I had the pleasure of seeing this movie on a special preview last night and I was enthralled at its story line and cinematic experience. I wasn't a great fan of Amelie and hence was not expecting any particular out-of-body experience in viewing this. But I was wrong. It is a wonderful piece of story telling somewhat difficult to follow if you do have a short memory span for character names and flashbacks. Yet at the end, it seamlessly closes the web in a beautifully written script that has been well acted and filmed. It is particularly gory in the WWI battle scenes but probably accurate in depiction whilst the locations where the film was shot seem out of this world (hoped they were not computer generated). Quaint towns, fields, beaches and houses lend a beautiful touch to the story of a love that will not die whilst Audrey Tautou delivers a spellbinding performance in a child-like heroine with a will of steel. A special mention must be given to Bruno Delbonnel's camera work which simply is amazing. Can't wait for the DVD.
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sam_perera21 December 2004
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seaview131 December 2004Lovely Audrey Tautou and director Jean-Pierre Jeunet reteam (having previously made the delightful comedy Amelie) in the epic war drama, A Very Long Engagement, based on the novel by Sebastien Japrisot. It is a visual powerhouse of a film that defies conventional genres by melding together different themes and injecting a generous dose of period authenticity. This French language film is an emotional odyssey that keeps you guessing while it never loses sight of its humanity and even humor.
Childhood friends and then lovers, Mathilde (Tatout) and Manech (Gaspard Ulliel) are separated when duty calls in World War One France. War is hell and the trench fighting that will claim countless lives begins to take its toll on men's sanity and tolerance. Manech becomes one of five soldiers arrested for cowardice because each has a self inflicted hand wound to evade the deadly fighting. But instead of execution by firing squad, the condemned men are forced into no man's land to be fodder for the German line.
It is almost certain that all the prisoners died that day, but years later, in 1920, Mathilde continues in her quest to find the truth and her lover. Aided by her aunt and uncle, she enlists the help of an investigative agency and lawyer to track down the people who knew Manech. Slowly the list grows and one clue connects with another as more witnesses emerge. What starts out as a somber war romance develops into a fascinating adventure of love and mystery of fate as Mathilde follows the trail. Sure, she does get frustrated as a couple of clues are dead ends, but when a connection is established, the story leaps forward. At times the help comes from an unexpected source and at other times, sheer coincidence saves the day. There is even a subplot involving treachery and betrayal. Before long, the audience will become caught up in her journey. Is Manech alive and will Mathilde ever find him? The film's structure weaves back and forth through flashbacks with great ease and clarity. An occasional voice over narration ties up the loose ends. As the plot begins to make more sense, key scenes are retold from different viewpoints in the Rashomon style of storytelling. The battle scenes, quite grim and realistic (Saving Private Ryan type of action), are light years ahead of Paths of Glory's anthill scenes, although the opening march through the trenches is almost identical to Kubrick's 1957 classic. There is even a hint of the older favorite, Random Harvest, which also dealt with a wartime romance and search.
A Very Long Engagement is blessed with a strong ensemble cast although it may require a score card to keep track of all the names. Andrey Tautou is quite good as the anxious searcher. Her beauty never detracts from her acting talent. Gaspard Ulliel reminds one of a young Ethan Hawke in his innocence amid difficult circumstances. As the wife of a key character, Jodie Foster is effective as she corresponds with Mathilde. Yes, Jodie does the French thing well, but her appearance is a bit jarring. Dominique Pinon, a favorite of Jeunet's (Alien: Resurrection, Amelie), lends good support as the uncle. Even the smaller roles are well rounded and memorable, a testament to good casting, strong writing, and Jeunet's direction.
This big budget film is lengthy, but it does have the sweep of a big time novel. The production is outstanding in the authentic costumes and historic set designs of 1920. Jeunet employs cinematography and computer graphics effectively to recreate the era magnificently. He has always been a marvelous director of eye candy, and the film is wonderful to look at. Angelo Badalamenti who has spent a lot of time scoring the moody thrillers for David Lynch is allowed to flourish here with a lushly romantic, emotional soundtrack.
Doubtless this is very likely the ultimate French tearjerker, a kind of Gone with the Wind meets Cold Mountain type of film. It serves as a commentary on war, a romantic fable, a revenge tale, and an intricate mystery. It is a film that defies pigeonholing and that's part of the fun. It also has well defined characters and nice touches of detail and exposition. In short, it is one powerful movie to close out 2004.
