billcurry-24603 I think the movie's more of an anti war protest than a period romance. Also, I had trouble with keeping up with who was whom. The French soundtrack track was so low I could barely hear it. The worst, though, was the unbearably anticlimactic ending. Even with amnesia, the guy should have shown some sign of recognition, showing the audience that the woman's quest was not in vain. As it is, there should have been a sequel, with scenes like her requesting him to carve MMM. And if he shoots no recognition, just an odd attachment to it, he asks about it. She says she'll tell him later. And we're on our way. People would flock to it. Hey, Ron Howard, you told me once a script would have to be interesting for you to consider it. Here it is. PS--I'd like to be co-writer. Au revoir, pour maintenant.Et Jodie, J'aime beaucoup votre Français. Je vous ai vous sur TV5.IMDb--Sorry 'bout the French. But ts was only a bit and it was s French flick and my first review. You may cut it if you wish.

Python Hyena A Very Long Engagement (2004): Dir: Jean Pierre Jeunet / Cast: Audrey Tautou, Gaspard Ulliel, Dominique Pinon, Chantal Neuwirth, Marion Cotillard: Powerful film about the timeless connection between two individuals as well as the venture for facts. Set during the first World War five soldiers are sent into no-man's land after inflicting themselves with gunshot wounds. One of them is a young nineteen year old whose fiancée searches drastically for answers to his fate. She cannot accept that he is dead because she claims that she cannot feel it. Brilliantly directed by Jean Pierre Jeunet who previously made a morbid piece of trash called Alien: Resurrection, which nearly killed that franchise. Then he wisely followed that up with the wonderful Amelie, which also starred Audrey Tautou. She proves valuable as the leg impaired fiancée with a strong will. Gaspard Ulliel plays her fiancée who suffers from shell shock. Dominique Pinon and Chantal Neuwirth play her supportive aunt and uncle whom she lives with. Marion Cotillard is sexy using her dominance to tie an enemy to a bed and then shooting the mirror overhead for a nasty end. Visually tense war footage places viewers within the chaos. It gives off the corrupt and fatal remains of war and its impact while others desire to avoid the fatalities altogether and seek the solitude that is a distant memory. Score: 10 / 10

Red_Identity This is exactly the type of weepy, sentimental, "classical" period drama/war romance. The acting is quite good. Jodie foster and Marion Cotillard shine the brightest from the supporting players (and Marion Cotillard is the reason I sought this out, because of praise for her). She was quite good and very effective in her scenes, but a very small role, definitely smaller than I ever expected. As it is, Audrey Tatou is also very good, and she does the most she can. Really, it's hard to fault the film for what it does because a lot of people are sure to love this sort of thing. The problem is that it's basically just the type of period cliché that you come to expect, one that's supposed to be grand and sweeping in the everyday music and emotions that are seen. Not a fan.

bobsgrock Jean-Pierre Jeunet's epic tale of love amidst the backdrop of The Great War is terribly sad, empty, loving and heartfelt all simultaneously. It captures exquisitely what it might have been like to be among the unspeakable carnage and destruction which characterized the trench warfare of the war as well as tells a thoroughly engaging and brightly acted love story about a determined young woman searching and hoping that her fiancée remains alive after the war.Audrey Tautou, perhaps the closest actress alive who resembles Audrey Hepburn in both looks and personality, plays Mathilde, a polio-stricken orphan living in the French countryside with her aunt and uncle holding on to the belief that her lover, thin and fresh-faced Manech, will return to her from the war. Jeunet cuts swiftly between her tale which she narrates and that of another woman in search of her lost love. This second female is played by Marion Cotillard in a brilliant performance filled with both intense passion and longing sadness. In many ways, her character sits at the crossroads which this movie places itself at. The intention of looking to intensely at the destruction of the Great War and the long-term effects it had on society is summarized in her actions, which are grotesque and yet strangely understandable.Tautou carries the film mostly but Jeunet's direction is impeccable. The cinematography is gorgeous in its widescreen landscapes depicting both the heavenly countryside and the hellish warfield as accurately as possible. The narrative structure is free-flowing and engaging, leaving us to pick up the pieces along with Tautou as she searches. Anyone interested in early twentieth century history should see this film for its accurate and bold look at how one war changed the course of the humanity's future while everyone else should see it for its visual strength, bold narrative, breathtaking acting and themes as universal as the events it depicts. This is truly a modern classic.