A long dimanche of fiançailles

Un long dimanche de fiançailles (Long Dating Sunday in Spanish), is a French film directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, is based on the novel of the same name by Sébastien Japrisot. It is about the desperate search that a young woman undertakes to find her boyfriend presumed dead on the battlefield during the First World War.

Argument

Five soldiers from a trench called Bingo Twilight are found guilty of voluntary mutilation to escape from the army during the First World War. Among them is a 20-year-old young man, Manech, whose only support in the midst of the bloody war is the memory of his girlfriend Mathilde. In the company of several comrades on the Somme front, the cruelties of war, death and misery end up instilling in Manech the desire to mutilate himself to escape hell. He does so, but the superior in charge condemns him as a deserter. They are condemned to face death in no man's land, between the French and German trenches. They are thrown into no man's land, where each one has a different purpose.

From that moment on they are all presumed dead, but Manech's girlfriend refuses to believe it and begins a search to discover what really happened. In the end she is able to find out each of the stories thanks to the survivors, such as, for example, that everyone was pardoned but Commander Lavrouye makes the pardon order disappear.

The story is told from the bride's point of view in Paris and the French countryside in the 1920s, through abundant flashbacks.

Distribution

• Audrey Tautou - Mathilde
• Gaspard Ulliel - Manech Langonnet, boyfriend of Mathilde
• Jean-Pierre Becker - Lieutenant Esperanza
• Dominique Bettenfeld - Ange Bassignano
• Clovis Cornillac - Benoît Notre-Dame
• Marion Cotillard - Tina Lombardi
• Jean-Pierre Darroussin - Caporal Benjamin Gordes, aka. Biscotte
• Julie Depardieu - Véronique Passavant
• Jean-Claude Dreyfus - Commandant Lavrouye
• André Dussollier - Pierre-Marie Rouvières
• Ticky Holgado - Germain Pire
• Tchéky Karyo - Captain Favourier
• Jérôme Kircher - Bastoche
• Denis Lavant - Six-Sous
• Chantal Neuwirth - Bénédicte, aunt of Mathilde
• Dominique Pinon - Sylvain, uncle of Mathilde
• Albert Dupontel - Célestin Poux
• Jodie Foster - Elodie Gordes

Controversy

The nationality of the film has been the subject of controversy: French films are subsidized by the government through the Center National de la Cinématographie, and the filmmakers had requested aid of 4.3 million dollars. However, rival filmmakers do not believe the film should receive the subsidy because, according to them, it is not really a French film, because most of the $55 million budget comes from Warner Bros.

Awards and nominations

Won 5 César awards:

• Best Cast Actress, Marion Cotillard
• Best Actor Promesa, Gaspard Ulliel
• Best Photography, Bruno Delbonnel
• Best Art Direction, Aline Bonetto
• Best wardrobe, Madeline Fontaine

and was nominated for 7 others:

• Best movie
• Best Director, Jean-Pierre Jeunet
• Best Actress, Audrey Tautou
• Best Original or Adapted Guion, Jean-Pierre Jeunet / Guillaume Laurant
• Best Music, Angelo Badalmenti
• Best Sound, Jean Imansky / Gérard Hardy / Vincent Arnard
• Best Mounting, Hervé Schneid

It was also nominated for 2 Oscars, although it did not win any:

• Best Art Direction
• Best Photography

Curiosities

• The initial MMM recorded several times by Manech means "Manech loves Mathilde", of the original «Manech aime Mathilde», which is actually a word game, as in French «aime» (“love”) is pronounced just like the letter M, that is “em”.

• The Albatros plane that appears in the film is actually an American Stearman, as there are no Albatros capable of flying today.

• At a time of the film a light infantry car Renault FT appears, its appearance is incorrect as it was first used by the French forces on May 31, 1918 in the forest of Retz.