Audrey Tautou in J-P Jeunet's new film !

please do a review. : )

oh, DUSSOLIER!!! awesome

[QUOTE=Wesley Sonck]oh, DUSSOLIER!!! awesome[/QUOTE]
yes yes oh yay
this better get a release here

wow! I'm really interested. I like very much the way Audrey Tautou acts.

Better than Amélie !

I've just come back from seeing 'Un long dimanche de fiançailles', and am still struck with admiration. Really one of the best french films I've seen in years (probably since 'Sur mes lèvres').
As I wrote before, the movie is about Mathilde, whose fiancé went to the war and was declared sentenced to death by a martial court. Her legendary feminine intuition refusing the fatal outcome, she starts an investigation to discover the truth.

Those who liked Audrey Tautou will be satisfied, since she's the driving force of the film, and displays her now famous Amélie smiles, but also shows the face of despair and melancholy in front of events.
If you enjoyed the previous film's visual choices, you'll be treated with spectacular natural landscapes and early 20th century interiors and city views (Paris mostly).
How typically french is the movie ? Lots and lots. Costumes, faces, language, you name it. The cast is top-notch, you'll keep asking 'who's that ?' after leaving the theatre.
I had not been completely enchanted by 'Amélie', partly because of the character's immaturity. But 'Un long dimanche...' is much darker (the context of WW1 is still a painful wound in the french psyche) and more adult. It brought me misty eyes repeatedly (and it doesn't happen to me often).

Hope I informed you enough. Any questions ?

every shot in amelie and in the city looks like a painting. did this movie do the same thing?

[QUOTE=snuffy]every shot in amelie and in the city looks like a painting. did this movie do the same thing?[/QUOTE]
please please please see city of lost children (with carot). the red/green theme runs throughout (little girl in a red dress running around) - amelie borrows a lot of the same actors, too (i think amelie's father is the main character in colc).

i had my first boddington's while watching this movie.

i've seen so many stills from city. they look like beautiful paintings.

i also love the posters from 1995

[QUOTE=snuffy]i also love the posters from 1995[/QUOTE]
i haven't seen any posters. i should do a sweep of jeunet/carot - after i'm done collecting whatever i'm doing now, christopher guest movies, i guess, and then i have to finish with wes anderson, they're next. look out, jean-pierre, cominatcha

Yes, the visual aspects have been very carefully crafted.

Have any of you seen 'Le bunker de la dernière rafale', the first short film by Caro and Jeunet ? It's a silent picture set in the middle of a futuristic war, mostly on black and white.

[QUOTE=franc tireur]Yes, the visual aspects have been very carefully crafted.

Have any of you seen 'Le bunker de la dernière rafale', the first short film by Caro and Jeunet ? It's a silent picture set in the middle of a futuristic war, mostly on black and white.[/QUOTE]

oh i think ive seen that
sort of reminded me of La Jetee (sp?)

[QUOTE=vidalia]please please please see city of lost children (with carot). the red/green theme runs throughout (little girl in a red dress running around) - amelie borrows a lot of the same actors, too (i think amelie's father is the main character in colc).

i had my first boddington's while watching this movie.[/QUOTE]

You know, I rented City of Lost Children earlier this summer and I didn't care for it much. It was a shame because it seemed to get just beaming comments about it online, yet I just couldn't get into it. I did notice that film and Amelie have these random "chain of events" scenes, such as the dog running around and just stopping to fuck another dog in City, and all the funny little random bits in Amelie. I did like Amelie though. I need to rent it because I saw it in the theater my first time, so it's been a while.

What'd you think of her in Dirty Pretty Things? I thought she did a good job acting but the movie was a bit of a letdown as well. It wasn't horrible, it just didn't excite me like I was hoping it would.

I thought this thread deserved a bump because this movie just got released in the US. My parents took me to see it a few weeks ago, and I LOVED it. We went to see it because my father is a war picture aficianado, and because I'd just seen "Dirty Pretty Things" and fallen in love with Audrey Tautou.

This is, hands down, one of the most violent war movies I've ever seen. It's up there with "Saving Private Ryan." It was interesting because WWI isn't taught very thoroughly in most American schools, and I think it's easy for us to forget how horrific it was, with modern weaponry but without the advent of antibiotics.

