Endearing
Steve | Virginia | 01/03/2010
(4 out of 5 stars)
"A Very Long Engagement caught my eye because it was the work of a gifted director and actress who teamed up for one of my favorite movies of all time, Amélie. I hoped for the same kind of breathtaking visual feast and empathetic story. I was not disappointed.
While Engagement is decidedly graver, it nonetheless has its charm and thanks to the remarkable Audrey Tautou, the driving character in the movie captured my interest and carried me through this densely woven and mysterious plot. Tautou is a treasure as the main character Mathilde, a young girl obsessed with getting to the truth behind her young lover's disappearance while fighting in WWI. The characterizations of this girl are brilliant and it is impossible not to be taken in by her methods of determining fate. Foolishly, I thought I was the only one who did such things...
Filmed in sepia tones and loaded with gorgeous reproductions of WWI era France, director Jean-Pierre Jeunet lays out a fascinating tale of the enduring power of love and the dream smothering finality of war. He avoids overt anti-war lecturing in favor of the matter-of-fact starkness of ordinary people put in extraordinary circumstances. Films that deal with war are best when they avoid heroic clichés or preachy sentiments, opting for the commonality of human reaction. A Very Long Engagement is such a film.
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