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Film: A Very Long Engagement
Release date: 2nd January 2006
Certificate: 15
Running time: 134 mins
Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Starring: Audrey Tautou, Gaspard Ulliel, Dominique Pinon, Chantal Neuwirth, André Dussollier
Genre: Drama/Mystery/Romance/War
Studio: Warner
Format: DVD
Country: France/USA
Disallowed from becoming a candidate for the Cannes Film Festival, due to it being screened outside of France, and deemed "too American" to receive French subsidies by a Paris court, the release of Jean-Pierre Jeunet's A Very Long Engagement was not without its fair share of controversy.
Combining beautiful cinematography with the backdrop of WWI France, A Very Long Engagement explores the beauty of hope and the absurdity of war. The film begins with the story of five soldiers who are court-martialled for injuries they inflict upon themselves in the hope that they'll be dismissed from service. The five men are sentenced to death and thrown into the no man's land between the French and German trenches.
All five men are reported to have perished, but Mathilde (Audrey Tautou), the fiancée of Manech (Gaspard Ulliel), one of the men sent over the top, refuses to believe this is the case. "If Manech were dead," the narrator explains, "Mathilde would know."
Following her intuition, Mathilde embarks on a quest to find out what became of her beloved fiancée. Talking to survivors and the widows of men killed during the war, she slowly pieces together an intricate puzzle that draws her ever closer to Manech. A Very Long Engagement depicts the lengths an individual is willing to go to for love and the manner in which war destroys the lives of all that come into contact with it…
Jean-Pierre Jeunet has achieved something rather interesting with A Very Long Engagement. The film combines elements of comedy and romance, as seen in Amelie, with some rather serious subject matter. Whilst the film maintains the quirky, comic feel of Jeunet's previous films, it manages to paint an incredibly impressive portrait of the horrors of war.
Some of the film's most visually arresting moments come during the WWI battle scenes, which, whilst offering the odd offbeat, comic moment, give a haunting sense of the absurdity of war. Jeunet uncharacteristically employs the use of some rather gruesome violence, which helps to counteract the otherwise upbeat feel of the film. Sweeping shots capture waves of men racing up over the trenches, only to be met with a continuous spray of bullets from German machine guns. Despite the mix of quirky characters and weirdly wonderful scenes, such as a blimp explosion above a makeshift hospital, Jeunet respectfully handles the subject of war.
As always, Jeunet's characters are unconventional and colourful. The cast deliver impressive performances, clearly helped by the fact that most of them have worked with Jeunet on a number of his previous films. These rounded characters work perfectly with the film's script, which, whilst being simple, is brought to life by the diverse range of characters who inhabit it. From Mathilde's dog-flatulence-loving aunt Bénédicte (Chantal Neuwirth) to the aptly labelled “officer killer,” Tina Lombardi (Marion Cotillard), A Very Long Engagement features an impressive host of wild and wacky characters. Heck, there's even a cameo from actress Jodie Foster, who is surprisingly fluent in French.
Although, there is to be no doubt, as with Jeunet's classic, Amelie, Audrey Tautou steals the show. The film would be nothing without Audrey's vibrant, loveable performance as Mathilde. Audrey draws us in and helps to make Mathilde's quest to find her fiancée a moving and memorable experience. A weak performance from the lead role in A Very Long Engagement would have surely seen the demise of the entire film, but Audrey pulls it off beautifully.
The argument that A Very Long Engagement feels like an American film appears to have some merit. The film's high budget certainly sets it apart from Jeunet's other works, such as Delicatessen (or even Amelie, for that matter), but that is not to say the film's budget negatively effects the quality of the film. A Very Long Engagement retains the style of Jeunet's previous films and, similarly, its success remains indebted to its unique characters. If A Very Long Engagement feels slightly ‘Americanised’ because of its high budget, it certainly isn't to its detriment.