***1/2 stars out of **** -
pax-et-forza20 December 2004An epic love story on a World War I background. Far from Amelie, the team Jeunet/Tautou demonstrates his talent, showing with poetry love and war, beauty and horror, sweetness and violence. Mathilde and Manech, played by the stunning Audrey Tautou and the new French heart-throb Gaspard Ulliel, are the ideal lovers, determinate, passionate, separated by destiny, hoping...because hope is the message, the only one of a film where love is giving and giving again. If you loved Cold Mountain you will adore "A very long engagement". If don't know yet what it is to hold someone's heart in your hand, to feel the beatings of somebody's heart like the Morse alphabet, this movie will explain it to you, and you never will be the same anymore.
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lawprof21 December 2004Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet in the hit, "Amelie," employed scintillating Audrey Tatou, the most expressive young French actress in film today, to portray a whimsical and charming girl-woman in search of love. With her now as a young French rural ingénue searching for years after The Great War (aka World War I or, even better, The War to End All Wars) for a probably killed fiancé, Jeunet crafted a moving, often penetrating story centering on the charnel carnage of trench warfare.
Lame as a single-digit-age child because of polio and living with relatives who took over after her parents were killed in an accident, Mathilde is befriended by Manech (Gasparad Ulliel). Mathilde, a loner separated from her peers by her disability, and Manech become closest friends. Late adolescence brings love and lust, commitment and an engagement.
But in 1917 the French Army needed fresh meat for the bloody maw that was warfare on the almost terminally static Western Front. And off went Manech along with many others who never returned.
Employing the harshest discipline of any Western army in modern history, the French Army (which gave the world the Dreyfus trial and in World War I actually used decimation to punish mutinous regiments and divisions) sentences Manech and four others to be cast into No Man's Land without weapons, without any possibility of being allowed to return but with the macabre requirement that they respond to morning roll call if alive (not a good bet). Their alleged crime was self-mutilation to get out of combat (what we call in the American military, "SIW," Self-Inflicted Wounds).
Mathilde in 1920, steely faithful in a moving and believable way, searches fervently for her fiancé whom she believes "must" be alive somewhere, somehow. Employing artful stratagems and enlisting the willing, the paid and the dragooned, her search takes her to cities and battlefields. With resort to a child's employment of magical thinking she frequently whispers tests about what will happen in immediate, ordinary circumstances with one result "proving" for her that Manech is still alive. Tatou makes this self-deception appealing and infinitely sad.
As Spielberg did in "Saving Private Ryan," Jeunet brings the immediacy of the meat-grinding battlefield to the viewer over and over again through superb if sometimes difficult to watch cinematography. Of course no film truly captures the desperation, the epidemic fatality that gripped and demoralized the French Army after years of immobile, set-piece fighting. One needs to read Robert Graves or Siegfried Sassoon for that. But Jeunet has brought to the screen the most realistic World War I trench scenes since "All Quiet on the Western Front" (the 1930 original, of course).
Tatou is an acting tsunami here, alternately beguiling and tense and always hopeful while fighting despair. Expect to see her in many fine roles in the future. She's marvelous.
The entire cast is excellent-few are known in the U.S.
A remarkable movie with an ending that will satisfy and disturb at the same time.
Tatou and Jeunet deserve Oscar nominations.
10/10 -
gort-811 January 2005This is one of those times that a rating system breaks down. I gave this film a "10" only because there were no "20's" available.
This film, in its own way, seems to be able to fire on those same diverse cylinders that William Shakespeare so often did. It's a light and airy comedy. It's the bitterest of tragedies. It's a beautiful romance. It's an unfolding mystery. At it's heart it is a film of war. War, in all its boiling chaos, touches on all those experiences and more.
When I left the theater I was both elated and depressed. My elation came from having just had such a pure cinematic experience. My depression came from glancing at the marquee and reminding myself that I'll have to survive on the sort of cinema half-life provided by the pablum that normally makes it to the screen. Every now and again it's great to be reminded just how good a movie can be. -
CalRhys6 July 2014A powerful and emotional war drama from French auteur Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Audrey Tautou leads us through an engaging and well-crafted story which sweeps us into the world of its characters, whom are established and well developed as the story progresses. The film itself is visually arresting with stunning cinematography. It was actually Bruno Delbonnel's visuals that acted as one of the man aspects that allured my interest in the film, it's a visual powerhouse blending the gritty conventions of war with scenes of a more romantic and dramatic style. A harrowing and emotional account of World War I from the perspective of French soldiers and civilians.
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Asa_Nisi_Masa214 June 2006If I were to judge this movie solely on its entertainment value, I would have awarded it a 9 out of 10. Instead, I will blend entertainment with art, whatever that may mean, or with its artistic integrity my usual method of evaluation for movies. I'm actually one of those people who found Amèlie delightful on first viewing, and more than a little irritating on second viewing two years later. And I must say that overall, I preferred Un Long Dimanche de Fiançailles.
