re:mote voices

Title: A Very Long Engagement
Cast: Audrey Tautou, Gaspard Ulliel, Jean-Pierre Becker, Dominique Bettenfeld, Clovis Cornillac, Marion Cotillard, Jean-Pierre Darroussin, Julie Depardieu, Jean-Claude Dreyfus, Ticky Holgado, Tchéky Karyo, Chantal Neuwirth, Dominique Pinon, Elina Löwensohn, Jodie Foster
Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet

In 1917, five French soldiers were court marshalled and put over the top, into no-man’s land – where they would be picked off by the Germans or starve to death. As A Very Long Engagement opens we are introduced to these 5 men, given potted histories, who they were, how they were different, yet all cam to the same end. The first world war was a muddy hell, soldiers living in trenches, fighting in the waste land between – millions died. Caught in this, each of these men reached the end of the line, a point where they could go no further. With this each found a way to injure a hand, hoping an injury would have them sent home. Instead they were found guilty of self-mutilation and sentenced to death.

The youngest of these men was Manech (Gaspard Ulliel), barely 20, and leaving his fiancé Mathilde (Audrey Tautou) behind. But even by 1920, with the war done, and no news of Manech’s survival, Mathilde remains convinced that somehow he is still alive. A Very Long Engagement is about true love, the way Manech broke through the walls Mathilde had built up after suffering from polio, till they were inseparable. Holding on to hope Mathilde sets out to discover what happened that day in 1917 and whether any of the men survived – chasing ghosts and rumour.

This sets up a journey, a puzzle piecing together events through letters, second hand accounts and tracking down the people that were there. So that the film flashes back and forth between 1917’s war, and the horror that goes with that, to 1920 and the hope of one woman driven by love. In this process we meet a range of characters, which is as much about where Jeunet shines as he does with his highly distinctive visuals.

As with Amelie before, Audrey Tautou brings Mathilde to life. Spirited and full of the resolve that drives the film, even with the physical addition to the performance the history of polio adds. Something which she plays on, in a manner that leads to at least one scene reminiscent of the UK comedy Little Britain. After the success of Amelie, Tautou has been haunted by that part – such that everything she has done since is held up unfairly to that film. With Mathilde she is given a much more intense and exacting role, and she again shines under Jeunet’s direction.

A Very Long Engagement is something of a departure for Jean-Pierre Jeunet. But then having established a certain style with his first two films Delicatessen and City Of Lost Children, everything since has been something different, regardless of how they still demonstrated his touch. A trip to Hollywood gave us Alien Resurrection, followed by his biggest hit and most light-hearted outing Amelie. Of course with a success like Amelie, the question is what next? Amelie 2 was never a real consideration, even if something some would have liked. Apparently he turned down a chance to do Harry Potter and The Order Of The Phoenix, and while he was interested in Yann Martel’s The Life Of Pi, he couldn’t find enough space to express himself in the context.

Jeunet had a strong interest in the first world war, which no doubt has a particular resonance in France given how the signs of the conflict on French soil last to this day. From that interest he read Sebastien Japristo’s novel A Very Long Engagement, and part of him had always been interested in making it into a film. With that he delivers a fine balancing act between a love story and an indictment of war, with his touch evident throughout. So that there are as many scenes in A Very Long Engagement that will stay with the audience to the same degree as the characters.

All of this despite various problems. Because of the involvement of American companies in the film production there was a move to disown it as a French film – preventing it from receiving funding that would go to French films, or French awards. With that Jeunet has run up against similar problems to someone like Zhang Yimou, with House Of Flying Daggers/Hero, in that there is criticism of how he represents his country and history. But with that Jeunet is one of those directors who transcends his peers, creating a field of his own.