A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT (3+ outta 5 stars) A more melancholy (dare I say, mature?) movie than earlier efforts from director Jean-Pierre Jeunet ("Amelie", "Delicatessen"). The storyline isn't quite as fanciful this time around, giving a harsher, more harrowing (but also romantic) account of the world. This visually stunning movie has a lot of memorable scenes. Unfortunately, I didn't find that the quiet climax fully satisfied me after the bombast and unabashed romanticism of the previous two hours. Jeunet is a stylist who never holds back his imagination and suddenly he is being... subtle? I still enjoyed the movie tremendously... even though the storyline can get a little murky at times, with all those French names and the dizzying chain of events to keep track of. A pair of young lovers are split up when the young Manech (Gaspard Ulliel)is sent off to fight during World War I. Through a misunderstanding he is ordered executed but there is some doubt as to whether he actually died or not. Mathilde (Audrey Tatou), his fiancée back home, knows that he is still alive and she does everything in her power to discover his true fate over the next three years.
Review of A Very Long Engagement