Another reason I liked this movie was because it's a lot of different genres at the same time. It's a war movie, and a romance, and also a very engaging mystery. Most of the movie is Mathilde following clues and tracking down people to find her fiancé who might or might not be dead, and unlike many other period pictures, this movie never gets slow. Overall, I give this all the thumbs I possess up.

my heart skips a beat.

I am so thrilled this thread exists!!! I was wondering about this film and most people have no idea what I am talking about when I mention it ... I'm am so excited, it sounds good. Sadly, I have to drive 4 hours to get to a theatre that has it ...

Is it really better than Amelie?

(Michiganites, I may be going to Detroit to see this ... )

You should come to chicago to see it

I found it better than Amélie because I didn't completely buy the character, that I found slightly childish, while 'Un long dimanche.../ A long engagement" is about people forced to make choices as adults.
But of course it's a personal feeling and I fully understand that many people could fall under the spell of Amélie.
I am curious to know how all of you reacted to the strong 'Frenchness' expressed in both films.

[QUOTE=franc tireur]I am curious to know how all of you reacted to the strong 'Frenchness' expressed in both films.[/QUOTE]

Well I only just saw Amelie, and I am not positive on 'Frenchness' ... but I think its a concept that may be worth some exploration. I think Frenchness is quite romantic to many Americans ... can you give some examples of what you mean?

Is there a theatre in Chicago that has the movie playing tonight?

I'm introducing the vague notion of Frenchness, because I've already heard many people insist on how French they found Amélie, whatever they put behind it. Was it the score played with the accordion, or the typical Paris sights ? Or something less obvious ? I don't know very well, because most of the elements of the film are natural to me.
All I can say is that in 'A very long engagement', the most significantly French aspect of the film is the trauma that WW1 caused in our national culture. I think the film conveyed it even to people who didn't percieve it as directly as I did.

[QUOTE=Thag]Well I only just saw Amelie, and I am not positive on 'Frenchness' ... but I think its a concept that may be worth some exploration. I think Frenchness is quite romantic to many Americans ... can you give some examples of what you mean?

Is there a theatre in Chicago that has the movie playing tonight?[/QUOTE]
I would imagine Chicago has it playing somewhere, since it's in one of the Detroit theaters right now. (time lapse) And for some reason i was just moved to check, and it is indeed in some Chicago theaters, although damned if i know where those theaters actually are in Chicago

Man, i loved the Amelie soundtrack, hopefully going to go see A Very Long Engagement tonight, anyway.

I know where those theaters are

Music Box? That place is great. I forgot about this movie, I'll look for it.

[QUOTE=Undertow]Music Box? That place is great. I forgot about this movie, I'll look for it.[/QUOTE]
we should all go see it next weekend

I need to see this movie... I still kinda regret that I chose to learn (?) Spanish and not French in school.

I liked Amelie, and the Frenchness that you mentioned was very much there. Even a Parisness. I've been to Paris and the movie really well displays this huge metropole in which people live like normal citizens, and not like freaked out big-towners.

oh, DUSSOLIERRRR!!!!

"Collignon, big moron..."

I loved Amélie, in all its French-ness. Cannot wait to see "A Very Long Engagement". Sounds great.

[QUOTE=vidalia]

i had my first boddington's while watching this movie.[/QUOTE]

Did you like it?

I live close by to the Boddington's factory. Interbrew, the brewery that run the place, are closing it down. It's costing too much to produce the beer in Manchester, so they're taking somewhere else. It's a shame really. Boddington's is just as much a part of Manchester as Strangeways prison, The Hacienda, The Stone Roses, The Smiths and The Happy Mondays. Now they're taking it away from us.
BTW: I've just finished editing a training video on how to pure the perfect pint Boddington's. It also included, Stella Artois, Leffe, Hoeggarden, Murphy's and Bass. We filmed all the shots in the Brewery Tap, the pub that is situated on the factory site. Le sigh.

BUMP ! I'm watching the DVD, and JP Jeunet's commentary is absolutely priceless. He gives out lots of details on the technical aspects, but also on the influences he pays hommage to in this very dense film.
Funnily, from time to time, he says "this is a failed film", because of a small detail like an actor's hair.

this has got to be one of the most beautiful films i've ever seen
visually stunning.