A Very Long Engagement
Encyclopedia
A Very Long Engagement is a 2004 French romantic war film
, directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet
and starring Audrey Tautou
. It is a fiction
al tale about a young woman's desperate search for her fiancé who might have been killed on the battle of the Somme
, during World War I
. It was based on a novel
of the same name, written by Sebastien Japrisot
, first published in 1991.
are convicted of self-mutilation in order to escape military service during World War I
. They are condemned to face near certain death in the 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 the no man's land as a punishment. She, with the help of a private investigator, 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 in flashback to the battlefield.
In the movie, Manech and Mathilde are from Brittany. In the novel, however, they are from Cap-Breton
, in the Landes department of southwest France.
and Academy Award for Best Cinematography
at the Oscars
. However, it was not selected by the French government as the French submission for the award for Best Foreign Language Film
. Marion Cotillard won the César Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance.
The film received generally positive reviews from critics. The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes
reported that 77% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 140 reviews. Metacritic
reported the film had an average score of 76 out of 100, based on 39 reviews. The film had a production budget of $56.6 million USD and earned $90.1 million in theaters worldwide.
War film
War films are a film genre concerned with warfare, usually about naval, air or land battles, sometimes focusing instead on prisoners of war, covert operations, military training or other related subjects. At times war films focus on daily military or civilian life in wartime without depicting battles...
, directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Jean-Pierre Jeunet
-Life and career:Jean-Pierre Jeunet was born in Roanne, Loire, France. He bought his first camera at the age of 17 and made short films while studying animation at Cinémation Studios. He befriended Marc Caro, a designer and comic book artist who became his longtime collaborator and...
and starring Audrey Tautou
Audrey Tautou
Audrey Justine Tautou is a French model and film actress, best known for playing the title character in the award-winning 2001 film Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain, Sophie Neveu in the 2006 thriller The Da Vinci Code, Irène in Priceless and Coco Chanel in Coco avant Chanel...
. It is a fiction
Fiction
Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...
al tale about a young woman's desperate search for her fiancé who might have been killed on the battle of the Somme
Battle of the Somme (1916)
The Battle of the Somme , also known as the Somme Offensive, took place during the First World War between 1 July and 14 November 1916 in the Somme department of France, on both banks of the river of the same name...
, during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. It was based on a novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
of the same name, written by Sebastien Japrisot
Sébastien Japrisot
Sébastien Japrisot was a French author, screenwriter and film director, born in Marseille. His pseudonym was an anagram of Jean-Baptiste Rossi, his real name...
, first published in 1991.
Plot
Five soldiersPoilu
Poilu is a warmly informal term for a French World War I infantryman, meaning, literally, hairy one. The term came into popular usage in France during the era of Napoleon Bonaparte and his massive citizen armies, though the term grognard was also common. It is still widely used as a term of...
are convicted of self-mutilation in order to escape military service during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. They are condemned to face near certain death in the no man's land
No man's land
No man's land is a term for land that is unoccupied or is under dispute between parties that leave it unoccupied due to fear or uncertainty. The term was originally used to define a contested territory or a dumping ground for refuse between fiefdoms...
between the French and German trench
Trench warfare
Trench warfare is a form of occupied fighting lines, consisting largely of trenches, in which troops are largely immune to the enemy's small arms fire and are substantially sheltered from artillery...
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 the no man's land as a punishment. She, with the help of a private investigator, attempts to find out what happened to her fiancé. The story is told both from the point of view of the fiancée in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and the French countryside—mostly Brittany
Brittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
—of the 1920s, and in flashback to the battlefield.
In the movie, Manech and Mathilde are from Brittany. In the novel, however, they are from Cap-Breton
Capbreton
Capbreton is a commune of around 7500 inhabitants in the Landes department in Aquitaine in south-western France. Located at the mouth of the Boudigau and Bourret rivers, the town is situated about 40 km to the north of Biarritz.The town is a popular holiday destination for sailers, surfers,...
, in the Landes department of southwest France.
Cast
- Audrey TautouAudrey TautouAudrey Justine Tautou is a French model and film actress, best known for playing the title character in the award-winning 2001 film Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain, Sophie Neveu in the 2006 thriller The Da Vinci Code, Irène in Priceless and Coco Chanel in Coco avant Chanel...
- Mathilde Donnay - Gaspard UllielGaspard UllielGaspard Ulliel is a French film actor and model. He began appearing in made-for-television films during the late 1990s and early 2000s, and then began to be known as a film actor in France, as well as starring in the title role in the thriller Hannibal Rising.-Life and career:Ulliel was born in...
- Manech Langonnet, Mathilde's fiancé - Jean-Pierre Becker - Sergeant Daniel Esperanza
- Dominique Bettenfeld - Angel Bassignano
- Clovis CornillacClovis CornillacClovis Cornillac is a French theater, television and cinema actor.- Biography :Clovis Cornillac was born to actors Myriam Boyer and Roger Cornillac. He started studying theatre at the age of 14....
