A Very Long Engagement

{{Infobox film

| name = A Very Long Engagement

| image = A Very Long Engagement movie.jpg

| caption = Theatrical release poster

| alt =

| based_on = {{based on|Un long dimanche de fiançailles|Sébastien Japrisot}}

| screenplay = Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Guillaume Laurant

| starring = {{Plainlist|

}}

| narrator = Florence Thomassin

| director = Jean-Pierre Jeunet

| producer = Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Francis Boespflug
Bill Gerber
Jean-Louis Monthieux
Fabienne Tsaï

| music = Angelo Badalamenti

| cinematography = Bruno Delbonnel

| editing = Hervé Schneid

| studio = 2003 Productions
Warner Bros. France
Tapioca Films
TF1 Films Production

| distributor = Warner Bros. Pictures (Selected territories)
Warner Independent Pictures (United States){{cite web|title=A Very Long Engagement (2004)|website=UniFrance|access-date=24 September 2021|url=https://en.unifrance.org/movie/24436/a-very-long-engagement}}

| released = {{Film date|2004|10|27|France|2004|11|26|United States|df=y|ref2=}}

| runtime = 134 minutes

| language = French

| country = France
United States{{Cite web |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/french-kiss-engagement-denied-funding-147651/ |title=French kiss-off: 'Engagement' denied funding |website=The Hollywood Reporter |date=14 August 2007}}{{Cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4048439.stm |title=EFilm ruled 'not French enough' |website=BBC News|date=27 November 2004}}

| budget = {{Plainlist|

€45 million
(US$58 million)

}}

| gross = $69.4 million

}}

A Very Long Engagement ({{langx|fr|Un long dimanche de fiançailles|italic=yes|lit=A Long Sunday of Engagement}}) is a 2004 romantic war drama film, co-written and directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and starring Audrey Tautou, Gaspard Ulliel and Marion Cotillard. It is a fictional tale about a young woman's desperate search for her fiancé who might have been killed during World War I. It was based on the 1991 novel of the same name by Sébastien Japrisot. The film is a co-production between France and the United States. It was released theatrically in France on 27 October 2004 and in the United States on 26 November 2004.

The film received Academy Award nominations for Best Art Direction and Best Cinematography at the 77th Academy Awards. Marion Cotillard earned the César Award for Best Supporting Actress, while Gaspard Ulliel won the César Award for Most Promising Actor.

Plot

Five French soldiers are convicted of self-mutilation in order to escape military service during World War I. They are condemned to face near-certain death in no man's land between the French and German trench lines. It appears that all of them were killed in a subsequent battle, but Mathilde, the fiancée of one of the soldiers, refuses to give up hope and begins to uncover clues as to what actually took place on the battlefield. She is all the while driven by the constant reminder of what her fiancé had carved into one of the bells of the church near their home, MMM for Manech aime Mathilde (Manech loves Mathilde; a pun on the French word aime, which is pronounced like the letter "M". In the English-language version, this is changed to "Manech's marrying Mathilde").

Along the way, she discovers the brutally corrupt system used by the French government to deal with those who tried to escape the front. She also discovers the stories of the other men who were sentenced to no man's land as a punishment. She, with the help of a private investigator, Germain Pire, attempts to find out what happened to her fiancé. The story is told both from the point of view of the fiancée in Paris and the French countryside—mostly Brittany—of the 1920s, and through flashbacks to the battlefield.

Eventually, Mathilde finds out her fiancé is alive, but he suffers from amnesia. Seeing Mathilde, Manech seems to be oblivious of her. At this, Mathilde sits on the garden chair silently watching Manech with tears in her eyes and a smile on her lips.