Right from the opening shot of a broken Christ statue dangling off a cross that's been blown to bits in a muddy WWI trench, you are reminded of how well director Jean-Pierre Jeunet has understood the importance of masterful cinematography. Immediate, attention-grabbing snappy editing is also a speciality of his. A collection of memorable stills, beautiful enough to be made into pictures to hang on your living-room wall, are the carriers of a compelling story with a universally accessible poetry, both visual and verbal (which alas, is too often spelt out by a persistently meddling voice-over a narrator, just like in Amèlie just in case you weren't paying attention to ALL the little quirks, jokes and poetry). A feast of visual humour we can trace right back to Delicatessen and a collection of interwoven, snappy little stories from endearing or comic minor players, could render the movie Disneyish (The way Les Choristes was) had Jeunet failed to also blend into the cake mix two helpings of darkness to one of sex: he does exactly the same thing in both Amèlie and Delicatessen. The resulting movie is one that most adults the world over will respond to, a fairytale for grown-ups (also considering the devastating WWI setting, it's even more grown-up than both Delicatessen, which IMO was too cartoonish, and Amèlie, too artificial and pleased with itself - like a small, furry creature such as a squirrel prancing around and being well aware of its own cuteness). But as good movie as Dimanche is, I don't consider it an "art" movie at all rather, a very accomplished and entertaining mainstream European movie.
Most of all, I loved the scenes in the trenches. This movie is an excellent example of how computer generated sequences SHOULD be used to enhance a feature! The CGI does its job without calling attention upon itself. The muddy, dusty, blood and gut-stained, grey-brown desperation and folly of the WWI battlefields felt authentic and never idealised, yet was visually stunning and also very entertaining to watch. The zeppelin in the improvised hospital scene was also amazing a tense, original and, as they say, memorable "cinema moment". I was also fond of some comic interludes: Mathilde imagining herself as the romantic heroine in her own erotic dream filmed as a silent movie, the postman and his pesky bicycle, Private Investigator Germain Pire (played by the late Ticky Holgado) and his antics, for instance in the Corsican brothel, etc. I also thought the flavour and FEEL of the epoch was beautifully evoked: I'm a sucker for thorough research in costuming and setting, so I cannot help responding positively when that aspect of a historic movie is accomplished.
But I was reminded of Amèlie's contrived little quirks one time too many when the German woman in the Paris bistrot (trying to discreetly attract Mathilde's attention to give her some clues), erases the writing on the "Today's specialities" blackboard by leaving just three M's. Or when we were told and shown the way Mathilde's parents had died when she was only a very small child. This was a quirky, comedy death just like Amèlie's mother being killing by a suicidal nun jumping off the top of a church spire. Also, the vengeful prostitute Tina Lombardi's deadly contraptions, used to murder the Army officials responsible for killing her beloved pimp on the battlefield, were also a tad too cutesy and contrived, and made me try to imagine a James Bond movie directed by Jeunet! Though this may be the fault of the novel that Un Long Dimanche is based upon, I also found the "mystery" part a little too convoluted and again, contrived. The pieces of the jig-saw fall into place a little too neatly for a situation as complicated as the search for Manech turned out to be! Regarding the central couple, Mathilde and Manech, whose young love for one another we are supposed to believe in and warm to in order to find the story moving at all, I thought Jeunet did a good job of remaining just this side of cloying and sentimental. Again, some of the poetic images were heavy-handed (did we really need to hear the "heart beating in the hand" line so often?), but on the whole, efficient and sweet. Though Manech was a little too much of a wet blanket for my taste (perhaps the role needed a slightly more charismatic actor than Gaspard Ulliel?), I did nonetheless feel concern for him throughout most of the movie. I was also impressed with the Jodie Foster subplot and was more than a little impressed with her linguistic skills: among English-speaking actors, so far I only knew of Kristin Scott Thomas being such a convincing performer in the French language.
Since Un Long Dimanche is a little too much of a ruffian to be a truly honest work of art, I will therefore knock a few points off the 9 I would have given it just for sheer entertainment value, and leave it with a more than dignified 7.5 out of 10 instead! -
This movie is better than "Amelie" (which I loved). The story is intricately plotted so people with a "Seed of Chucky" attention span will be overwhelmed. It must be the only movie to combine amazing combat scenes with romance, comedy and a complex mystery puzzle. Audrey Tatou is a goddess. Jeunet (the director) is like a combination of Chaplin (the romance and comedy); Hitchcock (the incredible camera work and storytelling); and Spielberg (the battle scenes and emotion).
As to some of the comments I have seen on this site:
There were French people complaining that people were speaking too fast. Gee, I don't speak French, but I can read subtitles just fine, so it was not a problem.
Some people complained that it was too long. Then there were people that complained it was too short. Like Goldilocks, I thought it was just right.
