A Very Long Engagement

I finally saw A Very Long Engagement earlier this week. This film came out before Christmas and made a lot of critics' best of 2004 lists. It is, in part, a love story, has the same director and star as Amelie, and is in French with English subtitles - but that is where the similarities with Amelie end.

The plot is in the form of an unfolding mystery set in the years just after the First World War. The main character, Mathilde, is trying to figure out what happened to her lover, Manech, who was court-martialed and sentenced to death for self-mutilation (while on the front lines) to avoid combat. She has had somewhat mystical experiences that lead her to believe that he may still be alive, even though as the movie starts it is early in 1920 and she has not heard from him.

I had some concerns going in whether Audrey Tatou would be effective in a dramatic role. She was pixie-cute in Amelie but didn't seem to have much depth. After watching this film, I would say she was good, not great, at this. The film is carried by the overall quality of the ensemble cast and not by any stand-out lead performances.

There is some dark humor in this film, but also a significant amount of realistic depiction of war. There is some thematic similarity to Cold Mountain, but overall I would say this was a vastly superior film. …Engagement avoids the two biggest pitfalls of Cold Mountain: no blatant tear-jerking, and a more believable connection between the romantic leads. It does, however, oddly share two other problems: a disruptive cameo, and a prominent character speaking out of accent (actually, in this case, native language).

The film looks great. Most of the film is sepia-toned, which gives a sense of historicity. The war scenes are sufficiently real. (Having said that, there was a sequence that reminded me of Black Adder with a useless officer far, far from the front.)

Bottom line: If you are interested in this film, you should see it. In my opinion it was very much worth the full price ticket.

(Dominique Pinon is as always great. I just looked on IMDB and had no idea this guy was getting so much work outside of Jean-Pierre Jeunet films.)