A Very Long Engagement

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I just saw this movie with a friend of mine that I want as something more than a friend (but that is another thread altogether) and found myself bored out of my mind and looking for the exit door. Amelie was very good and I like Audrey Tatou but I found the film inconsistent and the plot forced. I tried to tell this to my friend but she accused me of being insensitive. Critics have praised this movie, and it does look beautiful but the movie doesn't get more than 2 stars in my book.

― Jean Pierre Tomato, Sunday, 26 December 2004 09:23 (twenty years ago)

jean pierre tomato?!?!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Sunday, 26 December 2004 23:19 (twenty years ago)

I liked parts of the book, Un long dimanche de fiançailles, but ultimately found it disappointing.

― Michael White (Hereward), Monday, 27 December 2004 04:24 (twenty years ago)

"a very long engagement" is a very awkward title

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Monday, 27 December 2004 04:27 (twenty years ago)

it's like that "such a long journey" film which i always thought was great headline fodder for a negative review--"such a long movie"

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 27 December 2004 04:44 (twenty years ago)

The trailer made it look exactly like Cold Mountain except in WWI

― Hurting (Hurting), Monday, 27 December 2004 04:54 (twenty years ago)

"o'neill's 'long day's journey into a night' a long afternoon's journey into tedium" by david denby

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Monday, 27 December 2004 07:03 (twenty years ago)

all in all i think this is pretty good. very twisty plot, telling (and showing) and retelling (and reshowing) the same events from different, sometimes better perspectives.

not that it didn't have problems, but they're the same problems i had with amelie (which i just saw, as it happens) i think the hermetically-sealed feeling in them both is no good, it's past some idea of "rigor" into outright distrust of the audience. the insert images, fake old-timey reels, spot flashbacks, the funhouse stuff, they're all fine in themselves... i don't know how i feel yet about the 'amelie style' applied to such an un-precious and OPEN thing as the Front. But, after a while I wanted at least one wandering element, one lazy little drawl, something with a little more air. And the the merciless control of color really grates, this movie is LONG, and the constant WAR = GRAY, FRANCE 1920 = YELLOW just made my eyes tired by the end.

so, impressive, and engaging thru til the end (almost), but no tears were jerked from these eyes, harumph.

― g--ff (gcannon), Tuesday, 28 December 2004 05:25 (twenty years ago)

I have just learned that my wife despises Audrey Tataou with an unbridled passion so it's going to be like pulling teeth to get her to see this film, which I expect to be brilliant. Please tell me it is!

― kyle (akmonday), Tuesday, 28 December 2004 05:44 (twenty years ago)

three weeks pass...

I thought it was great! but I am sappy.

― kyle (akmonday), Friday, 21 January 2005 17:02 (twenty years ago)

And does your wife still have her teeth? (i.e. what did she think?)

― mark grout (mark grout), Friday, 21 January 2005 17:08 (twenty years ago)

she liked it more than she is willing to admit, probably. she liked the battle scenes a lot (as did I, they're weird. Jeneut coats everything with such a fakey, comical aire; the way the shots are composed, bodies look oversized, the moustaches are funny, the whole thing seems kind of whimsical, and then body parts start flying), and Audrey Tatou grins less in this than in Amelie. It's a long film, but I would have liked to have learned more about the Corsican's whore's quest to find him, because she was pretty badass, and the scene where she, uh, shoots the mirror (trying not to give this away) is excellent.

― kyle (akmonday), Friday, 21 January 2005 17:12 (twenty years ago)

also, Jodi Foster is very very good

― kyle (akmonday), Friday, 21 January 2005 17:13 (twenty years ago)

I thought it was gooey mush, with every sentimental cliché in the book. My girlfriend, on the other hand, loved it.

― Jonathan Z. (Joanthan Z.), Friday, 21 January 2005 17:22 (twenty years ago)

i should go out with your girlfriend and you and my wife can be jaded hipsters together!

― kyle (akmonday), Friday, 21 January 2005 17:26 (twenty years ago)

My girlfriend's 5 months pregnant - are you OK about being a step-father as well?

― Jonathan Z. (Joanthan Z.), Friday, 21 January 2005 17:29 (twenty years ago)

deal off!

― kyle (akmonday), Friday, 21 January 2005 17:35 (twenty years ago)

I suspect I will like this. Kyle, I had no idea you so sappy.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 21 January 2005 17:37 (twenty years ago)

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A Very Long Engagement - C or D