- Benoît Notre-Dame - Marion CotillardMarion CotillardMarion Cotillard is a French actress and singer. She garnered critical acclaim for her roles in films such as La Vie en Rose, My Sex Life... or How I Got Into an Argument, Taxi, Furia and Jeux d'enfants...
- Tina Lombardi - Jean-Pierre DarroussinJean-Pierre DarroussinJean-Pierre Darroussin is a French film actor. He was born in Courbevoie, France on December 4, 1953. His films include the 2004 thriller Red Lights.-Filmography as actor:* 1979 : Coup de tête, directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud...
- Corporal Benjamin "Biscotte" Gordes - Julie DepardieuJulie DepardieuJulie Marion Depardieu is a French actress who has appeared in a number of successful movies.She is the daughter of Gérard Depardieu and Élisabeth Depardieu, and the sister of the late Guillaume Depardieu—all of whom are also film actors...
- Véronique Passavant - Jean-Claude DreyfusJean-Claude DreyfusJean-Claude Dreyfus is a French actor. He began his career in film acting in 1973 in the film Comment réussir quand on est con et pleurnichard. Dreyfus is notable for his portrayal of a butcher in the black comedy Delicatessen by Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet...
- Major François Lavrouye - André DussollierAndré DussollierAndré Dussollier is a French actor.-Filmography:* 1970 : Ils, directed by Jean-Daniel Simon* 1972 : Les Chemins de pierre, directed by Joseph Drimal...
- Pierre-Marie Rouvières - Ticky HolgadoTicky HolgadoTicky Holgado , pseudonym of Joseph Holgado, was a French actor and a frequent collaborator with Jean-Pierre Jeunet....
- Germain Pire - Tchéky KaryoTchéky Karyo-Early life:Karyo was born in Istanbul to a Greek mother and Sephardic-Jewish father and raised in Paris, France. He studied drama at the Cyrano Theatre and later became a member of the Daniel Sorano Company, playing many classical roles.-Career:...
- Captain Etienne Favourier - Jérôme Kircher - Kléber "Bastoche" Bouquet
- Denis LavantDenis LavantDenis Lavant is a French film actor known for his distinctive face and the physically demanding aspects of the roles he plays, which often involve slapstick, acrobatics or dance, as well as for his long-standing association with director Leos Carax...
- Francis "Six-Sous" Gaignard - Chantal NeuwirthChantal Neuwirth- Filmography :*Musée haut, musée bas .... Anne*Bouquet final .... Evelyne*La belle personne .... Nicole - la patronne du café Sully*Sagan .... Mme Lebreton*Cortex .... Francine*Les ambitieux .... Marceline Fouek...
- Bénédicte, Mathilde's aunt - Dominique PinonDominique PinonDominique Pinon is a French actor whose most famous roles have been in the films of Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Jean-Jacques Beineix. In the theatre, he has appeared in the plays of Gildas Bourdet, Jorge Lavelli and Valère Novarina...
- Sylvain, Mathilde's uncle - Jean-Paul RouveJean-Paul RouveJean-Paul Rouve , who was part of Les Robins des Bois, is a French film and television actor. He is also a film director and screenwriter.-Career:Rouve has appeared in over thirty films and over ten television productions....
- the postman - Michel Vuillermoz - P'tit Louis
- Albert DupontelAlbert DupontelAlbert Dupontel is a French actor and film director. He started his career as a stand-up comedian...
- Célestin Poux - Bouli LannersBouli LannersPhilippe "Bouli" Lanners is a Belgian actor, author and film director...
- Corporal Urbain Chardolot - Philippe Duquesne - Staff Sergeant Favart
- Stéphane Butet - Julien Phillipot
- François Levantal - Gaston Thouvenel
- Thierry Gibault - Lieutenant Benoît Etrangin
- Jodie FosterJodie FosterAlicia Christian "Jodie" Foster is an American actress, film director, producer as well as a former child actress....
- Élodie Gordes
Production
A Very Long Engagement was filmed entirely in France over an 18-month period, with about 30 French actors, approximately 500 French technicians and more than 2,000 French extras. 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 Brothers 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.Awards and reception
The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Art DirectionAcademy Award for Best Art Direction
The Academy Awards are the oldest awards ceremony for achievements in motion pictures. The Academy Award for Best Art Direction recognizes achievement in art direction on a film. The films below are listed with their production year, so the Oscar 2000 for best art direction went to a film from 1999...
and Academy Award for Best Cinematography
Academy Award for Best Cinematography
The Academy Award for Best Cinematography is an Academy Award awarded each year to a cinematographer for work in one particular motion picture.-History:...
at the Oscars
77th Academy Awards
The 77th Academy Awards honored the best films of 2004 and were held on February 27, 2005, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California. They were hosted by comedian Chris Rock.The nominees were announced on January 25, 2005...
