esrosedotblog

Sometimes I find the right thing for the "wrong" reasons.

One example would be today's film

Un long dimanche de fiançailles / A Very Long Engagement (2004)

It is a film with Gaspard Ulliel who I am "festing". He is the young soldier who is lost on the front in WWI. His fiancé/wife Audrey Tautou does not believe that he is dead and so she tries to track him down.

The search is complicated by the fact that he was muted by battle and a victim of amnesia. He also was under condemnation for desertion. Circumstantial evidence. Harsh treatment. Sent with four others into no man's land without weapons.

This is a long and complicated "detective" story and a vehicle for Tautou told in a style made for her particular bent for whimsy and eccentric acting. This is not a bad thing.

The cast is filled with actors who I/we know. Beautifully integrated into a story which is both horrific and wonderful at the same time.

There are a ton of special effects, movie stuff, that could not be done any other way.

The search goes on and on with false steps, missing links, changed identities and, in one case, even a threat of death if she continues.

The WWI scenes are beyond description.

Transfixed.

Ulliel does not appear a lot in this film but he is pivotal and his face and demeanor are the kind which not only would evoke such a tireless search but his appearances are always rewarding.

I will give this a 4 out of Netflix5.

I would never had seen this if I had not been tracking Ulliel down myself.

I think he is one of those actors who attract inspired work and then is able to make an appropriate contribution.

Labels: films