Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #15583 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-06-13
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Box set, PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: French
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 134 minutes

Synopsis
This World War I mystery finds limitless beauty in the nostalgia of loss. Directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, whose whimsical AMELIE riveted audiences, A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT also stars Audrey Tautou--the 21st century's Audrey Hepburn--in the stubbornly emotional role of a widow in denial. Here she is Mathilde, a waifish young woman with a pronounced limp from childhood polio. Living with her quirky aunt and uncle in a farmhouse by the sea, and waiting desperately for her fiance Manech (Gaspard Ulliel) to return from the war, she believes that if he were truly lost she would feel it in her heart. Thus, when the bad news arrives--Manech and five fellow soldiers were exiled to No Man's Land for shooting off their own fingers in hope of being discharged--Mathilde refuses to believe he is dead. Instead, she begins her own investigation into Manech's infantry, hiring a private detective and tracking down the wives and girlfriends of each of Manech's compatriots. Conducting countless interviews, Mathilde pieces together Manech's war stories--which are told in earthshaking flashbacks involving gruesome explosions, flying guts, and massive suffering. And yet, the all-in-this-together humanity of these awful scenes, and the heartfelt bravery with which Mathilde absorbs the details of each battle, is undeniably moving. Jodie Foster appears as Elodie, one of the widows, in a charismatic yet muted performance and with a flawless accent. However, the most intriguing of the widows is Tina Lombardi (Marion Cotillard), a thrilling dominatrix-assassin bent on avenging her lover. A timeless masterwork that raises the bar for breathtaking camerawork, vivid landscapes, and fantastical storytelling, A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT is adapted from the novel by Sebastien Japriscot.

Customer Reviews

My film of 2004
I rarely give five stars, but I feel that this film deserves it for a number of reasons.

It is both a fantastic spectacle, and at the same time very moving. In essence it is a love story set against the background of trench warfare on the western front in 1917. After the war, Matilda (played by the beautiful Audrey Tautou), a young woman from rural Brittany seeks to prove that her lover Manech (played by the equally beautiful Gaspard Ulliel) is not dead. Ulliel is a superb actor, who I first noticed when he seduced/was seduced by Charlotte Rampling in the comedy "Summer Things". His naive charm in this film moved this reviewer to tears.

Other reviewers have commented on how the first viewings can be confusing as you try to juggle the lives and subsequent histories of Ulliel's companions in the trench to find out if and how he survived. In this respect the central filling of this film's sandwich is not unlike an Agatha Christie murder mystery. But the beauty of this film is that repeated viewings enhance the experience, for it is shot in a beautiful autumn shimmer, with marvellous views of the Breton countryside and seascapes. The recreation of 1920s Parisian landmarks is a triumph of artistry and just goes to show how CGI can now enhance film.

One word about the editions. I would recommend the two-disc special edition. The extras are definitely worth it, showing how clever the production team has been in creating the brilliant effects both on the battlefield and off.

Some have complained about the apparent frivolousness of an Amelie-approach to World War One. Yes, Jean Pierre Jeunet does seem to have a signature in this film that mirrors his earlier work on Amelie, in particular the intorduction of trivial and yet interesting characteristics of his players, and the often hyperactive camera work, where the camera is never restful for long. But on balance I think the criticism is unfair. The film clearly shows the harrowing ordeal of life in the trenches and the injustices that were endured by the troops. The behind-the-scenes documentary clearly demonstrates the strenuous efforts that were made to portray the experiences in as realistic a light as possible. And it is ultimately Ulliel's experiences as shown in the film that makes the story all the more moving, not less.

I work in an arts cinema and see well over one hundred films there a year: this was my film of 2004.

So much more than Amelie goes to War!
Five soldiers deliberately injure themselves to escape the trenches. All five are sentenced to death - not by firing squad, but by the simple expedient of being driven out into no-man's-land, there to be killed by German fire.

The execution or judicial murder of troops in the First World War is not a theme which has been extensively developed in France. Stanley Kubrick's 1957 film, "Paths of Glory", explored the subject in detail, but was denied a French showing for nearly twenty years! The French response to 1914-18 has too often been to celebrate 'gloire' and extol the stoic virtues of the poilus who fought and were slaughtered at Verdun. National angst at executions has rarely been on the menu.

