Un long dimanche de fiançailles (2004)
Amongst movies about love and romance, A Very Long Engagement takes a very different path. I’m trying, but finding myself unable to summarize what the movie is really about. Is it about finding lost love, or about coping with loss? In the movie, Mathilde believes firmly that if her true love is dead, she’d feel it. Thus, when she hears about her love being amongst the 5 condemned due to self-mutilation, she starts down the road of discovering the truth for herself.
It’s a long mystery movie, filled with many long and foreign French names. It’s rather difficult to keep track of everyone, and during the first hour, I find myself lost – and falling asleep. By no means, is this the movie’s fault – it’s very well made, the actor/ess all filled their roles wonderfully, and the script – though long, is still quite amazing.
Other than it’s a decent movie, there’s really nothing more to say. I’d write spoilers for the movie for my own future reference, so don’t click the Read More Link.
No one believes that Mathilde’s fiancee Manech is still alive other than Mathilde. Through long journeys to distant and beautiful parts of France, she discovers one hint after another, and eventually leading up to a man who does know, for certain, what happened.
The story ended happily, with them meeting once more but Manech’s memories lost. As it revolves around discovering the truth behind the Bingo trench, it’s hard to avoid quite bloody and gory shots of men dying in all sorts of manner. Amongst the reminiscence of these imageries, them reuniting is made more poignant and miraculous. Ahh, true love ~ see bro, it’s not all about the clam chowder.