There were those that said that Tatou can't act. Audrey's performance was nuanced people, she's no Jim Carrey. Some said she was just playing Amelie again. Wrong. Amelie was a good-hearted but wishy-washy spirit who was afraid to take any action in her own life. Mathilde is just the opposite, somebody who believes so strongly in her convictions that she is able to follow what her heart tells her in spite of all available evidence and every single person she meets. In fact, every actor, no matter how small the role, turns in a great performance (I'm especially partial to the great Dominique Pinon, who plays Audrey's uncle).
There were complaints about the sex. There are a couple of brief shots of people having sex in the introduction, very similar to Amelie. Plus you get to see Jodie Foster doing the nasty from several directions. If that bothers you, go see Polar Express instead. Personally (especially in light of the rumors of Jodie being a lesbian) I am in favor of the sex scenes. There is also a shot of Audrey's fabulous naked booty, which justifies the price of admission all by itself.
Someone else complained that it was too jarring switching between the horrific WWI trench warfare scenes and the idyllic 1920s Paris. Argghhhh, that's the point!
Then there was the complaint about seeing a scene or shot from a different perspective later in the movie. Have you heard of a story called "Rashomon"? The idea is that you are experiencing the events from the viewpoint of different characters. This is cleverly done and never superfluous. At least one time you are quite startled by new information revealed by that shift in perspective.
All in all, this is a movie that really does have everything. If it were an American movie it would win best picture, best actress, best supporting actress (Jodie still might get nominated), best cinematography, best script from a novel, and best director. As it is scheduled for a Christmas national release, hopefully a lot of people will see it. -
theantigaz2 February 2005A Very Long Engagement indeed. This film is visually stunning, combining beautiful sets and locations with wonderful, costumes and special effects which allowed me as the viewer to totally immerse myself in the period in which it was set. There is a subtle attention to detail and without detracting from the plot, the director makes the most of his sets and locations, resulting in some breath taking shots.
The film revolves around a young girl, Mathilde, who's fiancé was sent to war. She receives word that he has died on the front, however she feels deep down inside he is still alive and sets off on the heart wrenching adventure of finding out for herself his fate.
The story begins with the tale of five soldiers being court Marshalled, one of them is Mathilde's fiancé. Then through a series of flashbacks and adventures taking our heroine across Paris, each of the five men's story unfolds revealing clues as to the fate of her finance.
The characters in the film are wonderfully portrayed, especially the over the top Aunt and Uncle, Postman and Private Investigator. These colourful characters add a depth and compassion to the film.
Unfortunately, I had a few problems with this film too. While the fringe characters are filled out nicely, the main characters, Mathilde and her Finace Manech (I think is right) are skimmed over. You don't learn enough of their history together, it is only briefly explained, I would have preferred this to have been examined in more depth, then I feel I would have been more enthusiastic about Mathilde's mission. The end also seems to be very bittersweet.
On the whole, good film with stunning visuals, good acting and great direction. It has some great scenes with the intent of making you both laugh and cry. I felt a little disappointed with a few aspects of the plot, however this may just be my opinion, or my trouble with following subtitles and watching the film at the same time. I wholly recommend you go see this film. 7/10 -
Libs2 November 2004It is almost insulting to compare this film to Amelie Poulain. Yes it's the same crew, yes it's the same director and yes, Audrey Tautou almost plays the same character. But give JP Jeunet a break, it's part of HIS style. Would you blame Beethoven because his symphonies kinda sounded the same?
It is at times gritty, with its very tough depictions of the Great War, and at times light and naive. It all follows a very complicated storyline which is, I would have to admit, the only weakness in this otherwise perfect movie. With so many characters and so many plot elements, some people may feel a bit lost, specially toward the end. But this is of lesser concern as the audience will still follow the main idea : a quest to find a loved one. So even through all the intricacies of the subplots, the arc story (and its finale) always remain on the horizon.
To put it short, the movie is a masterpiece. The acting is strong, the scenes are breathtaking and overall, so much attention has been put to details that it feels like a labor of love more than a big production movie. I truly think that if French cinema was not so locked into producing crappy talkative movies about losers and failures, it could come up with a lot more movies as poignant as Engagement is. -
wglenn30 November 2004Un long dimanche de fiançailles mixes romance and mystery amid the brutal realities of World War I, and though it's a solid film, it never reaches the greatness it strives for so earnestly. Unlike most of Jeunet's other films, it takes itself too seriously, lacking much of the director's wonderful humor and imagination. For some reason, Jeunet also comes too close in theme and setting to two much better works on World War I by Bertrand Tavernier: La Vie et rien d'autre (Life and Nothing But), in which a woman searches for her missing husband in the aftermath of the war, and Capitaine Conan, about a group of French soldiers at the time of the Armistice and beyond. In fact, the opening sequences of Un long dimanche de fiançailles that take place in the hellish fox holes on the front line look like they have been lifted from leftover footage from Capitaine Conan. I'm not sure why Jeunet would do this. Unfortunately for him, Capitaine Conan is one of the greatest films about war ever made and La Vie et rien d'autre has an emotional power and complexity that only serve to make one aware of how little of the same Jeunet is able to achieve in his own work.
