A Very Long EngagementMovie Reviews

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Avg. Critic Score: 76 out of 100 Generally favorable reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
16 Iffy for 16+
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 100
    San Francisco Chronicle | Ruthe Stein

    Hauntingly tells a story older than the Odyssey and as timely as today's body count from Iraq. Read full review

  • 91
    Entertainment Weekly | Lisa Schwarzbaum

    This is a movie that considers graphic violence with a refined taste for the sensuous: Guts spill, blood spurts, corpses stink, but there is a handsome, absurdist humanity to the way Jeunet (who wrote the script with Guillaume Laurant) maps out the crossroads of human carnage and human caring. Read full review

  • 90
    Washington Post | Stephen Hunter

    In its insistence on the centrality of the war to the collective consciousness of mankind, it's of a piece with "The English Patient," rather than "Saving Private Ryan." Read full review

  • 90
    Variety | Lisa Nesselson

    Told with a blend of visual mastery and emotional intimacy, ambitious venture sustains a special melding of romance and pragmatism that should engage discerning audiences. Read full review

  • 88
    USA Today | Mike Clark

    A long movie that almost wears out its 21/4-hour welcome, yet it's full of surprises. Read full review

  • 88
    Rolling Stone | Peter Travers

    An emotional powerhouse. Read full review

  • 88
    Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

    Jeunet brings everything together -- his joyously poetic style, the lovable Tautou, a good story worth the telling -- into a film that is a series of pleasures stumbling over one another in their haste to delight us. Read full review

  • 80
    The Hollywood Reporter |

    Jeunet provides numerous pleasures, particularly visual, along the way. Read full review

  • 80
    Los Angeles Times | Carina Chocano

    A resolutely odd, occasionally absurd movie, but it's as charming and stylish as one could expect from this pair - if you like that sort of thing. Read full review

  • 60
    The New York Times | Manohla Dargis

    Only when Jodie Foster materializes midstory, delivering a beautiful, pocket-size performance as the mistress of one of the condemned men, does the film spring to life. Read full review

View more reviews for A Very Long Engagement on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says Iffy for 16+ Beautiful WWI love story with gruesome battle scenes.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that this beautifully rendered story of romantic love set in France in the years during and after World War I pulls no punches in showing the death and destruction of trench warfare. The gruesome battle and murder scenes will be difficult for some viewers. Also, as this is ultimately -- above the layers of war and mystery -- a romance, there are brief sexual situations without nudity throughout the film as well. 
  • Families can talk about how war -- and the soldiers' reactions to war -- is portrayed in this film. How is this similar and different to other films set around wartime? 
  • How is the violence handled in this movie? What elements of the film (lighting, music, cinematography) affect the way the violence is experienced by the viewer?
  • Many different film genres are explored in this film: war, mystery, romance. What type of movie do you ultimately think this is?
The good stuff
  • message true4 Positive messages: The message that hope and love can ultimately triumph over the horror and ravages of war is portrayed in a powerful way.
  • rolemodels true4 Positive role models: In spite of a death notice and eyewitness accounts to the contrary, Mathilde refuses to believe her fiance Manech has perished during the trench warfare of World War One, and stops at nothing until she finds out the truth. Her dedication to love and truth are romantic and admirable.
What to watch for
  • violence false5 Violence: An unsparing portrayal of the ravages of World War I -- the violence and death of battle is graphically shown throughout the film. The gruesome injuries of the soldiers are on full display. Also, in one of the subplots of the story, a vengeful prostitute is shown killing the men who sent her lover to be slaughtered on battlefield.
  • sex false4 Sex: While not graphic, characters are seen having sex. Halfway through the film, a character's buttocks are exposed as she undergoes a massage treatment.  
  • language false3 Language: The word "s--t" is yelled on the battlefield several times. 
  • consumerism false0 Consumerism: Not an issue
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false2 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Lots of wine drinking (it's France).
An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

A Very Long Engagement Movie Ratings + Reviews

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