Jean-Pierre Jeunet's film, "A Very Long Engagement", makes prominent the responsibility of the French State for the deaths of exhausted, burned out, and scared Frenchmen. It is a central theme. For every man executed at the Front, there were women and families back home, praying for a reprieve, praying for a miracle.

Audrey Tautou plays a symbolic role ... or perhaps a role she has come to symbolise. Even the French media hailed the film as "Amelie goes to War!" Comparisons have refused to go away. Tautou has a childlike quality which the film exploits: her character, Mathilde, refuses to believe that her lover has died - with so many thousands missing, only the truly innocent would search for one lost soldier. But then, every missing man was important to someone. How many people lived out their lives in the hope that a husband or son or father or lover might still be alive, somewhere?

It's a love story, it's a war film, it's a detective roman ... with comedy and tragedy and drama aplenty. Jeunet portrays nostalgic images of France, trying to recapture a sense of the period. Mathilde's country cottage is all pastoral tranquillity. The trenches are muddy, gory, and loud with violence ... and will rapidly be filled in and restored to meadowland once the war is over, as if the nation can't wait to forget.

Jeunet shoots the film in faux sepia, giving it that contemporary feel, as if he has recorded the very years after the end of war. He departs, somewhat, from Sebastien Japrisot's novel - which he has described as having 'Ameliesque' qualities. Mathilde could be Amelie's grandmother - both films rely on the heroine's dynamic naiveté.

Sentimental in places, cute, quirky, romantic, with episodes of visual poetry, it's hard to describe "A Very Long Engagement" as an anti-war film. It certainly portrays the horrors in grim detail, but it is a portrayal which is somewhat neutered. Perhaps that is inevitable. It is seen from the point-of-view of Mathilde, so some of the images would be sanitised. And the underlying emotion is one of hope, of refusal to give up hope.

Jeunet does make the film more comedic than the book. Perhaps he felt he had to relieve the tension. Perhaps he was exploiting the talents of a wonderful ensemble of actors, for the civilian characters are certainly allowed to indulge in slapstick humour.

Jodie Foster gives a convincing performance as a French mother, trying to get pregnant so her husband will be sent home. She has a pretty much faultless French accent. Her role, meanwhile contrasts with that of Tautou's. Mathilde represents a gentler, more innocent sexuality and femininity. Foster gets quite wanton in her role, while the other major female character, Tina Lombardi, is a whore who parallels Mathilde's search for her missing man ... but with more deadly intent.

Mathilde remains frail, vulnerable - she wears a leg iron in the film, having succumbed to polio as a child. In the book, she is confined to a wheelchair, but uses her parent's riches and the family servants to overcome that handicap. Tautou only uses a wheelchair for occasional effect - to manipulate a couple of men. Otherwise, the leg iron becomes symbolic of her struggle against adversity, her indomitability. Sexually coy, she's the girl back home, the daughter you treasure, the iconic image of French femininity ... devoted, loving, faithful, the young girl who will grow to womanhood and motherhood and raise a nation. It's Joan of Arc, it's Marianne.

So, is "A Very Long Engagement" the exposure of a national wound, the pricking of the national conscience, the first shot in an attempt to restore the good names of all those Frenchmen who were butchered by their own side? Hardly. But it does deliver an Ameliesque blow - naïve, optimistic, tolerant, understanding. Maybe that's a start. Meantime, it's a very fine film ... and Tautou and Jeunet are apparently already talking about the next one they'll make together.

A complicated and moving epic
At first I thought I wouldn't like the film as the beginning is very bleak and violent with a long scene depicting the trenches in the First World War: it reminded me of the opening sequence of the film "Saving Private Ryan". The number of characters introduced during the opening sequences makes the story a bit complicated as one tries to remember who is who as they reappear later in the film. However, as the story unfolded I got more engrossed as to how the film would end. It's a high budget film with lots of impressive scenes, not least the war sequences, but also the streets of Paris in the 1920s full of authentic vehicles and lots of people. A cameo performance to look out for is Jodie Foster apparently speaking impeccable French!
Overall a moving story, excellently acted.