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A Beautiful, Significant Film
by KatherineH (movies profile)
Jun 16, 2006
9
of
12 people found this review helpful
If you go into "A Very Long Engagement" expecting a film like Jeunet's "Amelie," you may be a bit disappointed. But this new film from the French director has a beautiful, individual quality and it is able to stand on its own.
Perhaps the most striking aspect of the film is the cinematography - the film is saturated with some of the most bewitching visuals in films today - including sweeping aerial shots of wheat fields and blue-colored scenes of no man's land and the muddy, monstruous trenches of the First World War.
At times, the film seems to get lost in its own cleverness; it is a contrived storyline, a very deliberately presented mystery of sorts. In this way, the film falls into all kinds of categories: war epic, love story, and mystery. The progress of the story can seem a bit messy at times, but it concludes in a particularly touching manner. Still, I felt that my ultimate response was less emotional than it should or could have been - I felt a little worn out after being thrust into all the intricate specifics of the story.
"Engagement" is not like "Amelie" in that it details the intense and horrific character of war - it is a very real and disturbing topic that puts this film in a new realm. The film is not afraid to depict French soldiers shooting their own hands, not afraid to show men being used as human shields, not afraid to show the horrific ugliness of war. Audrey Tautou, as Mathilde, retains the charm of her previous films, but is intensely human. Jodie Foster makes an impact in her short but memorable French-speaking part.
"A Very Long Engagement" should prove to withstand the test of time - because it focuses on such universal human problems as to border on epic. On an artistic level, as well, the film is very strong, exhibiting some of the finest imagery in films today. Despite its flaws, "Engagement" had me at the end - in a golden garden on a sunny summer day Mathilde's eyes tell the whole story. |
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