A Very Long Engagement - Japrisot/Jeunet

With this review, I complete my review hat-trick of movies by Jean-Paul Jeunet – a feat I’m happy to boast about simply because the greatness of this film maker is fait accompli and I’ve watched three of his creations now! In A very long engagement, he makes a splash with his award-winning team of Audrey Tautou, and Dominique Pinon (who seems to be his lucky mascot appearing in all the movies I watched) and even Dreyfus.

Like his previous movies, this one has a strange and eccentric mix of characters, including an orphan, physically challenged protagonist, a very belligerent setting, a rather memorable romance between two offbeat characters, and a bit of woolgathering.

The movie starts with the court martial of five French men, on account of voluntary self-mutilation (making oneself handicapped or useless to avoid participating in the war is considered a crime punishable by death), during the rather chaotic World War 1 period. The men are led into a trench called the Bingo Crepuscule and left to become the targets of German shooting practice in the no-man’s land. Few days later, notifications are sent out to their families informing them of their demise in the battle. Simple enough! Only there is a lot of twist in the tale and it’s not as straightforward as it seems.

Delving into the past of each of the five men in their pre-war mundane lives– a farmer, a pimp, a mechanic, a carpenter and a fisherman – the narrator takes the viewer on a vicarious trip.

About two years later, Mathilde Donnay (Tautou) a cripple who has exemplary imagination, serenity, philanthropy and faith coupled with an indomitable will, gets a letter and some paraphernalia (including a photograph of the five men before their execution) of the five men from a dying soldier who tells her about his meeting with her fiancé – Manech – before he died. Something doesn’t seem right and she embarks on a long journey to find the truth, and the love of her life. She hires a detective, using up most of her inherited money in the pursuit of her lover, who may be alive or dead. After a sinuous investigation into the events by talking to many involved people, she finds out that Manech is alive but has lost his memory after the war. The entire investigation makes her come in contact with the family members of other prisoners who are facing their own conflicts and miseries, but discrepancies in different stories makes her suspicious of the certainty of death of her lover. Parallely, the paramour of another character takes up the job of avenging his death by killing all the officers responsible for the death of her man. Relationships, friendships, loyalty, estrangement and reconciliations have also been taken up in separate threads in the movie. In the final scene, Manech and Mathilde are reunited, and she stares at him with her hungry eyes, like two lovers whose romance has just started afresh. Perfect ending to the perfect tale!

According to a fellow cinephile with whom I agree, the only flaw perhaps in this movie is the introduction and treatment of various characters and subjects that make this movie not only longer than it could be, but also superfluous in parts. With so many explanations and threads, the audience loses track of what is happening, and my bad understanding of French doesn’t make things better.

However, that is the ONLY flaw I could perceive. The movie is pretty much perfect, and characters – endearing yet forceful. Tautou continues to dazzle as an unusual protagonist, Mathilde, with her childlike faith, and a certain love for life, combined with the overwhelming intensity that she imbibes as a woman who has loved and lost – It’s an ironic wholeness that could have been only incorporated by an actress of her stature. She has these crazy conditional notions which cement her belief that her loved one is well and will reunite with her (if a dog comes into the room before she’s called for dinner, then Manech is alive; if the train passes through the tunnel before she count to 7, he is safe; If she peels the skin off the apple in one piece, he is alive, and so on).

According to many sources, this movie is based on a book by the same name (by Sebastian Japrisot). I haven’t read it, but I’ve heard that the book’s more convoluted than the movie. However, the book amplifies the beauty of the story and does more justice to the story. Can’t wait to get my hands on it now! Recommendations anyone?

Reunited - The beautiful conclusion to A Very Long Engagement