A Very Long Engagement's depiction of the indelible marks that war leaves upon everyone it touches, and its story of one woman's quest to find the man she loves, is thoroughly engaging. It doesn't always feel as memorable and original as some of Jeunet's previous films but it does boast all of the classic quirks associated with a Jeunet film, including memorable performances from its wonderful cast and some truly beautiful imagery. ME
Film: Humains
Release date: 9th August 2010
Certificate: 18
Running time: 84 mins
Director: Jacques-Olivier Molon & Pierre-Olivier Thevenin
Starring: Lorànt Deutsch, Sara Forestier, Dominique Pinon, Manon Tournier, Élise Otzenberger
Genre: Action/Adventure/Horror/Thriller
Studio: Scanbox
Format: DVD
Country: France/Switzerland/Luxembourg
After running the harsh gauntlet of critical abuse during its theatrical release in Europe, where it was routinely and universally panned, Humains finally limps onto DVD courtesy of Scanbox Entertainment, but is it as atrocious as everyone claims?
When anthropology professor Schneider (Philippe Nahon) discovers a site in the Swiss Alps containing human remains that currently defy all current theories on human evolution, he assembles a team to investigate. Schneider, along with his reluctant son Thomas (Lorànt Deutsch), is joined by one of the professor’s assistants, Nadia (Sara Forestier), for the expedition.
They set off up winding mountain roads where they come across a family of tourists that, coincidently, Nadia had encountered on a proceeding train journey. Gildas (Dominique Pinon), his life partner Patricia (Élise Otzenberger) and their daughter Elodie (Manon Tournier) hitch a ride with the researchers after experiencing car trouble.
After a momentary lapse in concentration, Thomas loses control of the vehicle, causing it to plummet down the mountainside, killing his father. The rest of the group survive, but are now trapped in the gorge. As they find a way out, they soon realise that they are not alone…
In response to the question posed in the opening paragraph: is Humains as atrocious as everyone claims? The answer has to be yes as Humains is a bland and dire attempt at horror filmmaking that simply boggles the intelligence. It’s irredeemable in almost every single way, and fails to muster even the bare minimum of comforting escapism that many lacklustre films are still able to achieve. This is due to a rather flat and lazy script that’s further damaged by sloppy execution.
Performances aren’t dreadful but certainly fail to rise above the limits of script functionality. Nahon’s Schneider – the curmudgeonly mentor whose involvement in the plot is cut short dramatically – is played just how you’d expect. Forestier’s token hot lab assistant routine does little to go beyond that pretence, neither does Deutsch playing the handsome, introverted old friend of said hot lab assistant who, as one would guess, is hopelessly infatuated with her – not that he’d admit it, of course.
As for the tourist contingent: Jean-Pierre Jeunet regular Dominique Pinon is surprisingly non-engaging considering his rich back catalogue of interesting characterisations – including his wheelchair-bound space pirate in Alien Resurrection (1997) – contributing little to the cast dynamic. His partner Patricia does little more than complain, whilst his teenage daughter Elodie is typically angsty.
The script bumbles along with a distinct lack of purpose. Nothing of note occurs until halfway through, with exception to a spectacularly bad car crash where the CGI rendered vehicle drives off the mountain road and falls into the gorge – if you’re going to drive a car off the side of a mountain, what’s wrong with gravity? To make things even more illogical; you’d think none of the cast would have faces left after such a horrific, mountain plummeting accident, but they all walk away from it with only a few lacerations and a hurt shoulder. Schneider’s death is highly dubious as his body has somehow been magically transported a fair distance away from the wreck, and to think if he stayed in the semi crushed vehicle, he would’ve survived. Another questionable moment sees the group crossing a river with a strong current by wading through it with the assistance of a rope that’s tied across. Patricia gets hit by a piece of driftwood and loses grip, prompting the usual pursuit along the riverbank to rescue her. Thomas is able haul her out, but it turns out Nadia was also swept by the current, not that you see that happening, nor was she in the water or visibly part of the collision.
