Love and War

The first thing I thought when I saw A Very Long Engagement is that Audrey Touruo's role as Mathilde was  interesting to see because of another movie I saw her in - He loves me, He loves me not. Without spoiling it I'll just say that this was not the first time she had played a woman driven by love, although the results were very different. 

A Very Long Engagement is an examination of World War I at a very personal level, showing the horrors of war, but never concentrating on the war itself. The story revolves Mathilde, who's fiance is sent off to war only to be condemned for self-mutilation. Despite all odds and reason, Mathilde continues to wait for him to return, eventually taking matters into her own hands. One of the ideas that drives the movie is the irrational. Irrationality in continuing to look for a man that is almost guaranteed to be dead, and irrationality of war and how it makes people do strange things. One could say that the movie is framed to show the two sides of man, with his best and worst intentions. Mathilde represents the adaptability of mankind, the ability to be driven to do almost anything no matter the obstacles. Many of the men involved in the "Great War" represent a much baser and fallen nature. One man is shot in cold blood while waving a white flag, just because the sergeant felt like it. Manech (Mathilde's fiance) is condemned to death when he could have been sent home. The commanding officer destroys the pardon letter that could have saved all five condemned men. Why did they do these things? Why was there so much needless killing? These questions are never really answered. Although there have been many movies that show the irrationality of war and the darker side of humanity, what is unique to A Very Long Engagement is how we are shown through Mathilde's eyes the affect of just one day of war and how changing and lasting of an impact it had on so many different people. 

Mathilde in front of the Grave of Manech

There is also a blend of the Gothic in how love and violence are shown, especially in the character of Tina Lombardi. Revenge is a motive everyone can understand, it is something can vindicate even the most monstrous of actions. "Do unto others as they have done unto you" has driven many people and movies. Kill Bill, V for Vendetta, The Princess Bride, Inglorious Bastards, vengeance is an emotion we can all sympathize with. But what is most tragic is how right before Tina is to be executed Mathilde gives her a pocket watch owned by the man she was seeking revenge for. There was a note hidden inside telling her not to destroy herself seeking revenge. The next time we see her, we are shown the only silent black and white scene in the movie, where she is executed via the guillotine.  

Nationalism also played a part in the movie, but it really focused on the dividing and painful affects of it, especially in a wartime setting. The guy mentioned earlier who got shot for no reason? The sergeant said right before he killed him "so he's Corsican? Let's cancel his birth certificate." A German woman also helps Mathilde in her search for Manech, sharing a story from one of her relative's point of view. It serves as a very humanizing moment for the Germans as we realize that it wasn't just one side that was suffering, but both. Most didn't want to be there, but had to fight to survive, some did while others weren't so lucky. 

A Very Long Engagement's play on words, meaning both a long wait until marriage and a long war serve as the focus of this examination of World War I. War's effects on those fighting and those not on the front lines depict a tragic story, with ripples that spread out to change the lives of hundreds of people. We are shown that behind each soldier is a family, hurt, if not destroyed, by war. 

The picture is A Very Long Engagement by Sebastian Japrisot