A Very Long Engagement (15)

First shown in March 2005 and not to be missed now in November.

Wide eyed Audrey Tautou is unrecognisable in this heart-breaking tale of love, desperation and honour… and one piece of very satisfying revenge.

A hauntingly tragic story, beautifully told of loyalty and hope, where there is none.

As World War One comes to an end, a young French woman’s greatest fight is about to begin. Mathilde receives word of Manech, her childhood sweetheart… That’s all… But there are four other soldiers. Follow her, following each one.

Jeunet’s squalid trench life and terrible decisions made in haste by incompetents, are only the spokes in the puzzle. More, in no time, he somehow creates whole biographies of four ordinary men and one boy, caught in hell. It is linked more by the French countryside than the war, and Mathilde’s determination to find Manech through listening very carefully. Above all, it is a beautifully executed ‘detective’ story, with some startling twists and fantastic Gallic faces… It is the most compelling and moving thing you are ever likely to see.

Cancel everything to be here.