A Very Long Engagement Movie

"A Very Long Engagement," which stars Audrey Tautou as a solemn gamine in love, has the kind of slyly clever title that suggests the wedding was called off because of a misunderstanding between the servants, or a freak-out on the part of the fiance. And, certainly, the presence of Tautou, whose uncanny magnetism can repel or attract with the slightest shift in gesture, would seem to support this notion.

It took French director Jean-Pierre Jeunet 12 years to find the means to make his new film, "A Very Long Engagement," based on the bestselling novel by Sebastien Japrisot. Set in France during World War I, it is an epic love story about Mathilde (Audrey Tautou), a young Breton woman who refuses to believe that her beloved Manech (Gaspard Ulliel) has died in the trenches. "It's a story about love, tenacity and hope," says the soft-spoken, down-to-earth Jeunet. "I've realized that ...

It took French director Jean-Pierre Jeunet 12 years to find the means to make his new film, "A Very Long Engagement," based on the bestselling novel by Sebastien Japrisot. Set in France during World War I, it is an epic love story about Mathilde (Audrey Tautou), a young Breton woman who refuses to believe that her beloved Manech (Gaspard Ulliel) has died in the trenches. "It's a story about love, tenacity and hope," says the soft-spoken, down-to-earth Jeunet. "I've realized that ...

"A Very Long Engagement," which stars Audrey Tautou as a solemn gamine in love, has the kind of slyly clever title that suggests the wedding was called off because of a misunderstanding between the servants, or a freak-out on the part of the fiance. And, certainly, the presence of Tautou, whose uncanny magnetism can repel or attract with the slightest shift in gesture, would seem to support this notion.