A very fine engagement

With A Very Long Engagement, French director Jean-Pierre Jeunet asserts himself for the first time as a master of all elements of filmmaking. Engagement, also known by its French title, Un Long Dimanche de Fian_ailles, is a glorious work filled with beauty, gore, love and retribution. It stands as one of the finest works of 2004 and is a seminal achievement in the post-modern landscape.

The film tells the story of Mathilde (Audrey Tautou), a young woman determined to find her fiancZ Manech in the aftermath of the First World War. Manech is reported dead, but Mathilde refuses to abandon hope. She sets out on a trek across France, picking up clues to her lost lover’s whereabouts. The mounting evidence against her hopes of finding Manech alive only serve to strengthen Mathilde’s resolve. What began as a refusal to accept reality becomes an exploration of the human mind and heart.

Jeunet, a long-time cult favorite, first gained widespread fame for 2001’s AmZlie, a feel-good character piece also starring Tautou. With Engagement, as in AmZlie, Jeunet displays an obsessive attention to detail that is found so rarely in the productions of his peers. In this, his fifth feature, Jeunet constructs two worlds: Manech’s hell in the trenches, seen in flashbacks and painted in gritty tableau, and Mathilde’s pursuit, shown in all its honey-hued beauty.

While Jeunet has previously been criticized for favoring style over substance, no such claim can be leveled against Engagement. Without sacrificing his trademark style, Jeunet manages to provide both resonant storytelling and fully-fleshed characters. Tying it all together are lovely performances from Jeunet’s regular players, including the never-better Tautou. The film is heavy on special effects, yet they blend in rather than stand out—a testament to Jeunet’s growth as an auteur.

There is a moment near the end of the film where Mathilde is carried over the battlefield Manech fought on. As Angelo Badalamenti’s magnificent score soars in the background, the true beauty of Jeunet’s work emerges. In the days and weeks that follow, this is the image that will linger: miles of rolling French countryside, flowers growing where soldiers fell.