Jean-Pierre Jeunet is a filmmaker who always brings his own toybox to play with. Whether he’s making a Hollywood science-fiction film (“Alien Resurrection”) or charting the daydreams of a whimsical Parisian (“Amelie”), Jeunet always sees life as a Tinkertoy set to be assembled.
His new movie, “A Very Long Engagement,” at first glance seems an odd fit for this director. It’s a World War I story, full of bloodshed and heartache, a far cry from the gee-whiz cheer of “Amelie.”
But maybe not so far. For here’s Audrey Tatou, Amelie herself, once again playing an obsessive, superstitious girl whose romantic fixation will not be denied.
Tatou plays Mathilde, whose lover Manech (Gaspard Ulliel) has been sent away to the front lines. Jeunet opens the film with some violent scenes in the miserable trenches, where soldiers are injuring themselves in order to get out of the slaughterhouse of combat.
Manech included – which results in his court martial. But does he die by execution, or an enemy bullet, or does he escape?
Mathilde is convinced he is still alive, and the movie (based on a novel by Sebastien Japrisot) follows her long, roundabout method for tracking him down. Like a limping Hercule Poirot – she had polio – Mathilde keeps turning up clues in what everybody tells her is a fruitless cause.
Jeunet fills each scene with his brand of quirk. He never seems to have a shortage of running jokes and sight gags, and his daffy touches (why does Mathilde play the tuba?) fairly bubble out of the picture.
Even the casting is subject to this approach: Jodie Foster plays a key supporting role, and speaks French as though Paris-born.
The thing that makes Jeunet’s films delightful to watch is also what limits them – he tends to be inventive to the point of distraction. “A Very Long Engagement,” which is a very long film, is bouncy enough to make it enjoyable, but doesn’t seem to have gravity.
Jean-Pierre Jeunet came to the area recently to publicize the film, and confessed to having a lifelong interest in World War I, having read every book about it when he was a teenager. “I destroyed many vacations on this subject,” he said.
“Just right now, it’s getting a kind of fashion,” in France, Jeunet said. “The last surviving veteran is about to die, and it’s like we want to know everything now.”
The war was so traumatic for France, with a million French dead, that Jeunet wanted to be as realistic as possible. “You do not want to put imagination or fantasy on this war.”
His imagination has been his driving force since childhood, when he directed puppet shows for his family and charged them admission. It was the first evidence of his desire to control every detail of a production, which later manifested itself in his cartoon work.
“Maybe because I need to love everything, I shoot every detail,” he mused, “have to transform the reality into my vision. I try to have one idea per shot. Bringing my own ideas is very important to me.”
Asked whether he identified with the obsessive heroines of his movies, he thought for a moment. “Maybe my love for the cinema is the obsessive part,” he said. “I made movies before I had even seen many movies.”
Jeunet isn’t sure what his next project will be. “I just passed on the little wizard,” he said. “You know – Harry Potter.” He felt he didn’t have enough time to prepare the next Potter sequel in order to put his own stamp on it.
“I need to take my time, to fall in love. One more time.”
“A Very Long Engagement” HHH
Bouncy: A World War I tale from “Amelie” director Jean-Pierre Jeunet, about a woman (Audrey Tatou) determined to find her lost lover. Jeunet’s toybox style doesn’t exactly fit the gravity of the setting, but it makes the movie bouncy to watch. (In French, with English subtitles.
Rated: R rating is for violence, subject matter.
Now showing: tk
“A Very Long Engagement” HHH
Bouncy: A World War I tale from “Amelie” director Jean-Pierre Jeunet, about a woman (Audrey Tatou) determined to find her lost lover. Jeunet’s toybox style doesn’t exactly fit the gravity, but it makes the movie bouncy to watch. (In French, with English subtitles.
Rated: R rating is for violence, subject matter.
Now showing: Egyptian.
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