A Very Long Engagement (French: Un Long dimanche de fiançailles, lit. 'A Long Sunday of Engagement') is a 2004 romantic war drama film, co-written and directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and starring Audrey Tautou, Gaspard Ulliel and Marion Cotillard. It is a fictional tale about a young woman's desperate search for her fiancé who might have been killed during World War I. It was based on the 1991 novel of the same name by Sébastien Japrisot. The film is a co-production between France and the United States. It was released theatrically in France on 27 October 2004 and in the United States on 26 November 2004. The film received Academy Award nominations for Best Art Direction and Best Cinematography at the 77th Academy Awards. Marion Cotillard earned the César Award for Best Supporting Actress, while Gaspard Ulliel won the César Award for Most Promising Actor.

Plot

Five French soldiers are convicted of self-mutilation in order to escape military service during World War I. They are condemned to face near-certain death in no man's land between the French and German trench lines. It appears that all of them were killed in a subsequent battle, but Mathilde, the fiancée of one of the soldiers, refuses to give up hope and begins to uncover clues as to what actually took place on the battlefield. She is all the while driven by the constant reminder of what her fiancé had carved into one of the bells of the church near their home, MMM for Manech aime Mathilde (Manech loves Mathilde; a pun on the French word aime, which is pronounced like the letter "M". In the English-language version, this is changed to "Manech's marrying Mathilde"). Along the way, she discovers the brutally corrupt system used by the French government to deal with those who tried to escape the front. She also discovers the stories of the other men who were sentenced to no man's land as a punishment. She, with the help of a private investigator, Germain Pire, attempts to find out what happened to her fiancé. The story is told both from the point of view of the fiancée in Paris and the French countryside—mostly Brittany—of the 1920s, and through flashbacks to the battlefield. Eventually, Mathilde finds out her fiancé is alive, but he suffers from amnesia. Seeing Mathilde, Manech seems to be oblivious of her. At this, Mathilde sits on the garden chair silently watching Manech with tears in her eyes and a smile on her lips.

Cast

Production

A Very Long Engagement was filmed in France over an 18-month period, with about 30 French actors, approximately 500 French technicians and more than 2,000 French extras. Right before the film's New York City and Hollywood debut, the film's production company, 2003 Productions, which is one-third owned by Warner Bros. and two-thirds owned by Warner France, was ruled an American production company by a French court, denying the studio $4.8 million in government incentives. The film had a production budget of €45 million (US$58 million), and earned $69.4 million in theaters worldwide. Joséphine Japy auditioned for the role of a child in the film. She did not get the role but she credits her encounter with Jean-Pierre Jeunet as being decisive in her desire to become an actress. Following the audition, Jeunet came up to Japy and standing at her height, said: "Joséphine, can I talk to you like an adult? Today, it won't be you, but one day, we'll meet again...". Japy said that Jeunet's words had a real resonance and made her "want to hang on, believe and keep going", and if Jeunet had not taken the time to say that to her that day, she might not be here [talking to the interviewer].

Release

Warner Independent Pictures released the film theatrically in the US, followed by VHS and DVD release on July 12, 2005. It was Warner Independent Pictures' final VHS release. A Blu-ray region B disc from Warner Home Video was released in France.

Reception

= Critical response

= The film received generally positive reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, 78% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 148 reviews, and an average rating of 7.40/10. The website's critical consensus states, "A well-crafted and visually arresting drama with a touch of whimsy". On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 76 out of 100, based on reviews from 39 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Peter Travers of Rolling Stone praised "miracle worker" Jean-Pierre Jeunet and called the film "an emotional powerhouse". Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote: "Jeunet brings everything together—his joyously poetic style, the lovable Tautou, a good story worth the telling—into a film that is a series of pleasures stumbling over one another in their haste to delight us." Manohla Dargis of The New York Times gave a negative review, stating that "Mr. Jeunet shows no interest in animating the characters in his dollhouse world".

= Awards

= The film received Academy Award nominations for Best Art Direction and Best Cinematography at the 77th Oscars, losing both to The Aviator. It was not selected as the French submission for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, in favor of The Chorus. Marion Cotillard won the César Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance, while Audrey Tautou was nominated for Best Actress.

See also

List of World War I films

References

External links

(in French) Official website A Very Long Engagement at IMDb A Very Long Engagement at Box Office Mojo

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