Audrey Tautou is charming, of course, and one enjoys watching her on the screen, but she has to carry this heavy film on her back, without much complexity in her character to explore or another strong actor to work against. One also wonders if she will get stuck playing "Amelie" the rest of her career. She's a wonderful actress, but I find myself wanting to see her in a dark action film along the lines of Nikita. Something besides the same role over and over.
One of the few times Tautou gets a break in the film is when we meet Jodie Foster's character and spend some time with her story. This is one of the best parts of the film, and if the rest of the movie had had the same emotional urgency and passion as this sequence, it would have been a much stronger work.
Jeunet could also have spent more time on Manech and the other four soldiers around him. Their stories are interesting but it's hard to follow who is who at times, and we never develop a strong emotional connection with them. More time with them and less with Tautou's Mathilde might have helped the film move a little better. One of Jeunet's strengths in Delicatessen and Amelie was creating a terrific and dynamic rhythm. This movie drags much more than it has to, getting slower (and a bit disjointed) towards the end. The role of the detective, Germain Pire, provides a bit of comic relief and an element of mystery, but Jeunet pretty much abandons the character after a couple of scenes. The mystery aspect of the film is handled poorly in general, Jeunet turning something that could have been a real advantage into a dawdling storyline that holds little or no suspense.
Visually, Jeunet does a great job again, though there aren't as many striking moments as in his earlier works. The most resonant image in the film involves a soldier carving the initials of his beloved into a battle-blasted tree trunk in the middle of a grey, apocalyptic wasteland between the French and German fronts. And while the battle scenes are sometimes powerful, there is the sense that we have seen this all before.
Un long dimanche de fiançailles was an interesting choice for Jeunet's first movie after Amelie. From a commercial perspective, it seems like a risky choice, especially given the participation of Warner Brothers in putting up money for the film. This is definitely not a ready-made hit - the movie is too long and slow for that. Many fans of Amelie will probably walk away disappointed. I respect his willingness to take such chances, but I wish he had chosen a project that wasn't so melodramatic and pretentious in the end.
And one whose plot and war theme hadn't already been done better by another director. A decent but but not great film. -
On-Que2 December 2004The best film I've seen in at least two years. I WAS TOTALLY PREPARED TO NOT LIKE THIS FILM. The title made me fear that my favorite director had created a chick flick. This movie is amazing, the story is set up quickly and suddenly your running along with this amazing tale that sucks you in and fills you with hope, reminds you that no matter what others may think it is up to you to never give up. I can't wait till it's in theaters so I can see it again, and I can't wait till it's on DVD so I can own it. Maybe supremely jaded people might not like this film, they'll hide behind expensive words to mask the fact that, in life, they gave up. And this move is a reminder that they didn't have to. You need to see this movie, your family and friends do too, heck bring the dog. I'm so glad it's not a chick flick, and I'm so glad that Jean-Pierre Jeunet's craft continues to escalate with each film he does. MM.
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JasonTomes5 October 2006It is with some slight trepidation that I submit a negative verdict on 'Un long dimanche de fiancailles'. So many members of the IMDb evidently adore it. Precisely for this reason, though, I am disposed to air a contrary opinion, if only to reassure anyone else who may see the film, dislike it, and visit this website, that he or she is not alone.
'Un long dimanche de fiancailles' has an intricate and potentially affecting storyline about the unswerving devotion of a young Frenchwoman (Mathilde) to her fiancé (Manech), believed killed in the First World War. It also has a very inventive, painstaking, and distinctive director. Unfortunately, subject-matter and directorial style are badly mismatched. To give credit where it is due, the battle sequences are powerful and shocking (and it is no bad thing for those of us who have never encountered war to be reminded just how fortunate we are). The film as a whole, however, sinks under a gratuitous load of quaint gimmicks, irrelevant whimsies, and distractingly unreal beauty. Mathilde appears to pass her entire life in warm, soft, golden sunlight of a kind that the rest of us only ever see during particularly spectacular sunsets. Every back-drop resembles a painting or, at least, a very superior picture postcard.Every scene is pepped-up by the introduction of some superfluous remarkable feature, be it a tuba, an artificial hand, or a lighthouse. And the less said the better about the lurid sub-plot concerning Tina Lombardi. Desperate attention-seeking is the hallmark of this film.
