Review of Very Long Engagement, A

Introduction

There`s something infinitely interesting and disturbing about warfare during the Great War. All the accepted rules of war were thrown out of the window and for the most part giant trenches were dug all the way across the Front Line. Soldiers lived in these trenches almost permanently, breaking off now and then to go `over the top` and attack the enemy through No Man`s Land. The latter was a desolate place covered in barbed wire, shell holes, mud, blood and corpses. Any attempt to cross it was usually met with death, and lots of it. This, allied with the poor conditions for the average foot soldier, put tremendous pressure on those men who wilfully volunteered to serve their country (on both sides). Desperate men searched for a way to escape this hell on earth and find that `ticket to blighty`, to use the English parlance.

Jean-Pierre Jeunet uses this experience in his latest epic, A Very Long Engagement. A small group of men are court-martialled in 1917 for self-injury, each driven to it by their individual experiences in the trenches. Their punishment is to be forced into No Man`s Land via a trench called Bingo Crepescule, and left to survive as best they can.

In 1919, Mathilde (Audrey Tautou) refuses to believe that her fiancé Manech (Gaspard Ulliel) has been `killed on the field of battle` as the official notice states. Her reasoning is that the connection she shares with Manech is so strong and deep that she would know if he had died. Mathilde is lame, a result of a polio infection when very young, and an orphan, living with her aunt and uncle since the death of her parents many years before. They are wary of her clinging to her hopes and doubt Manech has survived, but are helpless to prevent her attempts to find out what happened and reluctantly help her.

The film follows Mathilde`s quest for the truth, searching through archives and hunting out eye-witnesses in an attempt to discover the real story. With each piece of new information, the story becomes a little clearer and there appears to have been a big cover-up, but she is not out there alone. The prostitute girlfriend of one of the condemned men believes her man is dead and is out to exact revenge on those she thinks are responsible.

Will Mathilde find the truth, and is her lover still alive?

Video

Some stunning visuals and a nice selection of shots used throughout the film. Some of the best shots are the sweeping tracking shots done either by helicopter or crane. A lot of CGI is also used in the film to recreate France in the 20`s but most of it is seamless.

Colouring of the frame is also quite important. The war scenes are bleached and tinted in much the same way as Band Of Brothers, although slightly more colour used. The main story concerning Mathilde is coloured with a yellow filter, although certain shots have re-emphasised colours on specific objects. I didn`t realise what had been done until I listened to the commentary. It`s quite a clever little technique that Jeunet uses here.

Audio

The very first thing you need to do is chooses a language for your subtitles, and there are lots of them and they`re all in alphabetical order. UK is on the last of four pages at the very end, so it takes a little while to get there. Mind, the very first one is Australian and that can`t be too different unless there are references to sheila`s or kangaroos (so why bother?).

Spoken languages are available in both French and German. Why a dubbed version was not produced in English god only knows, but still. As with all foreign produced films, you can`t beat the original soundtrack with subtitles. This way you get the correct intonation and feel the original true performance rather than someone reading off a script.

Features

Commentary with director Jean-Pierre Jeunet - spoken in French with subtitles. Very interesting commentary that doesn`t bore over its length. In fact, it`s a bit of a shame it`s not longer as this man clearly loves most of the actors he works with and realises that he doesn`t really have enough time to talk about them more.

Soundtrack promo - very short trailer-type thing advertising the soundtrack by Angelo Badalamenti

Making Of - very detailed documentary, well worth watching.

Before The Explosion - 12 minute featurette how the scene with the exploding balloon in the field hospital was achieved. Looks at the live action, the effects and the combining of the two.

Parisian Scenes - 13 minute featurette on recreating the look of 1920`s Paris. Very detailed and the presentation of this featurette is very well designed.

Deleted Scenes - a number of scenes with optional commentary from the director.

International and teaser trailers - do what they say on the tin…

Conclusion

This truly is a breath-taking film. Jeunet and his teams have done wonders with this adaptation of Sébastien Japrisot`s novel. Some of the story has changed, but most of the film is true to the book. The mix of war footage with domestic scenes is jarring, and deliberately so. The message of this film is clearly that war is stupid and futile, and I find it hard to disagree regardless of my own personal history. Spending years in a trench in disgusting conditions opposite an enemy that you knew you wouldn`t be able to defeat by advancing on him clearly took its toll on many brave men. In those days medical knowledge was not as far advanced, and so what would now be deemed as battle shock was simply thought of as cowardice in those days. The sentence for cowardice was invariably death, handed down by complacent and elderly Generals in a misguided attempt to instill discipline, and carried out by the men on the ground who would mainly have sympathy for the condemned men. This is clearly shown by Jeunet and illustrates how many many men died needlessly and how morale suffered as a result.

Back in the land of domestic bliss, Audrey Tautou is brilliant in her role as the lame Mathilde. I haven`t seen Amélie or any of her other films from her short but prolific career, but she is an extremely talented actress and I can`t believe that she hasn`t come away with any awards for her performance here. I note that she stars in the forthcoming adaptation of The Da Vinci Code, which hopefully will give her the wider international focus she deserves. Jodie Foster appears virtually uncredited in this film in a small role and gives a very stately performance as a married woman who has a brief affair with one of the condemned men in an attempt to get her husband sent home from the Front (you`ll have to watch it to find out how this works…). Foster speaks fluent French and seamlessly fits into this film, acting in French as if she was a native - well that`s the impression this non-fluent speaker took away. Foster also has a couple of short but reasonably explicit sex scenes to handle, which considering some of the rumours she has to put up with, might go a little way to redressing the balance.

At this point I feel I should also commend all the other actors in the film. Despite containing a large number of extras as well, I couldn`t see one bad performance anywhere. A phenomenal amount of actors appear within this story and they are all at the top of their game. Some credit should probably go to Jeunet for the working relationships he forged, but still it was a joy to watch a film bursting with good acting. There are good dramatic performances and some nice comedic touches, one of the most memorable being the `duel` between Mathilde`s Uncle and the cycling Postman with a penchant for skidding on the front path, spraying gravel all over the garden.

The cinematography and attention to detail are also quite phenomenal, and I see I`m using the same word again but I don`t care. The opening shots of the trenches really do set the scene well, and we are not let down when we see 1920`s France. The variety of shots that Jeunet has put together is fantastic, and the blend of real shots and CGI is quite something to watch. Jeunet uses many reference points for his look, old photographs and postcards, and alludes to them all in his commentary. There are also various nods to other films, but it would be churlish of me to run through them all.

If this had been a Hollywood production then people would be showering praise all over it and it would have made more of an impression at the Oscars. As it is, all I can do is tell you to just get hold of this magnificent film and don`t let it go…