A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT
aka UN LONG DIMANCHE DE FIANÇAILLES
Year: 2004
USA: Warner Independent Pictures
UK: Warner Bros International UK
Cast: Audrey Tautou, Gaspard Ulliel, Jean-Pierre Becker, Dominique Bettenfeld, Clovis Cornillac, Marion Cotillard, Jean-Pierre Darroussin, Julie Depardieu, Jean-Claude Dreyfus, Andre Dussollier, Ticky Holgado, Tcheky Karyo, JerOme Kircher, Denis Lavant, Chantal Neuwirth, Dominique Pinon, Jean-Paul Rouve, Michel Vuillermoz, Thierry Gibault, Myriam Roustan, Gilles Masson, Sandrine Rigaud, Michel Chalmeau, Marc Faure, Rodolphe Pauly, Xavier Maly, Till Bahlmann, Tony Gaultier, Louis Marie Audubert, Jean Gilles Barbier, Marc Robert, Pierre Heitz, Philippe Maymat, Eric Debrosse, Mike Gondouin, Eric Fraticelli, Philippe Beautier, Gerald Weingand, Luc Songzoni, Xavier Berlioz, Frankie Pain, Marcel Philippot, Pascale Lievyn, Jean-Claude Lecoq, Rufus, Esther Sironneau, Stephanie Gesnel, Frederique Bel, Alexandre Caumartin, Eric Defosse, Gaspar Claus, Jean-Philippe Beche, Anaïs Durand
Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Country: France
Language: French (English subtitles)
USA & UK: 133 mins
USA Rated: R for violence and sexuality
UK Certificate: 15 contains moderate sex and battle violence
USA Release Date: 17 December 2004 (Limited Release - wider)
USA Release Date: 26 November 2004 (Limited Release - Los Angeles and New York)
UK Release Date: 21 January 2005
Synopsis
From the director and star of AMeLIE (Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Audrey Tautou) comes a very different love story: A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT. Based on the acclaimed novel by Sebastien Japrisot, the adapted screenplay was written by Jeunet & Guillaume Laurant.
As World War I draws to an end, a young French woman's greatest fight is about to begin. Mathilde has received word that her fiance Manech is one of five wounded soldiers who have been court-marshalled and pushed out into the no-man's land between the French and German armies... and almost certain death.
Unwilling to accept that her beloved Manech is lost to her forever, Mathilde embarks on an extraordinary journey to discover the fate of her lover. At each turn, she receives a different heartbreaking variation on how Manech must have spent those last days, those last moments.
Still, she never gets discouraged. If Manech were dead, Mathilde would know.
With a steadfast faith, strengthened by hope and a stubbornly cheerful disposition, Mathilde follows her investigation to its conclusion, convincing those who might help her and ignoring those who will not. As she draws closer to the truth about the five unfortunate soldiers and their brutal punishment, she is drawn deeper into the horrors of war and the indelible marks it leaves on those whose lives it has touched.