Now, highly-coloured hyperactive artificiality can work very well in comedy - it did in 'Amelie' indeed - but this story of war, suffering, and love called for restraint and the art that conceals art. To swamp it with pretty pictures and quirky detail is tasteless and ineffective. 'Un long dimanche de fiancailles' might be likened to a lily that has been not merely gilded but set with rhinestones, fixed to a turntable, and illuminated by flashing neon. I found it quite impossible to suspend disbelief and accept Mathilde and Manech as real people in genuine situations. I was continually reminded that I was watching the elaborate efforts of an ingenious film-maker striving - oh, so very hard! - to provide non-stop diversion and show off his own cleverness. The film failed to engage my emotions; its relentless flashiness bored me. -
DigitalKarma91122 November 2004Dazzling, never before have I seen such a visually pleasing picture. Jeunet has mastered the film medium giving 'A Very Long Engagement' a unique and fairy tale like visual style. Though rushed, the fantasy romance that Jeunet paints through flashbacks is inspiring. The graphic World War I trenches, provide an excellent contrast to the simple but charming mystery that Mathilde embarks on through the film.
Although Jeunet relies heavily on Audrey Tautou's performance, it is ultimately his one of a kind visual style that emotionally ties the viewer. This said, the latter portion of 'Long Engagement' feels very rushed and isn't treated to the same elegance that so well defines the first half. There are moments in the film where the visuals far overshadow the emotional intensity intended for the scene. This is perhaps 'Long Engagements' only fault, as it becomes unbalanced. The stylized and even cartoonish artistic direction that Jeunet leans to, although brilliant seems I'll fit for this wartime drama. Even so, 'A Very Long Engagement' comes off genuine and it's mix of fantasy romance and war will let you leave the theater fulfilled. -
What a wonderful film! Let me just say this, it is one of the best foreign languages I have seen, along with Pan's Labryrinth, and this is coming from a 17 year old schoolgirl. The beginning scenes at the front were gut-wrenching and beautifully shot. Although the film is in french, I watched it with English subtitles, and could understand what was being said. The script was intelligent, focused and informative, though it does pale in comparison to the gorgeous cinematography, that is dark, brooding and haunting. The beautiful and powerful music score by Angelo Badalamenti was impeccable and rich, and helped convey the mood of each particular scene. The performances were astonishing, as was the direction by Jean-Pierre Journet. The always lovely Audrey Tautou gives a dazzling performance as Mathilde, a woman who embarks on a journey to discover the truth behind her lover's disappearance. The beautifully written script and the film's length, if a little long, allows plenty of character interaction, making this a genuinely moving and quite disturbing film to watch. 10/10 Bethany Cox
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This film was one of my top two favorites in the year it came out. (The other was Finding Neverland.) The combination of mystery and romance, as well as the historical time setting was really terrific. It should have been up for the Oscar as the nominee from France instead of The Chorus (also a better than average movie but not as good as this one). Cinematography was breathtaking. To anyone who says they did not care for it, I give them the same response that I give someone who says they did not care for LA Confidential: you must have only seen it once and were distracted or not paying full attention the one time you DID see it! There are so many men in the trench that Mathilde has investigate that it is easy to get them mixed up the first time through. You have to see it a second or third time to begin to figure out about Gordes, Celestin, Notre Dame and the rest. The casting for this film was really outstanding. Jodie, you rock, woman - in everything you are in!! Just a lush, fantastic film....at a time when there are few good romances in the movies.
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claudio_carvalho7 November 2005After the Word War I, the limp and superstitious Mathilde (Audrey Tautou) does not accept the disappearance of her fiancée Manech (Gaspard Ulliel) from the trenches of Somme. Manech and other four soldiers were accused of self-mutilation and sentenced to death by the Martial Court. However, no survival is able to state that Manech really died, and Mathilde invest her savings and hopes searching for him.
Yesterday I saw "Un Long Dimanche de Fiançailles" on DVD and I really found it a too long romance, sometimes very boring, but with beautiful cinematography and music score. For my surprise, this movie is among the IMDb Top 250, being completely overrated since the story is very weird, and although being a romance, there is no romanticism at all. Stanley Kubrick's "Path of Glory" is an anti-war masterpiece, and an excellent movie about the theme of soldiers sentenced to death in WWI by a French Martial Court. "Un Long Dimanche de Fiançailles" adds a tedious romance to a very similar storyline. My vote is six.
Title (Brazil): "Eterno Amor" ("Eternal Love") -
grannyjanny18 February 2007What a flick! This movie deserves a much wider audience. And if you're an American who's "allergic" to reading sub-titles, get over it. You owe it to yourself to watch this movie. The story sweeps you along and features an engaging cast, unbelievably fine production values, and cinematography that's like fine French paintings come to life.
"A Long Engagement" is by the same director as "Amelie," Jean-Pierre Jeunet. It also features the same Audrey Tautou in the lead role. But whereas "Amelie" played like an amusing soufflé, "A Long Engagement" is darker and earthier, like truffles dug out of French soil.
