A Very Long Engagement (2004)
Coming Out at 27 October 2004 in theaters.
“Un long dimanche de fiançailles”
Drama, Mystery, Romance
A Very Long Engagement is romantic war film, co-written and directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and starring Audrey Tautou. 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 was nominated for the Oscar for Best Art Direction and the Academy Award for Best Cinematography at the Oscars. Marion Cotillard won the César Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance.
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 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”).
Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Writers: Sébastien Japrisot (novel), Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Guillaume Laurant
Stars: Audrey Tautou, Gaspard Ulliel, Jodie Foster, Marion Cotillard, Dominique Bettenfeld, Albert Dupontel, Dominique Pinon
Cast:
| Audrey Tautou | … | Mathilde |
| Gaspard Ulliel | … | Manech |
| Dominique Pinon | … | Sylvain |
| Chantal Neuwirth | … | Bénédicte |
| André Dussollier | … | Pierre-Marie Rouvières |
| Ticky Holgado | … | Germain Pire |
| Marion Cotillard | … | Tina Lombardi |
| Dominique Bettenfeld | … | Ange Bassignano |
| Jodie Foster | … | Elodie Gordes |
| Jean-Pierre Darroussin | … | Benjamin Gordes |
| Clovis Cornillac | … | Benoît Notre-Dame |
| Jean-Pierre Becker | … | Esperanza |
| Denis Lavant | … | Six-Soux |
| Jérôme Kircher | … | Bastoche |
| Albert Dupontel | … | Célestin Poux |
| Jean-Paul Rouve | … | Le facteur |
| Elina Löwensohn | … | La femme allemande |
| Julie Depardieu | … | Véronique Passavant |
| Michel Vuillermoz | … | P’tit Louis |
| Urbain Cancelier | … | Le curé |
| Maud Rayer | … | Madame Desrochelles |
| Michel Robin | … | Le vieil homme sur le champ de bataille |
| Tchéky Karyo | … | Capitaine Favourier |
| Jean-Claude Dreyfus | … | Commandant Lavrouye |
| Philippe Duquesne | … | Favart |
| Bouli Lanners | … | Chardolot |
| Stéphane Butet | … | Philippot |
| Christian Pereira | … | L’officier des archives |
| François Levantal | … | Thouvenel |
| Patrick Paroux | … | Le médecin militaire |
| Solène Le Pechon | … | Mathilde 10 ans |
| Virgil Leclaire | … | Manech 13 ans |
| Florence Thomassin | … | Narrator (voice) |
| Thierry Gibault | … | Lieutenant Estrangin |
| Myriam Roustan | … | La prostituée du café |
| Gilles Masson | … | L’officier assassiné |
| Sandrine Rigault | … | Mariette Notre Dame |
| Michel Chalmeau | … | Le curé de Milly |
| Marc Faure | … | Le directeur de la prison |
| Rodolphe Pauly | … | Jean Desrochelles |
| Xavier Maly | … | Le camarade de Chardolot |
| Till Bahlmann | … | Le prisonnier allemand |
| Tony Gaultier | … | Un fossoyeur |
| Louis-Marie Audubert | … | Un fossoyeur |
| Jean-Gilles Barbier | … | Le sergent |
| Marc Robert | … | Un poilu |
| Pierre Heitz | … | Un poilu |
| Philippe Maymat | … | Un poilu |
| Eric Debrosse | … | Un poilu |
| Mick Gondouin | … | Un poilu |
| Eric Fraticelli | … | Le corse menaçant |
| Philippe Beautier | … | Le blagueur du train |
| Gérald Weingand | … | Un soldat floué |
| Luc Sonzogni | … | Un soldat floué |
| Xavier Berlioz | … | L’ordonnance |
| Frankie Pain | … | La maquerelle |
| Marcel Philippot | … | Le couple bourgeois |
| Pascale Lievyn | … | Le couple bourgeois |
| Jean-Claude Lecoq | … | Le mitrailleur allemand |
| Rufus | … | Un Breton |
| Esther Sironneau | … | L’infirmière |
| Stéphanie Gesnel | … | Une fille de joie |
| Frédérique Bel | … | Une fille de joie |
| Alexandre Caumartin | … | Un brancardier |
| Eric Defosse | … | Un brancardier |
| Gaspar Claus | … | L’Allemand transperçé |
| Jean-Philippe Bèche | … | Georges Cornu |
| Anaïs Durand | … | Hélène Pire |
| Morgan Berthon | … | Un soldat regardant Manech |
| Xavier Bonastre | … | Un bourgeois (1910) |
| Vincent Bowen | … | |
| Marie-Thé Colmagne | … | Une bourgeoise (1910) |
| Rachel Desmarest | … | Petite prostitute |
| Arnaud Klein | … | Soldier |
| Julien Lecat | … | Un soldat |
| Arnaud Marciszewer | … | Baptistin 8 ans |
| Arnaud Mathey-Dreyfus | … | Soldier Hooked in a Tree |
| Christophe Perie | … | Soldier |
| Aleksandrs Petukhovs | … | Soldier |
| Aleksandra Yermak | … | Passante sur la place de l’Opéra |
Sources: imdb & wikipedia