Film: Un long dimanche de fiançailles (A Very Long Engagement)

***1/2 France/USA. 134 min. 2004. Directed by: Jean-Pierre Jeunet.
Original Novel Written by: Sébastien Japrisot.
Cast: Audrey Tautou, Gaspard Ulliel, Jodie Foster, Ticky Holgado.

19:30 @ Cumberland with Amy.

A Very Long Engagement should be renamed: a very long film; although Jeunet kept the film suspenseful and interesting. It was very strange watching the film, as if i were watching Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain (Amélie) time travelled to World War I. Jeunet is a magical storyteller! He has repeated a few familiar faces from Amélie. It was beautifully shot and coloured, only this film is more realistic and believable but isn't as lighthearted as his last. The film tells the story of Mathilde's relentless search for her fiancée, Manech, who has disappeared from the Somme trenches during WWI. The story entangles 4 other missing soldiers and Mathilde's series of investigation to search for the truth if all were dead or alive. I like the ending the most, when she meets Manech (only he's amnesiac) again in his garden, and he said "Doesn't it hurt to walk?" It was the first thing he said to her when they first met as kids. The film left it open whether if they'll be in loved again. The last scene, she sat down beside him whilst he was gold-leaf-ing a wooden chest and narrator ends the film with "She carefully folds her arms on her lap and she looks at him... she looks at him... she looks at him... She looks at him..."