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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: The Sea Wall
Release date: 8th March 2010
Certificate: 12
Running time: 111 mins
Director: Rithy Panh
Starring: Isabelle Huppert, Gaspard Ulliel, Astrid Berges-Frisbey, Randal Douc, Vanthon Duong
Genre: Drama
Studio: Axiom
Format: DVD
Country: France
An adaptation of Marguerite Duras' autobiographical novel of the same name, The Sea Wall chronicles the influential novelist and film director’s childhood in Cambodia.
The Duras family are living in Cambodia after buying land to farm rice. After the death of their father, the family are under constant strain with the children, Suzanne and Joseph, who threaten to leave their sick mother to look after the farm on her own. The crops end up to be trouble, as they are flooded by the sea tides, endangering the family's livelihood. As times worsen - getting turned down by the bankers and receiving threats from the French authorities who intend to seize their land, the family has to start taking drastic measures to support themselves.
With the arrival of a wealthy businessman, who takes a shine to Suzanne, the youngest of the family, they use the opportunity to take advantage for their own personal gain. However, relations between the French and the natives are worsening, and so is the mother’s health, as they try to construct a wall in order to protect from the threat of the sea tides. All the while, Joseph grows increasingly frustrated with home, and his rebellious streak is harder and harder to suppress…
From the very start of The Sea Wall, it is easy to tell that it is an adaptation - it lacks the pace, structure and story arc of a cinematic creation. It feels very accurate in the sense of a biographical tale, sticking to the point of view of the family as a run of anecdotal events that changed their future, and I'm sure as a work of literature this would be quite interesting, but it doesn't truly translate to the screen.
The start of The Sea Wall feels like it is drawing into a story of man-versus-nature, overcoming the odds, or at least trying to in order to rebuild a destroyed livelihood. It opens with some fantastic shots of the Cambodian scenery and the family's destroyed crops, and the promise of a tearjerker, set to the beautiful backdrop and landscape. The problem comes from its roots as a biographical adaptation in that the focus is solely on the family - the more interesting story would be that of the natives who are employed by the rich French landowners.
The story is reliant on the fact that the family are meant to be on the edge of their means - only just scraping by, and pushed to breaking point. As it is, though, they are getting by all right. They have a leaky roof, and they are quite miserable, but they are still going to the bar everyday drinking champagne, being waited on hand and foot by their workers, spending days working on cars, and mixing with the rest of the wealthy elite. There is just an overall atmosphere of malaise and misery that seems to run through the entire film that is so completely unemotional and cold. The mother, for example, angry at seeing the natives’ way of life being torn apart, has a completely dead and unemotional demeanour, understanding that she is not a well woman, lacking energy and beaten down by her troubles, it is still hard to identify with her
When there is the introduction of Monsieur Jo, a wealthy Chinese businessman who takes a shine to Suzanne, it is the family's intention to marry them off together in order to inherit his money and solve their problems. This relationship is cringingly cold and one sided, and it’s difficult to watch as a grown man makes his sexual advances on a 16-year-old girl, whilst all the time she is being taunted and teased by what seems to be pushing towards an incestuous brother/sister relationship. This is definitely the most interesting element of the film, but never delves far enough.
All this time, with the family seemingly whoring out their daughter, the son’s frustratingly smouldering rebellious antics, and the mother’s unenthusiastic anger, the natives are partaking in the most interesting element of the whole story as a very brief and occasional sub-plot. The sea wall, from which the film takes its title, seems to just appear out of nowhere, with no input from the family - simply all the native workers slaving away as the family did nothing to contribute. That seems to be the general perception - the family have things happen to them and do things that should have some consequence (they are thieves, adulterers and frauds), yet there are no repercussions.
Add to all this the fact that for a medium budget film with so many resources in the way of props, costumes and locations, the cinematography is boring. A point and click attitude to filming which feels so detached and lifeless.
If you have a particular interest in the life of Marguerite Duras then I'm sure there are many elements of The Sea Wall that could be enjoyed. As a cinematic experience, however, it falls very short of being engaging and interesting, saved only by the feel of true accuracy to the times and source material. JP
