REVIEW: DVD Release: A Very Long Engagement

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

REVIEW: DVD Release: Paradise Now

Film: Paradise Now
Release date: 14th August 2006
Certificate: 15
Running time: 91 mins
Director: Hany Abu-Assad
Starring: Kais Nashef, Lubna Azabel, Amer Hiehel, Ali Suliman, Hiam Abbass
Genre: Crime/Drama
Studio: Warner
Format: DVD
Country: Occupied Palestinian Territory/France/Germany/Netherlands/Israel

The terrorist. The enemy of the western world. The bogeyman for the modern era. There are numerous interpretations of this enigmatic character in cinema, but few have taken Paradise Now’s controversial stance. With the 2005 Oscar nominated film, we encounter this dangerous other from his point of view.

Hany Abu-Assad’s film chronicles the few days that lead the two characters of Said (Kais Nashif) and Khaled (Ali Suliman) as they suddenly become encircled in the world of the suicide bomber, and the procedures they are forced to go through as they are groomed for destruction.

The two protagonists are presented as everyday men from the beginning of the film. They work together at a garage, both bored with their current existence and its lack of excitement. When they are called upon for the duty of the suicide bomber they go along with it, almost as if it is simply something for them to do. It is an act that gives their life some sort of meaning, a final goal to work towards, which is something they ultimately lacked before…


Palestine, the home city of the two men, is depicted as a land of emptiness, a place where nothing happens and landscapes of destruction stretch out into the distance. It paints the idea that it is this country that has warped them into these murderous men; they simply have no other alternative. It isn’t until the female character of Suha (Lubna Azabal) becomes incorporated into the narrative that the realisation of their act comes into fruition and doubts begin to surface in their minds. She becomes the voice of reason fighting through in a maelstrom of violence and destruction, and it brings about the inner turmoil within the men that carries the film.

Abu-Assad’s film is one of contrasts. We have the contrasts of location with Nablus and Nazareth, the difference in ideologies of Said and Suha, and the contrast between the men’s family life and the world of the terrorist ringleaders. It is this switching between alternating beliefs and imagery that manages to humanize the world Paradise Now creates. Nothing is black-and-white, every decision and conversation leads to yet another question - in short, no easy conclusion is ever reached. Herein lies the believable realism that manages to add further fear to the situation; they are real men wrapped up in such an awful situation.

Said and Khaled are characters an audience can initially identify with until their real identities are revealed. Unlike many films that depict the terrorist, they are humanized through their interactions with their families, and the romantic exchanges between Khaled and Suha lead to a guilty longing in the viewer that these men, these monsters of the 21st century, will live through this dilemma. It is a different approach to the usual stance given on the character of the terrorist. Here we see men manipulated into a role they are uncertain of. The usual religious trope is dodged at every corner by Assad, with the discussion of religion rarely appearing and the image of a Mosque never cropping up. Instead, we find manipulative ringleaders coaxing two men into a role that they can never truly comprehend the reason for fulfilling.

Abu-Assad never offers us an easy answer. We are left pondering long after the conclusion what the true motivation behind such heinous acts can be. It is made harder through the director’s deep and intricate character development leading us to the question; do we sympathise with these men or condone them? Due to this, Paradise Now evolves into an exploration of the human condition and how a person reacts to decisions of this magnitude in such an unfamiliar culture and country.

Paradise Now is a film that stands tall amongst its clouds of controversy, evolving into a fascinating yet harrowing exploration of the human condition and how a person reacts to decisions of this magnitude in such an unfamiliar culture and country. JCH

SPECIAL FEATURE: DVD Review: Dreams

Film: Dreams
Release date: 18th March 2003

Certificate: PG

Running time: 119 mins

Director: Akira Kurosawa

Starring: Akira Terao, Mitsuko Baisho, Toshie Negishi, Mieko Harada, Mitsunori Isaki

Genre: Fantasy/Drama

Studio: Warner

Format: DVD

Country: Japan

This title has yet to receive a Region 2/UK release.

Pioneering the craft of motion picture, not merely in his native Japan but the world over, films such a Seven Samurai and Roshimon have had an indelible influence on generations of directors. For all this, however, it astonishes the general lack of attention Dreams has been afforded among the canon of Kurosawa's many notable masterpieces.

Dreams, as the title would suggest, is a compilation of eight vignettes inspired by dreams the writer/director recorded and accumulated over several years of his life. Some profoundly philosophical and others of a vividly visceral nature, both allow Kurosawa to indulge his unparalleled skill for dialogue and visual craft.

It is difficult not to understate the profundity of Akira Kurosawa's effect on the art of modern filmmaking. Recognised by scholars and enthusiasts of cinema, were it not for Kurosawa's body of work that left no facet of the cinematic form untouched film would not exist as it does today…


In a segment entitled ‘Crows’, a nameless character (Akira Terao) is featured encountering Vincent Van Gogh (played by director Martin Scorsese in the one scene in the film shot in English) after stepping into a hung Van Gogh being displayed in the stark white of a gallery hall. The painter’s Wheat Field With Crows is translated to screen in no less impressionistic a style than Van Gogh’s own brushstrokes. Meeting Van Gogh among the tall stalks of an expanse of golden fields, the nameless character (seen in the director’s token white sun cap) is berated by the artist who admonishes him for wasting time in a field with old men when there is so much to create, an obsession Van Gogh exclaims he cannot resist feeding.

This particular segment seems very much a personal statement on the part of Kurosawa, if gifted to him in a dream. Scorsese is among several widely recognised purveyors of cinema that have openly praised and attributed their own vision to the late Japanese filmmaker. Kurosawa in turn had credited Van Gogh as a principal influence on his vision as a director and the luscious colours with which the director animates the still painting could not make for a finer tribute. Likewise the coincidence of a sort of Scorsese’s portrayal gives the exchange a self-referential poeticism: the student (Scorsese) playing the master (Van Gogh) instructing the mentor (Kurosawa) on his obligation to his own artistry in a scene written and directed by Kurosawa.

In the films concluding piece, entitled ‘Village Of The Watermills’, another nameless traveller, again played by Terao (a recurring feature in the film, and in many other of Kirosawa’s work), happens upon the elderly operator of a rural Japanese watermill (Chishu Ryu). Set against the stillness of the brook over which the mill stands, and the measured turn of its wheel, the scene becomes at once a solemn meditation on the inevitability of death, and a deeply comforting appreciation and resignation towards the no less inevitable continuation of life. The scene serves as both a literal and figurative Buddhist lesson on the expanse of existence made perhaps the more poignant and wistful by Kurisawa’s passing earlier in 2010.

In compilation, as it is, the piece of pastiche offers as a whole a wide rendering of Kirosawa's prowess. Each vignette reflects the rich tapestry of Kirosawa's synaesthetic, some grand and mesmerizing in their visual allure, and others containing a profound minimalism and philosophical stillness. As the film represents to a large extent the culmination of a life spent behind the camera, it is a fitting introduction to the genius of its director to those unfamiliar with Kurosawa’s work and a timeless epitaph that should bring disciples of cinema to tears.


A film truly exemplifies the director’s pronouncement that “man is a genius when he dreams.” ABM