DETAILS: 133 minutes, two discs, audio commentary, deleted scenes with optional commentary, documentary, two featurettes, trailer

STUDIO: WARNER INDEPENDENT PICTURES/ 2003 PRODUCTIONS/ TAPIOCA FILMS/ TF1 FILMS

RELEASE DATE:   7-12-2005

Jean-Pierre Jenuet had a visual style that didn't come into full force until he created the wonderful magical fantasy comedy AMELIE starring Audrey Tautou. Maybe he thought he could strike lighting in the bottle twice and he cast Tautou in his next project, A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT. It worked. A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT may be darker than AMELIE, but it isn't without it's charm. Audrey Tautou plays Mathilde, a young woman with a limp, who believes her finance wasn't killed in World War 2 in the trenches while teh French fought the Germans. Everyone else thinks she should let it go and accept his death. She pushes on and looks for anyone who was there in the trenches and evidence that he is still alive because she would know if he was dead. She would feel it.

VIDEO: 2.35:1 (Anamorphic Widescreen)

Veyr nice. Sharp image detail with a beautiful reporduction of the colors (and shadow values).

AUDIO: French 5.1 Dolby surround

Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

Nothing wrong with the audio. sound mix is fantastic.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

DISC ONE- Director Jean-Pierre Jenuet gives an audio commentary for the film and the movies's theatrical trailer is also on this disc.

DISC TWO- Several amusing and interesting deleted scenes (with optional director commentary), a documentary on the making of A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT, a featurette on how the look of PARIS IN THE 20'S was created using photo references and CGI backgrounds, and the BEFORE THE EXPLOSION featurette. So if you want to see stuff about the making of the film, it is all there. A little editing could have helped to streamline the documentary and made it a better watch.

FINAL ANALYSIS: The fantastic transfer on disc one and the wealth of extras on this two disc Special Edition of A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT (from Warner Independent) match up to the great job Miramax did for Jenuet's previous film with Audrey Tautou- AMELIE.

this DVD Review is (c)1-15-2006 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission (except for excerpts and a link to the review). Look for additional content at http://www.livejournal.com/users/enterlinemedia and send all comments to lord_pragmagtic@hotmail.com