Cast

{{Cast listing|

Audrey Tautou – Mathilde Donnay
Gaspard Ulliel – Manech Langonnet, Mathilde's fiancé
Dominique Pinon – Sylvain, Mathilde's uncle
Chantal Neuwirth – Bénédicte, Mathilde's aunt
{{ill|Jean-Pierre Becker|fr|Jean-Pierre Becker}} – Sergeant Daniel Esperanza
{{ill|Dominique Bettenfeld|fr|Dominique Bettenfeld}} – Angel Bassignano
Clovis Cornillac – Benoît Notre-Dame
Marion Cotillard – Tina Lombardi
Jean-Pierre Darroussin – Corporal Benjamin "Biscotte" Gordes
Julie Depardieu – Véronique Passavant
Jean-Claude Dreyfus – Major François Lavrouye
André Dussollier – Pierre-Marie Rouvières
Ticky Holgado – Germain Pire
Tchéky Karyo – Captain Etienne Favourier
Jérôme Kircher – Kléber "Bastoche" Bouquet
Denis Lavant – Francis "Six-Sous" Gaignard
Urbain Cancelier – The monk
Jean-Paul Rouve – The postman
Michel Vuillermoz – P'tit Louis
Albert Dupontel – Célestin Poux
Bouli Lanners – Corporal Urbain Chardolot
Philippe Duquesne – Favart
François Levantal – Gaston Thouvenel
Stéphane Butet – Julien Phillipot
{{ill|Thierry Gibault|fr|Thierry Gibault}} – Lieutenant Benoît Etrangin
Jodie Foster – Élodie Gordes
Rufus – The Breton
Frédérique Bel – A prostitute
Elina Löwensohn – German woman
Michel Robin – old man on the battlefield

}}

Production

A Very Long Engagement was filmed in France over an 18-month period,{{Cite web |last=Frater |first=Patrick |date=26 November 2004 |title=French court breaks off Engagement |url=https://www.screendaily.com/french-court-breaks-off-engagement/4021090.article |website=Screen Daily}} with about 30 French actors, approximately 500 French technicians and more than 2,000 French extras.{{cite web| title= Arts, Briefly | author= Ben Sisario (compiler)| url= https://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/27/arts/movies/arts-briefly.html | agency= Agence France-Presse| date= November 27, 2004| work=The New York Times| access-date=2011-10-26}} Right before the film's New York City and Hollywood debut, the film's production company, 2003 Productions, which is one-third owned by Warner Bros. and two-thirds owned by Warner France, was ruled an American production company by a French court, denying the studio $4.8 million in government incentives.

The film had a production budget of €45 million{{Cite web |date=26 May 2017 |title=A Very Long Engagement - Interview with Audrey Tautou & Jean-Pierre Jeunet (2004) |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPYjQu2RO6M&t=624s |website=YouTube}}{{Cite web |date=12 November 2004 |title=Amelie film-maker in court battle |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4005623.stm |website=BBC News}} (US$58 million),{{Cite news |last=Thomson |first=Desson |date=16 December 2004 |title=An 'Engagement' With Jeunet |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2004/12/17/an-engagement-with-jeunet/e28e65c4-3335-4e33-a4d3-cecc82e1ea6d/ |newspaper=The Washington Post}} and earned $69.4 million in theaters worldwide.{{cite web | url=http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=verylongengagement.htm | title=A Very Long Engagement (2004) | website=Box Office Mojo | access-date=2008-02-06}}

Joséphine Japy auditioned for the role of a child in the film. She did not get the role but she credits her encounter with Jean-Pierre Jeunet as being decisive in her desire to become an actress. Following the audition, Jeunet came up to Japy and standing at her height, said: "Joséphine, can I talk to you like an adult? Today, it won't be you, but one day, we'll meet again...". Japy said that Jeunet's words had a real resonance and made her "want to hang on, believe and keep going", and if Jeunet had not taken the time to say that to her that day, she might not be here [talking to the interviewer].{{Cite web |title=Joséphine Japy, Multi-Talented Actress |url=https://galeriejoseph.com/josephine-japy-multi-talented-actress-acumen-38/ |website=Acumen Magazine}}

Release

Warner Independent Pictures released the film theatrically in the US, followed by VHS and DVD release on July 12, 2005. It was Warner Independent Pictures' final VHS release. A Blu-ray region B disc from Warner Home Video was released in France.{{citation needed|date=July 2023}}

Reception

=Critical response=

The film received generally positive reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, 79% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 146 reviews, and an average rating of 7.40/10. The website's critical consensus states, "A well-crafted and visually arresting drama with a touch of whimsy".{{cite web |url=http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/very_long_engagement/ |title=A Very Long Engagement |website=Rotten Tomatoes |access-date=2025-03-11}} On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 76 out of 100, based on reviews from 39 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.{{cite web |url=http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/verylongengagement |title=Very Long Engagement, A (2004) |website=Metacritic |access-date=2008-02-06 }}

