A Very Long Engagement Review

Mike says I'm usually a little wary of foreign films. The same goes for war films, emotional dramas, and essentially anything that resembles reality in any possible way.... I can't help it. When I relax, I want "Wow, that's so completely unrealistic!" fiction, not "Wow, that film really captured the hardships of life" fiction.

But, if I have one real weakness, it's narration. If you were to narrate a video of someone going to the bathroom, I'd probably be enthralled.

Anyway, A Very Long Engagement is far from a potty video. Beautiful to watch, well-written and acted, and moving at times, Engagement is a solid and enjoyable romantic drama. I think what makes it for me is the mystery--I'm totally sucked into the quest of the girl to find her lost love. It's funny at times, but also very serious. One of the things is that while the movie does capture the elements of life, it captures more of the positive traits than the bad.

My only real complaint about the movie is the end. Admittedly, I'm a realist (translation--everyone calls me negative). But after such a long journey through the film, it seems that love isn't so much found or restored, as the possibility of new love is discovered. I would have preferred that she find what she was looking for. Instead, the film tries to create a believable venue for the unbelievable to transpire. While that's nice, in the end, it's just a tad too realistic for my taste.


Kate says if I had to pick up a theme for the movies in this list, I would pick the theme of ordinary people surviving the craziness of life with dignity. A Very Long Engagement definitely fits into this category. In some ways, it is a mystery story, and in some ways, it is a history story. But threaded through the entire movie are the ordinary oddities and kindnesses of everyday human beings: a motorbike, a watch, hot cocoa, a postman and gravel, farting dogs, a red mitten, postcards and letters, cats, soup, wheelchairs . . .

Even the awfulness of war is illuminated by individual stories and motives. I was aware--from watching Black Adder and reading Laurie King--that soldiers were court-martialed in WWI for cowardice. (Men who didn't go to war might be given white feathers by disapproving and patriotic young women: the arty movie The Four Feathers with Heath Ledger tackles this custom.) A Very Long Engagement makes the issue real and apolitical by focusing on the individuals. Like with Black Adder, I felt a greater understanding of the horror of trench warfare without feeling preached at (if I want to be preached at, I'll read a political pundit's book).

Unfortunately, the intensely individual nature of the stories leads to some confusion. If the director hadn't used visual flashbacks, I would have had no clue who was who during the investigation--except Bastoche. The references to various names is positively Russian at times (suggestion: when you watch, make a note of the five names at the beginning).

If you are anything like me and are very wary of foreign films, this one you can trust. I tend to associate foreign films with depression, angst, death, and heavy-handed symbolism; A Very Long Engagement doesn't bypass so much as transform all of these possibilities. In our next post (movies to watch if you liked the ones in this list), I'll mention other foreign films that belie the "foreign films=angsty pointlessness" cliche.