A Very Long Engagement ( French title Un long dimanche de fiançailles (2004) is a gem of a film
, and I can thank the gales that knocked off "sky" and Chris' unfortunate absence to be able to sit down and enjoy it all over again tonight. Convoluted both in narrative and visual presentation, it is a breathtaking piece of work that tells the tale of five French soldiers , who are convicted of self-mutilation in order to escape military service during World War I. They are condem
ned to face near certain death in the area between the French and German trench lines. It appears that all of them were killed in a subsequent battle, but 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. The story is told both from the point of view of the fiancée in Paris and the French countryside of the 1920's, and in flashback to the battlefield. Audrey Tautou, a favourite of director Jean-Pierre Jeunet, is the somber glue that holds the piece together, but it is the visuals, filmed with an odd sepia/yellow hew that linger in the mind. The set piece where hundreds of French wounded and their nurses are trapped in a Zeppelin hanger, under attack by enemy mortars ( with the hydrogen filled dirigible still in it!) is visually stunning and has to be seen to be believed.
Mathilde's aunt,played by Chantal Neuwirth is constantly amused (in a very Amilee type way) by the flatulance of her dog. Every time the dog breaks wind she is heard to say gleefully "Doggie farts......lighten my heart!!"......................................where the hell does that come from?
, and I can thank the gales that knocked off "sky" and Chris' unfortunate absence to be able to sit down and enjoy it all over again tonight. Convoluted both in narrative and visual presentation, it is a breathtaking piece of work that tells the tale of five French soldiers , who are convicted of self-mutilation in order to escape military service during World War I. They are condem
ned to face near certain death in the area between the French and German trench lines. It appears that all of them were killed in a subsequent battle, but 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. The story is told both from the point of view of the fiancée in Paris and the French countryside of the 1920's, and in flashback to the battlefield. Audrey Tautou, a favourite of director Jean-Pierre Jeunet, is the somber glue that holds the piece together, but it is the visuals, filmed with an odd sepia/yellow hew that linger in the mind. The set piece where hundreds of French wounded and their nurses are trapped in a Zeppelin hanger, under attack by enemy mortars ( with the hydrogen filled dirigible still in it!) is visually stunning and has to be seen to be believed.Mathilde's aunt,played by Chantal Neuwirth is constantly amused (in a very Amilee type way) by the flatulance of her dog. Every time the dog breaks wind she is heard to say gleefully "Doggie farts......lighten my heart!!"......................................where the hell does that come from?
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