have the mystery and horror of the Great War. I live in France, and every town has a monument full of names on it for those who died in it. This film will make you feel what it cost, in very human terms, both in those lost and in the psychological destruction of the survivors. While I have read about what it was like, this film is a wonderfully fresh view of it.
Second, there is a story of pure young love, which envelopes the life of a spectacularly quirky beauty. This is perfection, so moving that I feel tears well up every time I see it. With Mathilde and her tuba by the shore, or the hand of the sleeping Maneche on her breast, you feel what it is like for all of us the first time. The poetry is undeniable, beyond melodrama, in acting that is uniformly brilliant.
Third, you have the mystery: Mathilde feels Maneche is still alive, and barely wavers in her search to find him or to discover what happened, a faith that survives beyond her lamentation at his grave. This enters her into a unique adventure, bringing her into contact with a society in change.
Fourth, you view a wider tableau of people within the society. In this respect, the film is as good as a Balzac novel, portraying the tensions and aspirations of people embedded in their time, which in my opinion is the best way to understand the power and beauty of history. France is portrayed here in the early 1920s, a very beautiful country with underdeveloped culture and economy, in astonishingly vivid and accurate detail - you see the charm and poverty of the old Europe that is barely an echo today. It is here that you get cameos by Jodie Foster, one of the best roles I have seen of this truly fine actress, and many others (all French, I think) whome I did not know. Foster is one of the many people that Mathilde seeks out in her search, gaining crucial information yet also helping a fellow traveller in pain.
Fifth, there is a psychological depth in the choices of all the characters. Mathilde becomes a wise and tenacious adult, marked by her pain and yet only dimly aware of her potential. She very much reminded me of my wife. She chooses life, while others take more destructive paths or show themselves unable to grow beyond the unimaginable circumstances they survived unwhole. Here, you see Mathilde's doppelganger, a prostitute bent on savage revenge. But there are so many others, each of whom adds a crucial piece to the puzzle in an unfolding story of intricate complexity.
Warmly recommended.
Movie Review: Long but enchanting
Summary: 5 Stars
Sure, the name is an open target for dumb jokes. But Sébastien Japrisot's haunting romance "A Very Long Engagement" translates well onto the big screen, with a bit of help from "Amelie" director Jean-Pierre Jeunet and the wonderful Audrey Tautou.
Mathilde (Audrey Tautou) is a pretty young girl who was left crippled by polio, and is being raised by her uncle and aunt. Before World War I, she fell in love with a boy called Manech (Gaspard Ulliel), but he was sent to the war and killed. Three years later, Mathilde gets a mysterious letter with shocking news: Manech was not killed in action, but condemned to death by being sent unarmed to the front lines -- and miraculously, he might still be alive.
Mathilde is determined to find her lover -- dead or alive -- and learn what really happened on that day three years ago. So she puts out ads in the papers, gathers accounts, and hires a detective to follow the cold trail. And slowly the gaps in the stories emerge, giving Mathilde clues to whether Manech died... and where he might be now.
"A Very Long Engagement" (French title: "Un Long Dimanche de Fiançailles") diddles a few details from the novel, but is faithful to it in the ways that matter -- the "MMM" inscriptions, the non-linear storytelling, the horrors of World War I. In some ways, it seems almost impossible to transfer onto film without creating a pretentious mess -- but it wasn't.
Jean-Pierre Jeunet proves that "Amelie" was no fluke, but this time he relies mostly on visual artistry, rather than in magical realism. He also reminds us, by displaying the French countryside along with flashbacks of the front lines, that war is stupid and wasteful. But it's not an obvious, slam-in-your-face reminder. Like the romance, it's delicate and wistful.
The only problem with "A Very Long Engagement" is the "long" part -- it's truly exquisite, but it does drag a bit. Since it can be summed up as "girl searches for her seemingly dead lover," there are only a few twists along the way. But the beautiful visuals may make up for that in part. The cinematography by Bruno Delbonnel is particularly striking, tinted in sepia or black and white. The entire movie has the feeling of an old photograph brought to life.
The love between Manech and Mathilde is not a grand passion, but it is a very real love -- it's not implausible to believe that two such people might have existed. Tautou is sweetly elfin as Mathilde, creating a likable heroine that it's impossible not to root for. Ulliel gives an equally good performance as the boyish, naive Manech, a perfect match for Mathilde.
"A Very Long Engagement" is a truly beautiful follow-up to the magical "Amelie" -- a war story, a love story, and a mystery all in one. Enchanting.
