Review of A Very Long Engagement (2004) by Jens T — 25 Jun 2012

Jean-Pierre Jeunet, the man who brought you Amelie, now brings you a love story that lies beneath the horrors of war. But for a man who's fantasy-like and very romanticised style created Amelie, it's not pleasant to see him create his vision of war.

Many of Jeunet's favourite actors return in this movie, including and staring the lovely Audrey Tautou. A Very Long Engagement is about Mathilde who investigates the classified mystery of a group of men, including her fiancï¿ 1/2ï¿ 1/2 1/2 (C), who were sentenced for execution between the trenches of French and German lines in WWI. But Mathilde would know if her love was really dead. She would just know. And as it turnes out, what happened in that battlefield is more complicated than it appears. The thing about this movie is, it is more complicated than it appears. Really. This movie is full of false identities and new evidence and French politics that the amount of information you absorb becomes too much. but believe me, this movie is so compelling that you won't mind watching it over and over again to pick up the pieces. The mix of a tragic war story and a romantic love story is actually better than it sounds. And, like Amelie, this movie contains very quick humour and creative characters.

Jean-Pierre Jeunet is a wonderful director. One of the best. His style of filmmaking is so romanticised and fantastic you'll be completely entranced in his world when watching his movies. This movie is one of his best, mostly because it romanticises a pretty brutal, bloody and ugly side of war that hasn't been portrayed with such style since Apocalypse Now and Paths of Glory. The recreation of the 1920s' is amazing with the costumes, sets and enviroments you'll see when watching this movie. And my highest praise to the animators and special effects artists for the movie. A lot of this movie is used with green screen, but the amount of detail is masterful. And not to mention the soundtrack which is scored beautifully. This movie's style and cinematography, and everything, is absolutely perfect. Nuff said.

Frankly, I'm not a big fan of War movies. But A Very Long Engagement's use of a war story is pretty fantastic and original. Definitely one of my favourite movies that uses the War genre. The 'mystery' part of the movie might become overwhelming, but this is without a doubt a beautifully made movie with amazing preformances combined with a touching story, and it's pretty damn close to a 5/5 in my books.