A Very Long Engagement (Un long dimanche de fiançailles/2004) is Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s screen adaptation of Sebastien Japrisot's novel by the same name. Jeunet had read this magnificent novel, awarded the prestigious French Prix Interallié 1991 when it was first published. Since then, he dreamed about turning this love story with its war background into a film. However, to produce such a film requires time and money, much money…

Therefore, putting this particular project on the back burner for a time, Jeunet started more modestly in the feature film department, and collaborating with Marc Caro, directed Delicatessen (1991), which turned out to be an immediate commercial and critical success. This film was followed by another success (in spite of the film critics): The City of Lost Children (La cité des enfants perdus/1995), which lead to further recognition and a trip to Hollywood, where he directed Alien: Resurrection (1997). Between these last two productions, Jeunet seriously thought about bringing Japrisot’s novel to the screen, as money seemed no longer the obstacle it once was. Soon, he made The Fabulous Destiny of Amélie Poulain (2001) (Le Fabuleux Destin d’Amélie Poulin) and that success finally opened the door, in 2002, to Amélie’s grandmother: Mathilde, and A Very Long Engagement (2004).

The Synopsis

Mathilde (Audrey Tantou), a young Breton woman, cannot believe that her fiancé, Manech (Gaspard Ulliel), nicknamed "Bleuet," soldier number 9692, is dead, "mort au champ d’honneur." "If he were dead, I’d know it," she says. In 1917, Manech, stationed on the front of the Somme, was sentenced to death, together with four of his comrades after the self-mutilation of their hands, as examples to the rest of the soldiers. The traces of the condemned men were lost in the mud of the battlefield trenches. In 1919, Mathilde, nineteen years old, still refuses to believe that her beloved died with his comrades under enemy fire in the no-man’s land before a trench named Bingo Crépuscule. Single-mindedly and stubbornly, Mathilde embarks on her own investigation into the matter, hanging onto a tenuous thread of rumors and a paucity of evidence. All through the film, holding back her tears, Mathilde is carried onward by her obsession that Manech is indeed still alive. Little by little, obstinately, and with great patience, she unravels the truth regarding Manech’s fate as well as that of his "accomplices in crime." The film oscillates between the mud of the battlefields of WWI and the slush of the lovers’ path.

The progression of the story is rather complex, but still relatively easy to follow, because the viewer uncovers at the same time as Mathilde the different elements of her investigation, which contribute to finding an answer to Manech’s fate. Therefore, it would be confusing, if not counter-productive, to try to narrate the twists and turns of the plot. This is where Hervé Schneid’s brilliant film editing comes in, facilitating the reconstruction of the puzzle (flashbacks, parallel events interspersed in the principal storyline, etc). Occasionally, Jeunet uses a voiceover (Florence Thomassin) to fill gaps, which speeds up the story, removes any ambiguities, and offers a denser interpretation for the viewer. Some people might find this technique annoying, but in Jeunet’s hands, it is well-rendered.

The Production

One is surprised to see at the opening of this very "French" French film the Warner Bros. logo. Warner Bos. had acquired the rights to Japrisot’s novel at the time of its publication, and the huge budget of foreign origins financing a typically French film created a polemic among the French film industry, which has yet to be resolved in court. Following Jeunet’s recent success in Hollywood, especially that of his latest film, Amélie Poulin, on both sides of the Atlantic and globally, Warner Bros. gave Jeunet total carte blanche. There are no doubts that it is a French film, made in the French language, with French actors. It talks about France, its heroic past, its folklore, and its inspiring landscape.