Tautou plays a crippled girl who won't give up searching for her fiancée, reportedly killed by his own troops for self-mutilation during World War I. The scenes in the trenches of the Somme are some of the most horrific war scenes ever. The setting of the First World War was what drew me to the movie. The "Great War" has been overshadowed, in history and certainly in cinema, by the Second World War. But as director Jeunet shows so powerfully in "A Long Engagement," it was a war with unique terrors and a story we have yet to understand.
So watch the movie. Then take the time to also watch the "making of" extras on the DVD. It shows the love French people have for the art of movie making--a love which shows on every frame of "A Long Engagement." -
jboothmillard17 February 2019This French film was formerly one featured in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, it was rated well by the critics, I didn't know anything about it before reading about it, it certainly sounded worthwhile, directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Delicatessen, Alien: Resurrection, Amélie). Basically during The Battle of the Somme in the Second World War, five French soldiers are convicted of self-mutilation, getting themselves deliberately shot, in order to escape military service. One of these court-martialled, wounded soldiers is Manech (Hannibal Rising's Gaspard Ulliel), who along with the others, is condemned to face near certain death in the no man's land between the French and German trench lines. It appears that that all of them were killed in a subsequent battle, but Mathilde (Audrey Tautou), the fiancée of Manech, refuses to give up hope. She begins to uncover clues as to what actually took place on the battlefield. She is driven by the constant reminder of what her fiancé had carved into one of the bells of the church near their home, MMM for Manech Aime Mathilde (Manech Loves Mathilde; a pun on the French word aime, pronounced "M", in English it means "Manech's Marrying Mathilde"). Along the way, Mathilde discovers the brutally corrupt system used by the French government to deal with those who tried to escape the front. She also discovers the stories of the other men who were sentenced to the no man's land as a punishment. With the help of a private investigator, she attempts to find out what happened to her Manech. The story is told both from the point of view of the fiancée in Paris and the French countryside, mostly Brittany, of the 1920s, and through flashbacks to the battlefield. In the end Mathilde finds out her fiancé is alive, but Manech is suffering from amnesia. When they are reunited, he seems to be oblivious of her, all Mathilde can do is sit on the garden chair silently watching Manech with a smile, and tears in her eyes. Also starring Jean-Pierre Becker as Lieutenant Esperanza, Dominique Bettenfeld as Ange Bassignano, Clovis Cornillac as Benoît Notre-Dame, Marion Cotillard as Tina Lombardi, Jean-Pierre Darroussin as Benjamin Gordes, Jodie Foster as Elodie Gordes, Jean-Claude Dreyfus as Commandant Lavrouye, The Missing's Tchéky Karyo as Capitaine Favourier, Amélie's Dominique Pinon as Sylvain and Julie Depardieu (Gérard's daughter) as Véronique Passavant. Tautou gives a good performance as the devoted fiancée doing everything, she can to find her lover, Ulliel is fine as the missing lover, and in their small parts Cottillard and Foster do very well also. I will admit it was difficult to follow at times, having to read subtitles at the same time, but the wartime scenes, full of bloody violence in the trenches, are very memorable, the love story element is nice, and it works reasonably as an investigation plot, all in all it is a worthwhile romantic drama. It was nominated the Oscars for Best Cinematography and Best Art Direction, it was nominated the BAFTA for Best Film not in the English Language, and it was nominated the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film. Good!
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acorral-126 April 2005Despite the fact that Audrey Tautou is simply adorable, this movie is great because the director (Jeunet) had the ability to reflect the horror of war. I think that the difference between this film and many others is the simplicity of the characters. Common people involved (some cases against their will) in atrocities and desperate to find a way out to that hell. An that's exactly the main issue around the plot: five characters accused for a martial court to death penalty because they shoot their selves in the hand to return home. One of the characters has a fiancé waiting for him (Mathilde interpreted by Tatou) and after some confusing episodes, military authorities decided to declare him dead on action. Mathilde convinced that his love is alive starts an investigation to find out the true about the facts related with those 5 men. Apparently there were a lot of misunderstandings and each clue conducts to an imprecision or another episode. During the film Jeunet involves in a brilliant way all the characters to tell us the history of one specific moment during the First World War: five French soldiers abandoned between their and enemy lines with the specific goal to get them death. Suddenly there is a surprising attack and a big confrontation occurred. During the chaos, death bodies and confusion the destiny of the prisoners is unknown. Mathilde's obsession is trying to found out what happened. She has the feeling that his fiancé remains with live somewhere, but someone is hiding vital information. She starts to search and figures out piece by piece the complicated puzzle.
