A Very Long Engagement

Though A Very Long Engagement reunites director Jeunet with Audrey Tautou, his doe-eyed muse, those expecting Amelie Part Deux (as this World War I drama has been dubbed) may well be thrown by the brutal, muddied scenes depicting life in the trenches and the pile-up of corpses.

Swapping the whizzing retro-rainbow palate of its predecessor for swooning art deco CGI recreations of period Paris and such quaint sepia ruralism, one keeps expecting the words Stella Artois to appear on screen, this engaging curiosity sees lame, yet spiky girl of means, Mathilde (Tautou) searching out her missing childhood sweetheart, Manech (Ulliel), at the end of the war. As one of a quintet of conscripted French soldiers court-martialed for desperate acts of self-mutilation, Manech is left for dead in no man’s land and only Mathilde remains convinced of his survival.
This Paths Of Glory premise quickly sprawls into an epic detective story as Mathilde traces survivors, witnesses and secret government documents in her romantic quest, thereby uncovering a network of corruption. She’s not alone. With echoes of Pynchon’s V or one of Guy Maddin’s demented heroines, Marion Cotillard’s show-stealing avenging angel is running a parallel investigation, bumping off officers with clockwork devices and mirrors as she goes.
Amidst the moments of carnage, Jeunet still contrives to goof off into whimsical nooks and crannies and girlie subplots. This convoluted magic bullet narrative trajectory inevitably weaves an uneven tapestry, and certain strands, such as the tale of Jodie Foster’s devastated widow, are rather more compelling than others.
Still, this is a glitzy showcase for Jean-Pierre, a women’s weepie that allows for the mondo bizarro humour and eccentric visuals of his earlier films (The City Of Lost Children, Delicatessen), charming fairy-tale romance and stark modernist horror. As he giddily hop-scotches between battlefield and l’amour, you’ll be happy to skip along in his wake, even if Audrey is still doing her cute, scrunched up face more often than is decent. Cut it out girl! You look far too adorable.

133mins. Cert 15pg. Opens January 21st.