The adaptation of Japrisot’s novel, with its convoluted development, was far from easy, in particular due to the voluminous correspondence between Mathilde and her informants: in a film, one needs action, not lectures. Jeunet and Laurant (the scenarist of Amélie Poulin) solved the problem by substituting actual meetings for many of the novel’s letters, introducing new characters, such as the mailman (an homage, en passant, to Jacques Tati’s Jour de Fête/1949), and by using telephone communications, which in context are definitely an anachronism. Although we are in 1919, the telephones are omnipresent throughout the film, from the Gare d’Orsay and Gare du Nord train stations in Paris, to the quaint cottage on the Brittany coast, and even in a country church. There are other examples of Jeunet’s liberties with history, such as making crepes in a frying pan (in Brittany, no less) instead of using a "billig," or having Mathilde and her aunt going out in public without lace headdresses (in those days, only women of ill repute would have dared to do so). Furthermore, people in Brittany spoke Breton (a Celtic language), not French, as they still do to this day in many remote villages. But we will forgive Jeunet for these anachronisms, as his film after all is a romance rather than an historical document. Jeunet and Laurant also changed certain facts found in the novel, which would not have been appropriate for the film, such as having Mathilde be a limping victim of poliomyelitis, instead of being wheelchair-bound, following a childhood accident.

On the other hand, Jeunet, who is known as a very finicky director, even obsessive, did not hesitate to recreate some aspects of the story down to the most minute details, using some of the most sophisticated digital magic -- through it, we glimpse some of the Paris of the early 20th Century, which no longer exists: the Place de l’Opéra, the Trocadéro Palace, built for the Universal Exposition of 1878, the Orsay train station, before it became a museum, or Les Halles central market, "Paris’ belly," which disappeared in the 1960s, and which those who knew it rediscovered here with great pleasure.

The film’s mise-en-scène is brilliant. Jeunet’s biggest challenge came with the reconstruction of the Somme battlefield. To Jeunet, this was a very serious business: no fantasies allowed here, as this tragic historical moment could not be played with and betrayed. The group scenes, such as the charge under fire of the soldiers, are filmed with the kinetic art of an Eisenstein. The poignant scene of the landing on Omaha Beach in Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan (1998) also comes to mind. As all of the war scenes were to be filmed in exteriors, the technical constraints were serious. On a French military post, an area of 62 acres were transformed into a film studio, and several hundred yards of narrow trenches were dug out, filled with water and mud, and numerous shell holes, which had to withstand about the six weeks of exterior filming in the rain. Trees were uprooted and miles of barbed wire were laid out. Several miles of blue "horizon" material were used to fashion the military costumes, which, of course, were exact copies of those found in various French museums. Jeunet compiled a small back-story of the life in the trenches, letters of the soldiers who were at the front to their families, pictures, etc. Jeunet even required that each extra read Les carnets de guerre de Louis Barthas, tonnelier, 1914-1918, a famous diary of the author’s World War I experiences. On the other hand, Mathilde’s affection is portrayed with the innocence of an Amélie Poulin, with the freshness of pure love.

Of course, everybody would have recognized Audrey Tantou as the "star" of The Fabulous Destiny of Amélie Poulain, a fact that may have been detrimental to her after all. Her "fabulous" acting in this past film has certainly prejudiced many viewers who have the distinct impression of a déjà vu. However, if she, as an actress in the present film, still has a precise technique and the contagious humor of Amélie Poulin, she merely adds to it feelings. Although she may be more capricious than passionate, she retains her freshness and the sincerity which makes her performance deeply moving. Strangely enough, Mathilde is not so much the principal character of the film as she is a catalyst around which a multitude of other characters orbit. Gaspard Ulliel (Manech) is mostly a presence in the film through other people evocations, including Mathilde’s. At the end of the film, we still don’t know much about him except what others have told us, although he is pivotal to the story, and Ulliel fulfills this role marvelously.

The other actors, and they are numerous, are Jeunet’s usual gang of "fetish" actors, each one with his own remarkable and unique mug, who have followed him since Delicatessen, such as Jean-Claude Dreyfus, Dominique Pinon, Ticky Holgado (deceased, 2004), Rufus, etc, who are all familiar to Jeunet’s fans. Additionally, we have a group of well-established artists like André Dussollier, Clovis Cornillac, Marion Cotillard, and Jodie Foster. These actors are just a few among the many that Jeunet cast, each in the most suitable role possible. There are no misunderstandings here; everybody is "in tune."

