It had been a long time since I last watched this film, but one of my suitemates enjoys French film and wanted to see it after I described the plot to her. However, I didn't really remember much else beyond that. Jean-Pierre Jeunet makes rather quirky films, and A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT is no exception. There is a sense that the world he depicts could exist, and it helps that the story has an actual historical setting, but there will always be a few things that seem off-kilter or just a little weird. Weirdness done or its own sake can be off-putting, but I feel like there was a good amount here that helped to round out what were very endearing characters. In general, there was a sweetness that provided excellent counterpoint to the horrors of war that are periodically depicted. Of course, the story itself is a large part of this. Audrey Tautou's character goes on a mission to find her fiancé who went missing during the war. She never gives up hope that he might still be alive, even when things don't look they will turn out OK. A lot of French films (at least the well-known ones) are known for being downbeat and/or having depressing endings. I liked that this film is more positive and hope-filled. The only mild gripe I have is that it might take a little too long to get to the eventual destination. Not quite patience-testing, but surely the script could have been tightened a little bit. Still, this was a wonderful story told with great performances and a generous helping of visual panache. Highly recommended, especially for people who like foreign films.

This is exactly the type of weepy, sentimental, "classical" period drama/war romance. The acting is quite good. Jodie foster and Marion Cotillard shine the brightest from the supporting players (and Marion Cotillard is the reason I sought this out, because of praise for her). She was quite good and very effective in her scenes, but a very small role, definitely smaller than I ever expected. As it is, Audrey Tatou is also very good, and she does the most she can. Really, it's hard to fault the film for what it does because a lot of people are sure to love this sort of thing. The problem is that it's basically just the type of period cliché that you come to expect, one that's supposed to be grand and sweeping in the everyday music and emotions that are seen. Not a fan.

Exceptional beauty and harrowing emotion are what bring A Very Long Engagement to life. It's a Jean-Pierre Jeunet film set in France in 1920, just after World War I. Audrey Tatou plays Mathilde, a young woman whose fiancé was lost in the trenches and now she has made it her goal to find out about his whereabouts, and she was stop at nothing. She leads her own personal investigation, meeting many different people who all have their own stories along the way. Each new story brings Mathilde closer and closer to discovering what truly happened to her fiancé. And each new story offers insight from a variety of perspectives, giving the film's narrative a sort of Rashomon feel to it. But underneath it is a truly sincere and heart wrenching story of true love and what it can motivate a person to do.A Very Long Engagement is an absolutely beautiful film. Anyone who says otherwise has a very weak perception of true art. Jeunet does marvelous things with the camera and his cinematographers works wonders with the color schemes and visual nuances of the films two polar opposite settings. We have the trenches of WWI which look cold, grey, and very bleak. Then we have the glorious side of France including the great city of 1920's Paris, and the luscious French countryside, all washed over with a warm and hopeful sepia overtone. Yet both settings are very polished and very clean. Even the grittiness of WWI has a sort of smooth spectacle to it, giving the entire film a consistently artistic look. I suppose what I'm trying to say is that this film is most certainly European, and very, very French.But the beauty of the film doesn't end with its stupendous aesthetic quality. It continues into the emotionally exceptional story that is told through a variety of fascinating characters and all is told through a most sincere emotional eye. The narrative of the film works brilliantly in bringing the story together. It's a mystery that unfolds in the most lusciously refined way; an investigation that develops on top of the polished and golden glowing set pieces. The film lags a little bit through the middle, and some of it becomes redundant, but as a whole the plot is true art through storytelling that maybe could have just been a little shaved down.All in all A Very Long Engagement is an excellent film. It will satisfy an open minded audience and treat the artistic eye to something very special. It's a film that finds beauty in the strangest of places, and it is truly amazing how we can find heart and emotion on the cold and barren fields of no-man's land. A Very Long Engagement is incredibly well done and is a true work of art.

The film has Audrey Tautou. And that alone is sufficient for anyone to watch the film. I had watched Amelie already and that movie is close to my heart. So this film may be it was because of those expectations is not up to the mark. It is good and a definite one time watch but somehow I felt they tried to regenerate the Amelie phenomena and failed. Anyhow the way the things are shown is truly remarkable. The concept is somewhat same as that of Cold Mountain. But in this case the girl is finding the man. But I would say I liked cold mountain more than this. Overall it was a very nice film if you keep your mind free and do not compare with any. Moreover the narrative style was amazing and in the same way as it stole the show in Amelie so it did here."A recommended watch for all."