Mathilde - eine große Liebe

Ein Drehbuch-Chaos mit einem wunderschönen Bild. Übertriebene Kamera-Filter, eine schöne märchenhafte Ausstattung. Ein extremer Kontrast zwischen der Grausamkeit des Krieges und der Zartheit der Liebe. Einerseits starke, ansprechende Szenen, andererseits ein oberflächlicher kitschiger Charakter und eine Videoclip-Onanie. Einige Passagen waren richtig fesselnd (das Luftschiff), einige haben meine Seele gestreichelt (das Auspusten der Streichhölzer), eine Aufnahme hat mich in den Himmel getragen (das Kreisen um den Leuchtturm in der Gegenrichtung der Kinder). Die Handlungslinie habe ich aber nach der ersten halben Stunde nicht mehr verfolgt. In so einem ruhigen Genre wirken das hektische Erzählen des Regisseurs, der schnelle Schnitt und die sich ständig bewegende Kamera sehr widerspruchsvoll. Ganz zu schweigen von der späteren Enthüllung der Zusammenhänge mit unklaren und überflüssig irreführenden Szenen. Dieser Film soll doch kein ausgefeilter Krimi sein, verdammt nochmal! Der Film hat mir aber dank der Lebensenergie und des positiven Charakters trotzdem sehr gut gefallen. (11.02.2005)

Sebastien Japrisot’s book is quite bad to begin with. It’s a detective story told in terribly clumsy language, which presents a primitive theme in a wannabe sophisticated way of purposeful confusion, and it is therefore not surprising that the film has a similar effect. It remains relatively faithful to the source material, so hats off to those who don’t get lost in the plot chaos. The formal aspects are typical Jeunet without feeling or moderation, as his rampage (the turmoil of trench warfare is as authentic as ever) and picturesqueness (yellow-painted beauty with signs saying "kitsch!" not visible doesn't just catch the eye of the blind) meet again in an uneven whole and battle against each other throughout the runtime. The futility culminates in the moronic casting, which puts Audrey Tautou (76) and Gaspard Ulliel (84) next to each other, with the difference between them being obvious from the poster. This is a heavy misstep that, when repeated again, will in my eyes remove Jeunet from the list of the best original filmmakers. (04.01.2007)

Ich mag die wundersame Atmosphäre der verrottenden Dekadenz der Schützengräben des Ersten Weltkriegs, wobei die visuelle Darbietung von J.P. Jeunet zu den besten gehört ... hervorragende Kameraarbeit, klare Führung bei Massenszenen und schöne Farbfilter. Die Gefechtssequenz ist nur eine Füllung eines detektivgestimmten Liebesmosaiks, welches wiederum nur von der niedlichen Audrey Tautou vorangebracht wird, wobei ja das, was sie nicht mit ihren Augen oder ihrem Lächeln schauspielerisch hinbekommt, sie überhaupt nicht schafft. Die gewählte Tonart hat mir sehr gefallen. Sie liegt relativ nahe am bitter-unseriösen Melodrama Amelie, jedoch hier nachgebessert mit den Dramauntertönen. Mathilde – Eine große Liebe bietet eine recht interessante Geschichte, recht erträgliche Hauptfiguren und eine hervorragende visuelle Verarbeitung, welche lediglich die erlesenen Fähigkeiten von Jeunets kreativer Sichtweise bestätigt. Ich kann nicht gerade behaupten, dass mich die melodramatische Reise in die Tiefen des Krieges irgendwie tief getroffen hätte, jedoch sie glitt sanft an meiner Haut herunter ... D.h. hat sie angenehm gestreichelt. Das nehm´ ich. (23.03.2007)

Fragmentary in terms of story, perfect in terms of visuals and captivating in terms of music. In places it lacks substance and is rather long-winded, in other places it is indescribably emotionally powerful. Too bad that Audrey is stylized into her Amelie role again. Her acting talent is capable of more than just a grinning mademoiselle. Although the wartime interludes aren’t consistent with the rest of the movie, but they don’t pull down the overall high quality. The result is a crushing victory of form over content. But it’s a quality victory. (11.02.2005)