This motif of shoddiness infects other elements of production, such as the editing, which is clumsy to say the least. Scenes end abruptly or with cheap and tiresome looking fades to black, paying absolutely no attention to the emotional resonance of the moment - not that the thin script permits it anyway. Sometimes it’s nice to linger after a final exchange of information for a beat or two to allow the audience to absorb what’s been divulged. That doesn’t happen here, instead one gets the impression that the filmmakers are trying to get through this ordeal as quickly as possible, which is commendably merciful in retrospect.
Camerawork is acceptable but not exemplary, and the film’s score is equally mediocre, failing to stir any kind of excitement or tension, which is sacrilege considering that this is supposed to be a horror film. Humains has absolutely no scares on account of each scene being poorly paced and executed. It also has a distinct lack of moments that are even designed to be scary, and only a few shocks come in the form of sporadic moments of violence which offers nothing new in an already violent and overcrowded genre - and bears almost laughable results. The antagonists – a tribe of cliff-faced Neanderthals – feel ill-conceived and half-baked, performing the usual foliage rustling and bow and arrow games that’s been seen time and time again. Even the muddled and badly executed perception shift/role reversal in the final act fails to elevate them beyond being dirty men in rags.
There are only so many ways you can say that this film is terrible without sounding overly pejorative, but for resolution’s sake: Humains is an amateurish mess of a production that fails in almost every filmmaking discipline. To hate it would be a waste of energy as what transpires is so bland and uninspiring that to have any strong emotional response to it is tantamount to crying over spilt nothingness. It really isn’t worth it, and it certainly isn’t worth your time or your money. Humains is one to avoid. MP
Film: Amelie
Release date: 15th April 2002
Certificate: 15
Running time: 116 mins
Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Starring: Audrey Tautou, Dominique Pinon,
Genre: Comedy/Romance
Studio: Momentum
Format: DVD
Country: France
Rejected by the Cannes Film Festival for being “uninteresting,” but welcomed by the hearts of the French and Francophile alike, Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Amelie is a rare exception to the rulebook of foreign cinema. Despite the original setback, the whimsical story of a lonely Parisian waitress has gone on to be nominated for five academy awards and won the Cesar for Best Film.
A departure from Jeunet’s cannibalistic black comedy Delicatessen, Amelie details the life of shy waitress, Amelie Poulain (Tautou), who, rather than drunkenly gallivanting about town every weekend like most girls her age, prefers a simpler existence filled with simple pleasures, such as skimming stones, immersing her hands into sacks of grain and cracking the crust of her crème brulee.
In shock from the death of Princess Diana, Amelie inadvertently discovers a childhood box of treasures belonging to her apartment’s previous tenant and attempts to return it to the original owner. Glowing from her good deed of the day, she is inspired to carry out unselfish acts for family, friends and even strangers. These include the exploits of a garden gnome to awaken her father’s inner globetrotter, seeing for the blind, and an act of revenge towards the local fruit seller causing him to literally go bananas.
Isolated from a young age due to a wrongly diagnosed heart defect, Amelie feels comfortable within her sheltered life yet due to the superhuman responsibility undertaken, she begins to desire the love and friendship of another. However, unbeknownst to Amelie, as she watches the world from the outside looking in, a kindred spirit is observing her actions. Known as ‘the glass man’ due to his brittle bones, Amelie befriends the wise and short fused Mr Dufayel who has painted Renoir’s famous work ‘Le Déjeuner Des Canotiers’ on multiple occasions, yet is never satisfied with the end result. Through his dedication to painting the image perfectly and their own philosophical discussions about the lives of it’s inhabitants, Amelie begins to reassess her life, and gain the courage to speak to quirky photo booth rejects collector, Nino…
With his previous outings containing darker elements, Jeunet’s Amelie is a refreshing take on love, life and friendship, leaving the film to be difficult to label; an aspect that probably contributed to the reasons it wasn’t allowed to enter the Cannes Film Festival. However, this is exactly what makes the film charming and endearing without the sugar coating often added to plots containing elements of romance.
