MASTERFUL French director Jean-Pierre Jeunet reunites with his Amelie leading lady Audrey Tautou for this film version of Sebastien Japrisot's novel.
A Very Long Engagement is a sweeping love story, played out on a sprawling canvas of blood-soaked World War I trenches, leafy cottages and city cafes.
Jeunet's trademark black humour and gorgeous visual stylings evoke a fantastical, dreamlike facsimile of reality in which the heroine's unerring strength of will transcends the horrors of the conflict.
January, 1917. Beautiful orphan Mathilde (Tautou), who contracted polio as a child and has walked with a limp ever since, is devastated to learn that her fiance Manech (Gaspard Ulliel) has been court-martialled for self-mutilation - a last gasp attempt to escape service.
Sentenced to death, Manech is abandoned in the no-man's land between the French and German armies along with four other wounded soldiers, who have been found guilty on the same charges.
Mathilde refuses to believe that her beloved Manech is dead, despite evidence to the contrary from the boy's comrade, Lieutenant Esperanza (Jean-Pierre Becker), who gives her a copy of Manech's final letter.
Roused into action by Esperanza's sad testimony and the haunting final words of her sweetheart, Mathilde sets out to expose the terrifying truth about the five unfortunate soldiers.
At first, Mathilde relies on the encouragement and help of her Uncle Sylvain (Dominique Pinon) and Aunt Benedicte (Chantal Neuwirth).
However, her quest soon takes her away from her home to Paris and beyond, crossing paths with a motley crew of characters including an eccentric private investigator (Ticky Holgado) and an avenging angel (Marion Cotillard)
A Very Long Engagement is a ravishing spectacle, blessed with breathtaking cinematography by Bruno Delbonnel, who employs a cold, almost monochrome palette for the trenches, in stark contrast to exploding splashes of colour that illustrate Mathilde's odyssey.
Tautou lights up the screen - those large, saucer-shaped eyes glowing like beacons of hope as her plucky heroine bravely soldiers on, refusing to accept defeat.
She carries our hopes and fears with her, delivering a beautifully nuanced performance that perfectly captures Mathilde's tenacity.
Supporting performances are equally compelling, not least Jodie Foster in a rare appearance - in flawless French, no less - as a wife with a desperate story of self-sacrifice to tell.
Jeunet strikes a subtle and delicate balance between the romance and its horrific context, building to a tearful, heart-rending epiphany.
See it at Lighthouse
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