. However, it was not selected by the French government as the French submission for the award for Best Foreign Language Film
Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
The Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film is one of the Academy Awards of Merit, popularly known as the Oscars, handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...
. Marion Cotillard won the César Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance.
The film received generally positive reviews from critics. The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
reported that 77% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 140 reviews. Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
reported the film had an average score of 76 out of 100, based on 39 reviews. The film had a production budget of $56.6 million USD and earned $90.1 million in theaters worldwide.
- César Awards (France)
- Won: Best Actress – Supporting Role (Marion Cotillard)
- Won: Best CinematographyCésar Award for Best CinematographyThe following are the winners of the annual César Award for Best Cinematography .-1970s:-1980s:-1990s:-2000s:-2010s:...
(Bruno DelbonnelBruno DelbonnelBruno Delbonnel is a French cinematographer.Delbonnel was born in Nancy, Meurthe-et-Moselle, France and graduated in 1978 from the ESEC ....
) - Won: Best Costume DesignCésar Award for Best Costume DesignThis is the list of winners and nominees of the César Award for Best Costume Design .-1980s:-1990s:-2000s:-2010s:...
(Madeline Fontaine) - Won: Best Production DesignCésar Award for Best Production DesignThis is the list of winners and nominees of the César Award for Best Production Design .-Winners and nominees:*1976: Pierre Guffroy: Que la fête commence*1977: Alexandre Trauner: Monsieur Klein...
(Aline BonettoAline BonettoAline Bonetto is a French production designer and set decorator, best known for her work with Jean-Pierre Jeunet on films such as Amélie, A Very Long Engagement, and Micmacs à tire-larigot, among others...
) - Won: Most Promising Actor (Gaspard Ulliel)
- Nominated: Best Actress – Leading Role (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)
- 77th Academy Awards77th Academy AwardsThe 77th Academy Awards honored the best films of 2004 and were held on February 27, 2005, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California. They were hosted by comedian Chris Rock.The nominees were announced on January 25, 2005...
(USA)- Nominated: Best Art DirectionAcademy Award for Best Art DirectionThe Academy Awards are the oldest awards ceremony for achievements in motion pictures. The Academy Award for Best Art Direction recognizes achievement in art direction on a film. The films below are listed with their production year, so the Oscar 2000 for best art direction went to a film from 1999...
(Aline Bonetto) - Nominated: Best CinematographyAcademy Award for Best CinematographyThe Academy Award for Best Cinematography is an Academy Award awarded each year to a cinematographer for work in one particular motion picture.-History:...
(Bruno Delbonnel)
- Nominated: Best Art Direction
- BAFTA Awards58th British Academy Film AwardsThe 58th British Film Awards, given by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts on 12 February 2005, honoured the best in film for 2004....
(UK)- Nominated: Best Film not in the English Language
- 10th Critics' Choice AwardsBroadcast Film Critics Association Awards 2004The 10th Critics' Choice Awards given by the Broadcast Film Critics Association on 10 January 2005 honored the finest achievements in 2004 filmmaking.-Top 10 Films:#The Aviator#Collateral...
(USA)- Nominated: Best Foreign-Language Film
- Boston Society of Film Critics AwardsBoston Society of Film Critics Awards 2004The 25th Boston Society of Film Critics Awards, honoring the best in filmmaking in 2004, were given on 13 December 2004.-Winners:*Best Film:**Sideways**Runner-up: Before Sunset*Best Actor:**Jamie Foxx – Ray...
- Runner-up: Best Foreign Language Film
- Chicago Film Critics AssociationChicago Film Critics Association Awards 2004The 17th Chicago Film Critics Association Awards, presented in 2005, honored the best in film for 2004.-Winners:*Best Actor:**Paul Giamatti - Sideways*Best Actress:**Imelda Staunton - Vera Drake*Best Cinematography :...
(USA)- Won: Best Foreign Language Film
- Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics AssociationDallas-Fort Worth Film Critics AssociationThe Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association is an organization of 35 print, radio/TV and internet journalists from Dallas-Fort Worth-based publications...
(USA)- Won: Best Foreign Language Film
- Placed 9th: Top 10 Films
- Florida Film Critics CircleFlorida Film Critics CircleThe Florida Film Critics Circle is an organization of film reviewers from fourteen Florida-based publications and websites. In December, the FFCC meets to vote on their awards for films released during that year.- Categories :* Best Actor...
(USA)- Won: Best Foreign Film
- Kansas City Film Critics Circle AwardsKansas City Film Critics Circle Awards 2004The 39th Loutzenhiser Awards, honoring the best in film for 2004, were given on 2 January 2005 at the Screenland Theater in Kansas City, Kansas-Winners:*Best Actor:**Jamie Foxx – Ray*Best Actress:**Hilary Swank – Million Dollar Baby...
(USA)- Won: Best Foreign Language Film
- Golden Globe Awards (USA)
- Nominated: Best Foreign Language Film