From Audrey Tatou and the director of "Amelie" comes "A Very Long Engagement," a unique romance-mystery-drama based around World War I. Considered too American by France, the film, which is spoken in French, filmed in France and is about French people, is, by most respects, a French film. And, considering the quality of the movie, I don''t know why they would disown it.
"A Very Long Engagement" follows Mathilde (Tatou), a 20-year old woman who is seeking to learn the truth about the love of her life, Manech (Gaspard Ulliel), who apparently died in combat in World War I. Sentenced to death for self mutilation in attempt to get out of fighting, Manech was sent into No Man''s Land, but despite all the clues that point to his death, Mathilde still has hope that he is alive somewhere. She sets out on a complicated journey to uncover the mystery, but finds that the truth is more difficult to obtain than she first thought. Is Manech alive, or did he truly die in 1917?
"A Very Long Engagement" is much like "Amelie" meets "Saving Private Ryan." It isn''t as good as either of those films, but it does have similar attributes to the popular French film - only with some gory war violence. Jeunet uses much of the same narration techniques as he did in "Amelie," introducing quirky characters and strange situations. There is humor to be found in the screenplay as well, but, of course, this movie isn''t as funny as "Amelie." There is war violence and Jeunet throws in a fair amount of gore, but as serious as the underlying theme of the film is, it is still fairly lighthearted in its presentation. More than anything else, "A Very Long Engagement" is very complicated, as, over the course of its 135-minute running time, Jeanet presents lots of characters, all of whom have their own perspective on what happened on the battlefield. If you don''t play close attention, you''ll become lost in the mystery. Oh, and there''s some woman running around murdering the officers who were involved with Manech''s battle.