I gave two sets of foreigners directions yesterday. What the heck are tourists doing in St Leonards anyway^[1]? They both wanted to know where the train station was, which worked out, because for once I actually was able to give directions! Usually people are asking me where so-and-so street is, and I have a terrible memory for street names. Anyway, I was on the Pacific Highway and it was pretty easy to point “that-a-way” but I had trouble communicating “on the other side of the street.” I kept worrying from their looks of incomprehension that they might have thought I was saying turn left. One set was Japanese (guessing based on the script used on their Sydney tourist guide book) and the other was a French couple (guessing based on accent), yet both had trouble with “on the other side of the street” and since I was the one constant in both conversations I take it for me not being clear enough. If either set had been Russian I could have said “на лева”; I actually remember that. Human languages are so hard.

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1. I mean that in a why would they want to be there kind of way, not a they don’t belong there kind of way

Just got back from A Very Long Engagement, directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Amelie and ... who knew? Alien Resurection), and starring Audrey Tautou (Amelie and Dirty Pretty Things). I like the director, and would probably see a promising film of his, based solely on his reputation. I must admit, however, that a big part of my wanting to see the film has to do with Audrey Tautou. I think she's hot; and I get a kick out of seeing her smile. Overall, I would rate the film as excellent.

The film is set during and after World War I, and follows Mathilde (played by Audrey Tautou) who searches for he fiancé after the end of the war. He disappears on the front and is presumed killed. The movie is a little bit of a mystery, a little bit of a love story and very much an anti-war film. There are definite similarities to the style in which characters are portrayed in both A Very Long Engagement and Amaelie. The director likes to give characters odd quirks and habits, which I think is fun and can be very effectively. He also uses repetition for humor. Both of these tools were used more in Amelie, where I think it is more appropriate. Aside from this the films are of course completely different in genre and temperament, and it is a credit to the director that he can direct such different types of films and still remain true to himself. I would say the same is true for Audrey Tautou.

The cinematography was superb; obviously employing advanced visualization technologies (computer graphics), not often seen in foreign films. Unlike Titanic, Alien 4 and many movies which use CG to awe, I did not find the CG distracting; mostly, I would say, due to the fact that when employed the scenes were very much about the characters, rather than the environment. This is in contrast to (for example) the flyover of the ship in Titanic, which is totally gratuitous and unnecessary. The film was in color, but the whole film was either filmed with highly de-saturated film, or they modified it digitally. I am guessing the latter, since there was also a pervasive yellow tint to the parts of the film not set in the trenches. Overall, the de-saturated yellow technique had the nice effect of making the whole thing look like a very old black and white photograph. The war scenes are reminiscent in a very shallow technical way of the opening of Saving Private Ryan, but the director makes you much closer to the characters. In this respect it reminded me a lot of the tragic end of Gallipolli where it's really heart breaking when you see what happens to the main characters after you have been watching them grow throughout the movie. Unlike Gallipolli, however, the director of A Very Long Engagement paints much more three dimensional characters (and many more of them). They are designed of all different kinds of temperament, moral ambiguity and motivation. So although you are thrust much more immediately into the fray (where as Gallipolli you don't get to it until the very end), it is still very effective. As a period piece, A Very Long Engagement works extremely well, as there are many details and textures which make it feel very real; whether these details are accurate or not, I cannot say.

There were a few confusing moments in the film, but all the loose ends are tied up in the end. Although it is tricky keeping up with the subtitles, I strongly recommend that if you see it you see the subtitled rather than dubbed version (if it is even available). If you like foreign or war films, or just plain good films, I would highly recommend this film.