A Very Long Engagement review

 Number 533 on the top 1000 films of all time is the French romantic war-drama: Un Long Dimanche de Fiancailles or A very Long Engagement.

The film begins in the trenches of WW1 where the dreadful conditions lead to five French soldiers perform self-mutilation to escape the front lines. Instead they are all released into No Man's Land to die. However, Mathilde Donnay (Audrey Tatou) the fiancee of the convicted soldier Manech Langonnet (Gaspard Ulliel) is convinced that her beau survived the war. She resolves to find him partially assisted by Tina Lombardi (Marion Cotillard) lover of another of the convicted soldiers.

A Very Long Engagement was released in 2004 only three years after Audrey Tatou received international recognition in the romantic-comedy Amelie. She easily took to the more dramatic role of Mathilde with ease. She played a woman determined to find her fiance at any cost. Tatou was rightly nominated for a Best Actress Cesar award.

However, I think it was Marion Cotillard who stole the show in her supporting role of Tina Lombardi. To avenge her lover's death, she resolves to all the people responsible for his murder. She layer lays her soul bare to Mathilde in a scene that must have bagged her the Best Supporting Actress Cesar. It's no surprise that only three years later, she won an Oscar for playing Edith Piaf in La Vie En Rose.

Speaking of Oscars, I was surprised to learn that A Very Long Engagement wasn't nominated for the Best International Film Oscar. Although it was in the running, the lesser film the Chorus was chosen as the French nomination instead. Although this went onto to lose to The Sea Inside.

However, the Academy did recognise A Very long Engagement for its art direction and cinematography. Much of the film was cast in a hopeful, sunshine hue while the cinematography could match any world-war epic. The war sequences were difficult to watch.

A Very Long Engagement was a great film which received a well-earned host of awards, most notably, a Cesar for Marion Cotillard.