A Very Long Engagement (Jean-Pierre Jeunet 2004)
Posted on March 31 at 10.52, 2005 by Eric Mahleb
I love City of Lost Children, respect Amelie, appreciate Delicatessen, and (conveniently) forget Alien 4. I thus consider Jeunet to be an interesting director, one who is not afraid of experimenting and who has a wonderful sense of visual candy and aesthetics.
So i was very curious to see how his style and form would combine with the topic and setting of his last film, a young girl’s quest for her supposedly dead fiancee in post World War I France. The result is less than impressive. Jeunet’s constant visual tricks, from rapid close ups to flashbacks, split screens and a blasphemous abuse of crane and helicopter shots, which worked so well in Amelie, create in this case a distance between the audience and the narrative that goes against the desired effect of involving us emotionally in Tautou (whose acting i may say is quite unconvincing)’s quest. Disappointing.
My vote: 
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