A Very Long Engagement: Difference between revisions

A 2004 French film set in the early twentieth century. Mathilde ([[Audrey Tautou]]) was engaged to her childhood sweetheart Manech (Gaspard Ulliel) when he was enlisted to fight in [[World War One|the war.]] Manech tried to get excused from duty by getting his hand shot, but he was instead convicted of self-mutilation and left to die with four other soldiers in the no-man's land between the French and German trenches. Mathilde, however, refuses to believe that Manech is dead, and sets out on a mission to find him. Along the way, she meets people who are also connected to the five condemned soldiers, and learns their stories.

 

* [[Best Served Cold]]: {{spoiler|Tina Lombardi's vengeance.}}

* [[Bittersweet Ending]]: Mathilde {{spoiler|finally finds Manech, who is alive and well physically, but has lost all memories of his life, including those of her and of their relationship. However, it's hinted they restart from the beginning, and the doctors also imply he might eventually regain the memories he's lost.}}

* [[Jerkass]]: The officer who ignored {{spoiler|Poincaré's pardon}} and sent the soldiers into no-man's land.

* [[Keep the Home Fires Burning]]

* [[Lost in Translation]]: The three M's, in French, stand for "Manech aime Mathilde." (aime, which means loves, sounds like the letter M) This carries over into English as "Manech's marrying Mathilde."

* [[Ludicrous Gibs]]: a horribly realistic version, with one soldier showered with the giblets of another after he gets blown up by a grenade.