Jeunet turned again to Angelo Badalamenti (The City of Lost Children) for the music. Badalamenti is David Lynch’s regular music composer (Lost Highway, Mulholland Drive, Twin Peaks). His music, full of sweeping nostalgia, is the keystone of the present film. With its first appearance at the story’s beginning, as it accompanies the heart-wrenching trench scenes, it firmly fixes in our subconscious the horrors of the war, which then permeate the rest of the film to its conclusion.

In the dialog we find many one-liner jokes, popular sayings, and plays on words that cannot readily be translated into English, and which, in the process of subtitling, have unfortunately lost most of their poetry and wittiness. I guess for those of you who are persnickety, you will have to do what Jodie Foster did... Such types of lines and rejoinders are found throughout the film, conferring a bitter-sweet atmosphere to the film, as Jeunet tried to prevent his film from turning into a simpering tear-jerker. The witticisms are the film’s "safety valve," preventing us from being overwhelmed by the depiction of war’s ignominy.

Jeunet’s films have always been known for the brilliant coloring of his film and his use of sepia and yellow filters to alter the images. This film is no exception, as all the scenes are colored. The war scenes are in crepuscular grey-bluish tones, blue "horizon" like the color of the soldiers’ uniforms, well-suited for the events they depict. However, as a contrast, Jeunet colors all the other scenes in sepia/yellow, a practice which after a while becomes disturbing. Why color the naturally beautiful landscapes of Brittany? On the other hand, this artificial coloring is favorable for creating a kind of fairytale atmosphere, which is certainly appropriate to the story.

Theme

With A Very Lomg Engagement, Jeunet denounces wars, and the politicians and militaries who instigate them for their own benefits. In a exceptional mise-en-scène, Jeunet shows us the miseries, both physical and psychological, inflicted by wars on human beings. We are in the trenches of WWI, on the Somme front, with the French "poilus," ("the hairy ones"), as the grunts were then known. They are waiting for yet another meaningless assault on some meaningless enemy position, most likely just to please someone in the upper command who, safe from harm, decided on a whim or a hunch to order such assault, which he hopes will reflect positively on him and bring him glory, a medal, and maybe a promotion.

Poilus were renowned for their courage, doggedness, and endurance. However, they were not passive followers of orders. At the disastrous Chemin des Dames offensive of 1917, under General Robert Nivelle (another hero-genius), they were said to have gone into no-man's land baaing in black self-parody, acting like the lambs to the slaughter their commanders apparently took them for. Outstanding for its mixture of horror and heroism, this spectacle proved a sobering one. As the news of it spread, the French high command soon found itself coping with a widespread mutiny. A minor revolution was only averted with the promise of an end to such costly offensives.

World War I, referred to in some history books as the "Great War," was a masterpiece in perfecting the horrors that only men are capable of inventing. But "great," in what sense? Certainly not in the sense of "illustrious," or "noble," or even "heroic," although in their state of misery and desperation, the soldiers on both sides of the trenches were heroic. This war was indeed the "mother of all wars," whose battles produced some of the largest mass graves ever. One of its main battles was the battle of Verdun, also known as the "mincing machine of Verdun." Just imagine a battle which lasted eleven months – 21 February until 21 December, 1916, resulting in more than ONE million casualties, half of them killed outright. The "artists" of such a slaughter were General Eric von Falkenhayn and Prince Wilhelm (later known as "the butcher of Verdun") on the German side, and General Joseph Joffre and General Philippe Petain on the French side. All of these legal assassins got praises for their "heroism," medals, and promotions, entirely won on the backs of the million poor souls who had never asked to be there in the first place. Military historians all agree that the butchery of Verdun hardly resulted of any tactical advantage for either side.

