Jean Pierre Jeunet re-unites with his heroin of 'Amélie from Montmartre' and tries to deliver with 'Un long dimanche de fiançaille' another poetic movie about yet again a young woman, Mathilde who is relentlessly searching for her fiancée, who has disappeared from the trenches of the Somme during World War One. Jean Pierre Jeunet is one of those very powerful directors that understand how crucial cinematography is in a movie aiming for poetry. In 'Un long dimanche de fiançaille' he partners again with his director of photography, Bruno Delbonnel who worked on 'Amélie from Montmartre'. In their latest collaboration they continue to deliver an eye for candy film that balances with perfection war scenes, comic scenes and emotional scenes. Adapted from Sébastien Japrisot's novel 'Un long dimanche de fiançaille' tells a poignant story, unfolded through an investigation mechanism. Served with a great cast (e.g. the late Ticky Holgado) the film succeeds in delivering one hour and a half of cinematographic pleasure. However the narration is based on so many voices over that you wander what is left for the audience to think about. Isn't poetry part of imagination? Do we need (the audience) to get a description of every emotions felt by the protagonists. Here again but even more so than in 'Amélie from Montmartre', Mr. Jeunet has too many so called poetic lines red throughout the film and describing emotions that should not be described to but felt by the audience. By doing so he tries to impose on us what we should feel, this seems to me an easier way to tell a story. Jean Pierre Jeunet confuses communication and communion and if he does the first one with effectiveness the second one is in my humble opinion much closer to poetry
Review of A Very Long Engagement