Peter Travers of Rolling Stone praised "miracle worker" Jean-Pierre Jeunet and called the film "an emotional powerhouse".{{cite magazine |date=17 November 2004 |last1=Travers |first1=Peter |author1-link=Peter Travers |title=A Very Long Engagement |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/movies/movie-reviews/a-very-long-engagement-112691/ |magazine=Rolling Stone }}

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote: "Jeunet brings everything together—his joyously poetic style, the lovable Tautou, a good story worth the telling—into a film that is a series of pleasures stumbling over one another in their haste to delight us."{{cite web |date=December 16, 2004 |last1=Ebert |first1=Roger |author1-link=Roger Ebert |title='Engagement' tugs at all the right heartstrings |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/a-very-long-engagement-2004 |website=Chicago Sun-Times |publisher=RogerEbert.com }}

Manohla Dargis of The New York Times gave a negative review, stating that "Mr. Jeunet shows no interest in animating the characters in his dollhouse world".(2004-11-26) Manohla Dargis[https://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/26/movies/a-love-that-wont-surrender-to-war-death-and-oblivion.html A Love That Won't Surrender to War, Death and Oblivion] - The New York Times

=Awards=

The film received Academy Award nominations for Best Art Direction and Best Cinematography at the 77th Oscars, losing both to The Aviator.[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDY1gdDebrU The Aviator Wins Art Direction: 2005 Oscars][https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2005 2005|Oscars.org][https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qu3DApFZgrE The Aviator Wins Cinematography: 2005 Oscars] It was not selected as the French submission for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, in favor of The Chorus. Marion Cotillard won the César Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance, while Audrey Tautou was nominated for Best Actress.

30th César Awards (France)
Won: Best Supporting Actress (Marion Cotillard)
Won: Best Cinematography (Bruno Delbonnel)
Won: Best Costume Design (Madeline Fontaine)
Won: Best Production Design (Aline Bonetto)
Won: Most Promising Actor (Gaspard Ulliel)
Nominated: Best Actress (Audrey Tautou)
Nominated: Best Director (Jean-Pierre Jeunet)
Nominated: Best Editing (Hervé Schneid)
Nominated: Best Film
Nominated: Best Music (Angelo Badalamenti)
Nominated: Best Sound (Vincent Arnardi, Gérard Hardy and Jean Umansky)
Nominated: Best Writing (Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Guillaume Laurant)
London's Favourite French Film 2006 (United Kingdom)
Won: Best Film
77th Academy Awards (USA)
Nominated: Best Art Direction (Aline Bonetto)
Nominated: Best Cinematography (Bruno Delbonnel)

BAFTA Awards (UK)
Nominated: BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language[http://awards.bafta.org/award/2005/film/film-not-in-the-english-language 2005 Film Film not in the English Language|BAFTA Awards]
10th Critics' Choice Awards (USA)
Nominated: Best Foreign-Language Film
Boston Society of Film Critics Awards
Runner-up: Best Foreign Language Film
Chicago Film Critics Association (USA)
Won: Best Foreign Language Film
Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association (USA)
Won: Best Foreign Language Film
Placed 9th: Top 10 Films
Florida Film Critics Circle (USA)
Won: Best Foreign Film
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards (USA)
Won: Best Foreign Language Film
Golden Globe Awards (USA)
Nominated: Best Foreign Language Film[https://www.goldenglobes.com/film/very-long-engagement-0 Golden Globes]

References

External links

{{in lang|fr}} {{Official website|http://wwws.warnerbros.fr/movies/unlongdimanche/}}
{{IMDb title}}
{{mojo title|verylongengagement|A Very Long Engagement}}

{{Navboxes

|title = Awards for A Very Long Engagement

|list1 =

{{Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Foreign Language Film}}

{{Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Foreign Language Film}}

{{Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Foreign Language Film}}

{{Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award for Best Foreign Language Film}}

}}

Category:2004 films

Category:2000s French-language films

Category:French war drama films

Category:French World War I films