The golden filter is removed, the subtitles have ended, and unfortunately, Jean-Pierre Jeunet loses his aura as a visually talented creator, who knows how to handle visual tricks and ideas with sufficient wisdom. He cannot decide what genre he actually prepared for the film. From beginning to end, he constantly jumps between a war drama, a gloomy detective story, and a saccharine romance. However, Jeunet is not Minghella, who could serve another Cold Mountain and instead often gets lost in the first two mentioned genres. A war film as such would probably suit him, but occasional repetition of certain scenes can be incredibly boring, just like during Mathilde's investigation, which even at times stops making sense. Moreover, when he tries to be moving in these two parts, it is occasionally risible. However, what he excels at is romance. As soon as a scene of lovers' memories appears, I almost stopped breathing, just like during her desperate attempts of "I will count to seven and if..." So, I can conclude that I managed to watch A Very Long Engagement without any problems and wished for a happy ending, but I strongly dislike the form in which I received the content. 55% (15.06.2007)

Jeunet is one of my longtime favorite directors, as his directing style based on playfulness and visuality suits me, and I generously disregard the unfinished storytelling. However, A Very Long Engagement does not require such generosity. Besides Amelie, this is his most audience-friendly film. Even here, Jeunet's fans can expect the usual colorful filters, playful scenes, detours, and quirks. However, they are subordinate to their purpose, namely to highlight the anti-war focus of the film about the search for a groom lost in the whirlwind of trench warfare. It is evident that the film was made by an acclaimed director who no longer has to laboriously gather resources for the realization of his ideas or convince stars to participate in his project. Jeunet's faithful collaborators appear again, such as the indispensable Pinon or Rufus, but also international star Jodie Foster, and they all act flawlessly. Audrey Tautou, whom Jeunet tested out in Amelie, delivers the second most remarkable performance of her career as a girl searching for her loved one. Jeunet knows how to shoot action scenes his way, so they differ from other filmmakers who shoot war films. I have to give the film the highest rating, especially for the field hospital destruction scene, when Jeunet manages to gradually increase tension second by second as the airstrike bomb slowly penetrates the roof. Overall impression: 90%. (15.10.2010)

It is all too evident how Jean-Pierre Jeunet strives to elevate the content to the level of the form, but he does not succeed. He alternates between a gray-black camera filter, which adds rawness to the war scenes, and a yellowish one, but unlike the war scenes, which I would compare to Saving Private Ryan, the romance did not impress me at all. Also the story is unnecessarily convoluted and often muddled. (28.03.2005)

A Very Long Engagement battles with a script that is maddeningly overstretched and doesn't build much, as the heroine keeps running into newer and newer dead ends, and any further clues to her quest of bringing her closer to the fate of her lover come to her in rather unexpected leaps and bounds. There is also a struggle with the source material quite evident here in how the plot sometimes blurs into something that may have been important in the book, but that adds an extra unnecessary layer in a film that already has such a complicated structure. The obsessive-compulsive disorder of the protagonist in particular took the brunt of it here. The script's limitations, on the other hand, held promise for me in terms of how Jeunet handles them, or rather, how he chooses to visually mask them. And I was not disappointed this time either. After his international success with Amélie, the director was pretty flush with cash, which is evident in virtually every scene. Jeunet isn't suggesting big events here, but he has the means to show them; and yet it's up to him what he considers 'big events'. So, while we're winking wistfully at a wartime showdown with dozens of extras, perfect sets, and special effects, our chins drop when we get to, say, the post-war marketplace scene, the treatment of which already borders on the manic grandeur of Heaven's Gate, and the camera handles it all in a single take that goes from panning to a facial close-up over the course of a five-minute bit of dialogue. It manages to salvage even the relatively futile dialogue by setting it in a surprising setting, cracking jokes in its blackest moments, and functionally linking the entire rather flimsy structure of the tragic story with running jokes. If you're familiar with Jeunet's previous films, recall the director's mindset from those. It's present throughout Engagement as well, but it's not as aggressive; however, if you get on his wavelength from the beginning of the film, it will make more sense. (10.08.2020)