The action of the present film takes place at another ill-conceived battle, the battle of the Somme, a counter offensive made to relieve the pressure on Verdun. It started on July 1, 1916. In this single day, the British infantry suffered 57,470 casualties! When it all ended six months later, after 420,000 British, 200,000 French, and about 600,000 German casualties, the Allied forces were still 3 miles short of their first day’s objective… Of course, "humanity" has made progress since that time: the battle for Stalingrad during WWII lasted about six months, resulting in some two millions casualties. However, the "rules" had changed, as part of this hecatomb also includes civilians, euphemistically referred to as "collateral damages," who have now become fair game.

Thanks to this legal assassin elite, together with its politician counterpart, a whole generation of young men was sent to the slaughterhouse, wiped out in a few years. What is this called, a "generacide?" There were no round-ups, just a mobilization. Nobody wore a yellow star, just a uniform. And there were no death-camps, just battlefields, or better yet, "fields of glory." Jeunet, however, is careful not to paint all the military commanders with the same brush, contrasting the vile and disgusting Commandant Lavrouye (Jean-Claude Dreyfus), with the honest and compassionate Captain Favourier (Tchéky Karyo).

Jeunet, having taken by his own admission Stanley Kubrick’s remarkable Path of Glory (1957) as a model, films the war and its trail of misery, shows great care to stay within the bounds of credibility, devoid of any epic elements which would magnify and glorify war, and would distance us from the small men overcome by History’s mayhem. Jeunet shows us the death sentences handed down for the slightest pretext, to the whim of the superior commanders and their sense of moral superiority and righteousness, while themselves hiding from combat and living in luxury. He confronts us with the despair of men who are at the end of their wits, who cannot bear any longer the carnage that never ends, notwithstanding the fact it gives some individuals the opportunity to rise in their positions thanks to their hate of other people’s lives, their taste for torture and sadism, their mental imbalance and psychology, all of which derive from the worst schizophrenia used by politicians and military brass to achieve their unspeakable aims. I will abstain from drawing any parallels with the present situation in the Middle East.

Jeunet brings to life the wizened, taciturn men one sees every evening at 6:00 pm, with their breasts overflowing with military medals, walking up the Avenue of the Champs Elysees in Paris, toward the Arc of Triumph. Those men go to symbolically revive the Eternal Flame on the tomb of the WWI Unknown Soldier (is he French or German?), the same unknown soldier who became Major Delaplane’s (Philippe Noiret) last concern, in Tavernier’s inspired Life and Nothing But (1989). Many of them were the poilus in that war, or some other wars later on. Thanks to Jeunet, they are no longer folkloric shadows walking up the great avenue, and we are a little bit more knowledgeable regarding their past.

Nevertheless, Jeunet’s film ends on a note of genuine optimism. A Very Long Engagement’s theme is also the conflict between bestiality and love: war tears lovers asunder, and love has to conquer all. Mathilde is relentless pursuing the truth regarding the fate of Manech, knowing in her heart that, against all semblance of reality, and just because she loves him so truly, he must be alive, no matter how overwhelming or horrible the war was. Jeunet tells us that Love can win, and his film is full of optimism, as he concludes with the lovers’ reunion and the human spirit’s victory over bestiality.

A Very Long Engagement is a deeply moving film, in which, once more, Jeunet shows that he can master complex projects. This film, for which Amélie Poulin was the rough draft, is a total success on all accounts, adaptation, camera, casting, mise-en-scène.

This review is that of a DVD distributed by Warner Bos. home video Inc. The film is presented in a "matted" widescreen format preserving the aspect ratio of its original theatrical exhibition. The film is in color, the audio is in French, Dolby Digital 5.1, with removable English, Spanish, and French subtitles 113 minutes, and runs 113 minutes. There is a second DVD with several interesting features: A long commentary on the making of the film, by director Jean-Pierre Jeunet (in French with English subtitles); Deleted scenes with Jeunet’s commentary; Paris in the 1920s; Before the Explosion, a documentary about the Zeppelin explosion.


Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age