A Reasonably Short Review of A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT
A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT is a beautiful film. Over the last 10 years, we’ve had many films that have called themselves epics (TITANIC, TROY, and COLD MOUNTAIN for example). While some of these films were the biggest Hollywood had to offer, they were a long way from the magic of David Lean. It took a Frenchman to remind us how.
(Interesting note: As of this writing, France has decided that this film is too American to compete in any French film competitions. This is due to its funding by Warner Brothers.)
A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT is based on the French best-seller. It is a story of undying hope in the face of horror. In this case the horror is World War I. Mathilde’s (Audrey Tautou) fiancé has been pronounced dead. Since the armistice, Mathilde has refused to believe this. She has searched for clues and survivors to prove the official death notice wrong. Why? Because her whole existence is based on hope. A hope forged by love.
Sound too simplistic? Perhaps to some, but to me it is one of lives basic truths. Hope is the emotion that keeps our gears turning. At its simplest it is like the flip of a coin. Either the glass is half full or half empty. Life is either impossible or full of possibility. In fact, hope can be so simple in its workings that it has taken on a mystique as abstract as the meaning of life itself.
Jean Pierre Jeunet knows this and he fills his frame with magical sights befitting such mystique. Children who are about to fall in love climbing a lighthouse to find it. The new lovers carving their intent to marry om tree, stone and church bell. Mathilde’s wager games to keep her hope alive like betting herself that, if she can make it to the bend in the road before the car that is taking her love to war, he will come back to her alive.
Throughout her search, Mathilde encounters other people who have fought to keep their hope in the face of a brutal war (and be forewarned, this is a film that doesn’t shy away from the brutality of war. Not so much with gore, though there is plenty, but with the sense of human loss). Through their failures and successes, we learn that hope is not reserved to any one person. We all strive to attain it. For those of us who lose it, the despair can drive us to mad things much like the film’s Corsican courtesan and her vendetta against those who robbed her of this basic need.
A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT is Jeunet’s follow up to AMELIE, another film about how hope can lift you up. The two films even share the same style of storytelling even if one is a period drama and the other a tale of whimsy. Jeunet knows the threads that connect his two works. They are the threads that connect us all whether we are trying to recover from the War To End All Wars or just trying to live.
(Interesting note: As of this writing, France has decided that this film is too American to compete in any French film competitions. This is due to its funding by Warner Brothers.)
A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT is based on the French best-seller. It is a story of undying hope in the face of horror. In this case the horror is World War I. Mathilde’s (Audrey Tautou) fiancé has been pronounced dead. Since the armistice, Mathilde has refused to believe this. She has searched for clues and survivors to prove the official death notice wrong. Why? Because her whole existence is based on hope. A hope forged by love.
Sound too simplistic? Perhaps to some, but to me it is one of lives basic truths. Hope is the emotion that keeps our gears turning. At its simplest it is like the flip of a coin. Either the glass is half full or half empty. Life is either impossible or full of possibility. In fact, hope can be so simple in its workings that it has taken on a mystique as abstract as the meaning of life itself.
Jean Pierre Jeunet knows this and he fills his frame with magical sights befitting such mystique. Children who are about to fall in love climbing a lighthouse to find it. The new lovers carving their intent to marry om tree, stone and church bell. Mathilde’s wager games to keep her hope alive like betting herself that, if she can make it to the bend in the road before the car that is taking her love to war, he will come back to her alive.
Throughout her search, Mathilde encounters other people who have fought to keep their hope in the face of a brutal war (and be forewarned, this is a film that doesn’t shy away from the brutality of war. Not so much with gore, though there is plenty, but with the sense of human loss). Through their failures and successes, we learn that hope is not reserved to any one person. We all strive to attain it. For those of us who lose it, the despair can drive us to mad things much like the film’s Corsican courtesan and her vendetta against those who robbed her of this basic need.
A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT is Jeunet’s follow up to AMELIE, another film about how hope can lift you up. The two films even share the same style of storytelling even if one is a period drama and the other a tale of whimsy. Jeunet knows the threads that connect his two works. They are the threads that connect us all whether we are trying to recover from the War To End All Wars or just trying to live.
posted by FHW | 8:30 AM
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