A Very Long Engagement (2004)

This film is the cinematic equivalent of a bad toupee -- it's artificial, phony and unconvincing, yet it so believes in its own quality that it's hard not to feel sorry for it. I think the problem is that director Jean-Pierre Jeunet didn't have enough room to breathe. When I say this, I mean to point out that in the three films where he's created wholly original worlds have been delightful, inventive and irresistible. The two, however, where he's been working with narratives formed by other people (Alien: Resurrection and now this), he appears to get bored by having to confine himself to an already-determined narrative, so he hangs around like a grumpy old man and draws curlicues in the margins to keep himself interested while the center of the film falls to pieces. The problem could be that there's a lack of narrative cohesion (things happen, we see them happen, we move on to the next thing with little time to reflect on what just happened), or it could be that the film too often feels like an illustrated version of a novel rather than an actual film (on too many instances, we're told via narration what's happening on screen while we're watching it happen)... but really, I think both of those problems can be traced to the blase man behind the camera who wants to hustle us through this film so he can get on to a project that interests him more.

Grade: C