Whilst, to some, the lead character may seem perfect on paper, the combination of Jeunet’s direction and Tautou’s performance provides an honest portrayal of an introvert with the character’s subtle cracks visible to the audience. Audrey Tautou’s quietly moving performance transforms Amelie into someone who is relatable to audiences despite the great lengths she goes to commit acts of kindness for others.
Narrated by the haunting piano of Yann Tierson, the lead character’s loneliness is felt even when surrounded by large groups of people, whereas in contrast, the happier aspects of the soundtrack are what some may perceive as francophone music adhering almost to a stereotype.
Jeunet’s vision of Amelie’s world is dominated by the colours green and red that, although at first puzzling, creates a unique trademark aesthetic that has since been imitated, most famously by the TV series Pushing Daisies. Not that this is a negative aspect of the film - in fact, the effect is quite the opposite, and separates Amelie’s home from the trite tourist hubbub so often associated and portrayed in Parisian set films.
Whilst being quietly and at times daringly comic, Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Amelie is a film of poignancy, wit and intelligence, yet still keeps a certain amount of simplicity in tact without seeming too pretentious. A film that will have you re-evaluating your own life and relationships, Amelie will be with you long after the end credits have rolled. SR
Film: Amelie
Release date: 15th April 2002
Certificate: 15
Running time: 116 mins
Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Starring: Audrey Tautou, Dominique Pinon,
Genre: Comedy/Romance
Studio: Momentum
Format: DVD
Country: France
After a so-so Hollywood detour with Alien: Resurrection, Jean-Pierre Jeunet regained the favour won with such visionary works as Delicatessen and The City Of Lost Children, with this worldwide smash hit.
Amelie Poulain lives a solitary and sheltered childhood with few friends for company. She is educated at home whilst her father works as a doctor, and has precious little time for his only child.
Her mother dies when she is very young and, as a result of her lonely surroundings, Amelie begins to retreat more and more into her own mind for solace, where she spends most of her time in a dream world instead of facing the reality around her.
Years later, in her early twenties, Amelie moves to Paris and starts working as a waitress at the Two Windmills Café. The adult Amelie is an imaginative but introverted young woman, who lives a quiet and isolated life.
After a string of coincidences lead her to find a box hidden in her apartment, she develops an insatiable desire to help others. Due to her introverted nature, she chooses not to help people openly; instead she sets up intricate plans and trails and watches from a distance as they are touched by her actions. But when Amelie finds she is falling in love, she realises that the hardest person to help is herself…
There is more than a touch of fairytale to this charming story, even down to Jeunet’s picturesque portrayal of the city of Paris. But the main credit has to go to Audrey Tautou, who makes the character of Amelie completely her own, depicting the contrastingly innocent and mischievous nature of Amelie perfectly. With this film, she shot to fame not just in France but worldwide, and deservedly so. Given her career and performances since, it seems this role was tailor made, with the depth of perception she brought.
Although the story itself is a fairly simple one, which anybody can relate to and understand, and it is told eloquently and imaginatively. The side storylines of the characters in Amelie’s life – her work colleagues, parents and neighbours – often add comic value without taking away from the focus of the tale. Instead, they provide us with a backdrop to Amelie’s ventures; first as she goes about trying to improve other people’s lives, and later as she turns to seducing one man in particular (Mathieu Kassovitz) in order to enhance her own.
The filmmakers encourage us to pay attention to detail, as it reveals people’s small quirks and habits, which generally go unnoticed by society. Amelie is a firm believer in life’s small pleasures, and she encourages the audience to consider those little things in our life that brighten up our day. As each of the main characters is introduced, the narrative voice-over provides us with titbits of information about the character’s personality, including their ‘likes’ and ‘dislikes’, which help in turn to give us a sense of intimacy, as we begin to understand how these people work. It is that beauty in the small details, even though it may not always be visible to the naked eye that makes this film so precious.
A combination of comedy genius, witty one-liners (“She liked to spread her legs, but only on silk”), a hint of fantasy and a touching sentiment, make this a rare success in the blending of comedy and romance.
Whimsical and life affirming, Amelie is a unique experience which shouldn’t be missed. A rare movie gem. EW