This love history is full of romanticism, but at the same time shocking scenes about the war and its atrocities were well developed. In particular there is one short shot where a woman is executed using the guillotine. Realism achieved and art direction/ set decoration is magnificent. The movie has another Jeunet's feature: comedy. There good scenes with hilarious situations and as the same way he did in Amelie, he combined perfectly drama, intrigue and comedy. I recommend to everyone to watch this film and have a good time. -
deadmanjones2 September 2006It's difficult not to viscerally engage with anything Jeunet does, especially if it features Audrey Tautou's bottom. His visual flare continues to delight in this latest WW1 tale. That flare has tamed slightly since the break with Caro and the brilliant if slavish homages to Gilliam that characterized his first two films, as befits the subject matter of this film and Amelie. Sadly though it is the storyline that encumbers A Very Long Engagement, and Jeunet's usual visual footnote approach does nothing to help. The film assaults you with an admitedly short but ever changing list of names and theories, that becomes so convoluted I found it difficult to care either way by midway through, even though the very title of the film gives everything away. The admonishments of the missus and the sobs coming from behind me in the cinema however suggests I'm just a miserable sod.
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philip-ct3 March 2006This is a well-crafted film, slow-moving but determined in its quest to prove that a love is still alive. There are some brilliant ways in which we get an insight into the workings of Mathilde's mind, through voice-overs and an acknowledgement of her logic. Intuition rules and rules well! The film gives a clear picture of the horrors of WWI, and though there is no gratuitous violence, there is a filmic sense of the horror that the war "distils".
Shot primarily in browns and yellows, this has a feeling of a historical, docu-drama. It's a carefully conceived film, with some excellent supporting characters.
Be like Mathilde; don't give up on this film. It's worth the indulgence. -
stamper17 March 2005When I say that contrary to the film I can be short about going where I want to, it is obviously sarcastic. Sadly, it is also true. Un long dimanche de fiançailles just has too many flaws. First of all, the film itself and some scenes especially are unnecessarily long. It seemed to me at times as if Jeunet has never heard of the concept of editing to make a film move faster. A technique that would have come in very handy in keeping the Miss Marple like characteristics of the film seem exciting and thrilling in the long run. This immediately brings me to my second point. The whole film just seems to slip from genre to genre, but not as though as incorporating many genres into one whole. Rather the film seems to take bits and pieces from every genre and in the end falls short in generating a whole. I for one cannot say whether this is drama, war, comedy, fantasy, or romance and honestly I feel as if I've seen bits and pieces of everything, with nothing being followed through until the ending.
Another thing that bugged me about this film, was that it was way too complex. While this also made the film longer than it needed to be, it was the interaction of the complex story , the slow pace and the lengthy shots that made the film boring at times. You just didn't care after an hour and a half or so. You just wanted Jeunet and his colleagues to get on with it and end the whole thing.
When I give all this criticism, it almost sounds as if everything about this film is wrong. That is absolutely not true. The things I just criticized, stood in the way of this film being great and made it average. There were however some great moments too. Take for instance the 'match lighting scene'. I thought it was very sweet and funny and truly an example of beautiful film-making. Moments like those didn't last long enough though and got lost in the intricate web that makes up this truly long engagement.
6 out of 10 -
keith-28318 January 2005Reading through other comments about this film, I wonder if its the same film we saw. I personally found it deeply unsatisfying and a was majorly disappointed (as were the rest of my group who saw it).
Visually sumptuous, no question: lovingly crafted, without doubt: humane story with all the emotions, definitely. But somehow, in spite of all the cinematic visual, aural and emotional strings being pulled in every direction, the film was totally unengaging. End result was simply one of simply watching the story unfold rather than being drawn into the quest of finding the fiancé, post WW1. Virtually all the characters, with the exception of the fully rounded (literally) aunt and a superb Jodie Foster, were two dimensional.
Disappointing. -
Vincentiu24 March 2007A gorgeous film about love, search, hope and fight. Colors from "Amelie", touching Gaspard Ulliel, delicate performing of Audrey Tautou, impressive presence of Jodie Foster. And flavor of a lost world, so persistent, so heavy, so ambiguous.
A splendid French adaptation of a novel but, more important, a subtle exploration of miracle's rules. At first sight, it is a story about believe. At the second- hope in the skin of nostalgic images. But in fact, it is end of innocence. Manech is not the boy-friend, the good guy from an old lighthouse, he is the sense of Mathilde's existence. The poor signs to know if he is alive, the contact with lives of others, the postman like angel of new part in interior universe, the joy and the final silence are elements of a intangible miracle.
That is the motif to discover this film like second part of "Amelie Poulain". Same director or same actress are irrelevant details for explain the feeling because the message is more important than any definition. The principal character are not the war/ search/love/ sacrifice/hope. The fundamental problem is the sense of life, yesterday or tomorrow, the gestures of world's discover, the taste of miracle and the touch of his shadow.