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Un Long Dimanche de
Fiançailles Directed by
Jean-Pierre Jeunet Jean-Pierre Jeunet returns from his 2001 Oscar-winning global success with Amelie, with another touching love story. Teaming up once again with Audrey Tatou, Un Long Dimanche de Fiançailles (or A Very Long Engagement for short) tracks a young woman's journey to discover the truth behind the mysterious disappearance of her fiancée. Mathilde (Tatou) refuses to believe the death of her lover Manech (Ulliel), who is presumed to have been killed in action, and sets out trying to find out what really happened. Anchored by excellent photography from Bruno Delbonnel, and adventurous art direction from Aline Bonetio, Engagement is illuminated with an epic elegance. The incredible mise-en-scene, which includes a winding staircase and lighthouse, convey the enormity of Mathilde's journey and the seemingly insurmountable peak that awaits her. Determined to hang on to hopeful muddled memories of his comrades, Mathilde is indeed a desperate woman. But desperation manifests itself in many different ways, enveloping the cloud of hope in Mathilde's mind. Sure, the cloud had always been there, you can always feel that there is a connection between Manech and Mathilde. Whether he is alive or dead, her compulsion ensures that her determination will provide an answer one way or another. She feeds on hope, inhaling its enthused dream, and divulging its foolish surrealism. For all the emotion that Mathilde beholds, many of the characters do not have this extent of depth. Only she is explored even remotely well enough. The background story behind Manech and his fellow soldiers is fairly well-detailed, but not explanatory enough about their inner mentality. Much of it is very patchy. The script also embodies shades of what we saw in Amelie, but does not carry its charm through to this picture, appearing instead, rather facetious. A little inappropriate in truth. But the thing that makes Engagement worthwhile is that the prospect of a lovers re-union is never really a dream to Mathilde, it's a foregone conclusion. Its 'never let go' slogan epitomises Mathilde's attitude, her will, her determination, her love, her strength -- you never doubt it, and that's a massive credit to leading lady Tatou. With all the sincere sternness of a driven woman, and angelic dexterity of a hopeless romantic, Tatou occupies our hearts and minds with her inspirational motivation. It is an 'against all odds' premise but she never lets us believe that the odds are that great. I don't know if you've ever found yourself inventing or carrying out scenarios to answer the unanswerable, but which have no relevance to the question in hand. Picking flowers is a popular method, as is a mystical 8 ball. Mathilde though, finds herself creating such random determiners, the most impacting of which includes a mad dash towards a distant bend. The partially handicapped woman summons up all of her passion and will to make it to the bend on time. Logic tells us that it doesn't make a difference, but Tatou convinces us otherwise, the powerful image of a woman filled with hope and disregard for all logic. Truly magical. The plotline may be relatively far-fetched but Tatou is the one that makes us believe that 'anything is possible'. It's a powerful message. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |