A Very Long Engagement

 2.5/4

Starring: Audrey Tatou, Gaspard Ulliel, Chantal Neuwirth, Andre Dussollier, Ticky Holgado, Marion Cotillard

Rated R for Violence and Sexuality

When I was in middle school, I read a teen thriller called "Thin Ice" by Marsha Qualley.  I must have read it numerous times and I've never forgotten it.  It is about a girl named Arden who was raised by her older brother, only to have him die a tragic death.  Then she learns a secret that leads her to believe that he is, in fact, alive, and is determined to discover the truth no matter the cost.

I thought about that book again while I watched "A Very Long Engagement."  Both have strong women at the center of their stories who battle the odds to solve a mystery they have a personal investment in.  In this case, however, Mathilde is looking for her lover Manech as opposed to her brother, and the tone is more hopeful than cynical.  Of the two stories, however, it's the teen thriller that comes out on top.

Mathilde (Tatou) has been in love with Manech (Ulliel) all her life.  They grew up in the same French town and their young love turned into an overwhelming passion.  Then came the arrival of The Great War, and Manech was one of many that were called to the trenches.  He, like everyone else, saw the true horror of war up close and, after trying to shoot his hand to go home, he was tried and executed for his cowardice.  Mathilde believes otherwise, and is willing to risk it all to prove it.

What is it about war romances that are so appealing?  Is it the fantasy that, even through such suffering and death, emotions like love can endure?  Or does it appeal to our more basic instincts of sex and machismo?  I'm not sure, but the list of love stories in times of war is numerous enough that there must be something about this mixture that appeals to the human spirit.  On that note, the film is a success.  I identified with Mathilde and wanted her to find Manech.  Alive, preferably.

Unfortunately, while Mathilde's search for the truth takes an appropriate number of twists and turns, it breaks the rules of every mystery: the characters are not precisely identified.  When the film references characters who are off screen, and there are a lot of them, I was left scratching my head, wondering who they were talking about.  No mystery can work if the audience is wondering who everyone is and how they fit into the story when the third reel comes around.  Perhaps the film is too compressed.  Epics, especially romances, need room to breathe.  There needs to be time for the audience to not only understand what is going on but to register it emotionally.  "A Very Long Engagement" runs two hours and  thirteen minutes, but I have a sneaking suspicion that had director Jean-Pierre Jeunet taken things a bit more slowly it would have been a lot better off.

The performances are strong.  Audrey Tatou, once again Jeunet's leading lady after the arthouse smash "Amelie" four years prior, is as lovable as ever in the lead role.  Her ebullient cheer is more subdued here, but there's enough of her good cheer to make Mathilde into someone to root for as soon as she appears on screen.  When people talk about "star quality," they talk about how people like Tatou lights up the screen with her sheer presence.  She has that "it" factor that will make you stick with her even when she's stuck in a messy screenplay.  The late Gaspard Ulliel is also good, but we mainly see him how she does: an innocent caught in hell.  The supporting cast, which includes Jodie Foster and a pre-famous Marion Cotillard, is fine, but this is Tatou's movie.

Although "A Very Long Engagement" has that fairytale quality that often occurs in films steeped in nostalgia and romance, Jeunet doesn't soft-pedal the violence.  The war scenes aren't as graphic as in "Saving Private Ryan," but they are intense and disturbing.  It takes a deft hand to mix these tones together without going too far into either direction, but Jeunet knows that he only needs to show what he has to.  He doesn't draw out the horror; by merely showing it as it occurs in the story, he keeps the tone consistent.

There's a lot to like about "A Very Long Engagement."  The romance works, Tatou is adorable, and the tone hits the sweet spot.  But if only the story were cleaner.  Then it could have been a real winner as opposed to a near miss.