Review of A Very Long Engagement (2004) by Cory T — 22 Oct 2008

I usually watch "A Very Long Engagement" two-three times a year and it is just as powerful, just as amazingly beautiful every viewing. Last night, I got to see the film projected on a large screen and was absolutely consumed. Jean-Pierre Jeunet is one of the greatest French filmmakers of all time, for he is able to perfectly balance love and war without drifting into thickly-laden melodrama. This is one of my favorite films of all time.

"A Very Long Engagement" embarks us on a journey for that most vain and resolute of emotions: love. Two young lovers, Mathilde and Manech, are separated by World War I and are given no cause for hope that they will be together again. The effectiveness of this film is that there is no concrete narrative structure; we receive just enough information and backstory at just the right moments to satisfy our ability to care for these people. Perhaps, then, it is simply because this is a French film that this technique works, for with most American films that follow such a format, audiences feel manipulated and force-fed.

Mathilde is courageous and stubborn, refusing to believe that Manech has died. "Would she not know if the love of her life had died? No matter, if no absolution came across the wire, she could always use it as a noose." This reminds me of chapter 8 of Song of Songs: "for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like a blazing fire, like a mighty flame. Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot wash it away.".

But some may say, "Oh, how silly! They're only 19!".

How silly indeed.

Mathilde has polio in her left leg, a condition she sometimes finds useable to her advantage. Also, she makes bets with herself. For example, "If I make it to the bend before the car, Manech will come back alive." I admit I cannot watch that scene and not be moved to tears. There is a deep emotional void touched in this scene that I cannot completely explain, but it is as if Jeunet knew my deepest thoughts.

Persistence is a key element to this film. These characters may be "so young," yes, but they have made enough memories, experienced enough passionate love to know that they have found their God-given partner. Everyone around Mathilde offers her no concrete hope, but she has her heart's certainty and *that* is enough.

One of the best things this film does is create respectful acknowledgements of war's impact. There is a big, mean world surrounding Mathilde and Manech and they are affected by its spinning. Still, they have each other's hearts. It is rare to see a film focus so surely on the narrow perspective one gets after falling in love- for your love becomes your sole heartbeat- while never letting them forget they are not the only ones alive... though it may seem so to them.

Marion Colltiard has an effective cameo (as does Jodie Foster) who plays a woman so enraged by her lover's killing that she seeks justice in her own form of vigiliantism. She is fighting for exactly the same thing Mathilde is, justice and truth, but is more concerned with justice than truth.

The ending of the film breaks my heart, but in a completely good way. My tears are those of joy and resolution, though Jeunet would not send Mathilde on a two hour journey to find her love and end alone. It is not that she finds him again, but what their love means given Manech's state.

"She looks at him... She looks at him... She looks at him.".