Film Review: A Very Long Engagement

This is a film about hope and despair in equal measures. The story revolves around Mathilde (Audrey Tatou), a lame outcast, who becomes best friends with Manech (Gaspard Ulliel), a boy in her village. The two become inseparable, and as they become older, their relationship becomes physical, and they eventually get engaged. During World War I, Manech gets the call-up to the trenches, and it's here that the mood shifts in the film. The sheer horror of the experience is beautifully conveyed in muted colours, and the direction skilfully captures the humanity amidst all the inhumanity.

In the blood and guts of the combat, troops would do anything to return home to their loved ones, including shooting themselves through their hands. Manech is one such soldier, but the French army is intolerant of these actions, so the offenders are sent into No Man's Land without weapons, surely to their death. Mathilde hears about his fate after the war, but unlike others never believes that her fiance is dead. She subsequently starts a search for him, which sends her seemingly everywhere; she is both cunning and determined in her quest, never giving up on her love.

This is a very powerful movie, and it's amazing in containing both shocking war footage alongside gentle humour and the obvious romantic thread that runs (in Mathilde) through the movie. But the director (Jeunet) manages to put his own flavour on every scene, so the war scenes border on surreal, and every soldier falling in the trench mud seems faintly whimsical. The quirkiness that Tatou had in Amelie is now apparent in the film locations themselves, which have a picture postcard look about them. The lead character herself shows a determination and hope that is both inspiring and sad, and Tatou's own contribution is with an enchanting performance even surpassing that in Amelie.

Like all Jeunet films, all the central characters seem lonely or outsiders, yet he cleverly manages to eke charm and complexity out of every single one. The visuals are stunning throughout, and aside from 5 minutes in the middle where my memory for French surnames was severely tested, and despite some of the harrowing subject matter, it is a uplifting experience. Recommended 8/10.