Movie Review: "Amelie" meets "Saving Private Ryan"...
Summary: 5 Stars
A bizarre mix indeed but, believe it or not, it's a pretty apt description of this very odd but quite brilliant film.
First off, you get the most realistic depiction of what war must be like since "Saving Private Ryan", only this time the scene is the trenches in the Somme in 1917... so meticulously recreated, believably presented and deeply shocking that it will leave you stunned and drained by the time you've got through the first section of the film.
But then things become very different as director Jean-Pierre Jeunet and lead actress Audrey Tautou take very distinct aspects of their comic classic, "Amelie", and rework them into a much "darker" mix involving a charmingly poignant love story and an extremely complex and, in the end, pretty unbelievable detective story, centred on the fate of five men sentenced to almost certain death for self-mutilation in the trenches. Tautou plays a tougher but actually similarly sweet & quirky character to Amelie, and Jeunet uses a number of the same directing techniques that made "Amelie" such unconventional but fascinating viewing - flash backs, unusual camera angles, fast scene cutting, bizarre events, and intriguingly odd characters - right down to a secret box that holds the key to a mystery.
And, like "Amelie", the dialogue is in French and its delivery is fast, meaning that if you're trying to follow it with English sub-titles you're quite likely to get lost at key points. None of which sounds too promising. But no matter, because the detective story element of the film is fairly predictable, the dénouement to the love story holds no surprises and, their not why the film fully deserves a five star rating.
Why it does is because Jeunet is such a brilliant director and, as a result, the film is stuffed full with superb cinemaphotograhy, first class acting, wonderful scene-setting and, above all, a "pace" that holds your attention throughout and a "style" that makes for, at times, quite beautiful viewing... until, that is, you're plunged back into his equally brilliant vision of what life was actually like in the mud, squalor and blood of the trenches.
Horrific, charming, wholly believable and pretty unbelievable, all at the same time, "A Very Long Engagement" is an extremely strange film but one that will leave you marvelling at the sheer quality of its direction, photography and acting... and, as "Saving Private Ryan" achieved so successfully, it's depiction of the grim realities of war make it one of the best anti-war films that you're likely to see and one that you won't forget for a very long time.
Movie Review: How French...
Summary: 5 Stars
"A Very Long Engagement" is incredible. It is admittedly quite a sweeping story that takes a lot of involvement to follow, but it is also a masterpiece that smacks of "Amelie". (I will throw in that I have never read the book...)
I watched this in French class, and it does help with comprehension to speak French at least relatively well. There are some nuances that are, per se, lost in translation ("MMM" - in English, it became "Manech's marrying Mathilde", but in French, it's "Manech aime Mathilde" - "aime" means "loves" and is pronounced like the letter "m") and the whole thing sounds much softer and more beautiful in French, which is a very beautiful language, despite the hacking sounds produced whils saying some words. The actors do speak fast, and yes, the Parisian accents are strong, but if you watch the subtitles, most everything will make sense; the subtitles, contrary to many reviews, are concise and accurate, if a little quick.
I will admit this film is very, very graphic, both in relation to the bloody battle scenes and the typically French risque scenes. I couldn't watch when Tina Lombardi met her fate, for example, and for half the movie I felt like throwing up. But it is an emotionally charged story and is simultaneously an excellent depiction of the horrors of WWI and a sweet love story. The repeated lines delivered by Manech, for example, are an excellent touch, as is the last line (watch and see - I'm not giving it away). The plot is complicated, true, and convoluted, and when I was finished I had to read a plot summary to make sure I understood everything, but it's worth it; the romance, tragedy, and mystery combine exquisitely. There are some strange bits of French humor and it does play a little bit like "Amelie, Having Just Read Da Vinci Code, Travels Backwards in Time to WWI", but it is very rewarding.
The actors are also wonderful. Audrey Tautou, one of my all-time favorite actresses, pulls off another fabulous performance, and Gaspard Ulliel, her love interest in the film, is adorable and a very convincing terrified soldier. Jodie Foster didn't strike me as all that amazing, but the woman who plays Tina Lombardi, the Corsican whore, did an amazing job, especially when she received the note from Angel.
This is definitely a movie for an older viewer with enough time on his or her hands to really get swept up in an invovled, complicated story, but overall, it is very much worth the time it takes to really understand it. It is an amazing love story, a wonderfully morbid and tragic war story, and my favorite French movie of all time.