The Fundy Film Society

A Very Long Engagement

From the director and star of Amélie (Jean Pierre Jeunet and Audrey Tautou, in yet another shining performance) and based on the acclaimed novel by Sebastien Japrisot, comes A Very Long Engagement, a lush, visually stunning cinematic treat. As World War I draws to its close in France, Mathilde, a young French woman, receives word that her fianceé Manech (Gaspard Ulliel, Brotherhood of the Wolf) is one of five soldiers who have been court-martialed under mysterious circumstances and pushed out of an Allied trench into no-man’s land — and almost certain death. Mathilde cannot accept that Manech, her childhood sweetheart, has perished. If Manech were dead, Mathilde feels in her heart, she would know. Summoning the courage, will and strength that only the heart can, she embarks on an extraordinary journey to discover the fate of her lover. Bolstered by her well-meaning Uncle Sylvain (Dominique Pinon, Amélie) and Aunt Benedicte (Chantal Neuwirth, Madeline) in Brittany and the intrepid private detective Germain Pire (Ticky Holgado, Monsieur Batignole), Mathilde steadfastly tracks down every lead, every survivor of the ill-fated trench in hopes of finding a trace of Manech.

From the modest home of an indomitable provincial girl to the deadly trenches of the Somme and the gilded Parisan halls of power, Mathilde‒s epic search for her lover is relentless, moving and sometimes comic. Part romantic mystery, part novelistic odyssey, A Very Long Engagement unveils the arbitrary nature of secrecy, the absurdity of war and the enduring passion, intuition and tenacity of the human heart. It is hard to imagine a more spectacular and visually captivating film in the coming season than A Very Long Engagement.