Hey folks, Harry here... I mentioned this film as being one of the top ten anticipated films of 2004 in that article of mine, and the reason is... Jeunet is a genius. For proof, you need only to watch DELICATESSEN, CITY OF LOST CHILDREN and AMELIE.... Watching those 3 films in a row will get you drunk on the joy of cinema. The novel this is based upon is wonderfully bizarre and perfect Jeunet material. It can not get here soon enough in my opinion.
Hi Harry,
I know you appreciate movies done by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. So I send you some news (maybe you know already) about his last feature with Audrey Tautou "A very long engagement". The shooting started last summer in August and will probably finish in January, 2004. The release is still for October in France and December, 2004 in the United States.
The film is based on Sebastien Japrisot's French best-seller telling of the upsetting story of a young woman (Mathilde played by Audrey Tautou) helped by her uncle (Sylvain played by Dominique Pinon, the man in the wheel chair in Alien4) searching for the truth about the disappearance of her lover, court-martialed and left with the enemy during the 1914-1918 War. Jeunet said : "I've been waiting for this moment for over ten years, Japrisot's novel is a fabulous story about love, hope and willpower. I can reread the ending ten times in a row and each time I cry! From this moment on, I promise to do all in my ability to do justice to this masterpiece."
With his excitation and his worldwide success "Amelie", Jeunet dealed with Warner Bros who held the rights. And Warner gave him "carte blanche" : the film will be 100% french but Jodie Foster ! Warner will finance the project and will have the global distribution. A new french production company "2003 Productions" (32% held by Warner) has been created to manage the project. The budget is 45 million euros (50 million dollars), the second largest budget for a french-language movie after "Asterix". Then, Jeunet decided to shoot in France with his favorite actors and the same crew as "Amelie". Jeunet chose the famous french company "Duboi" for the numerical special effects ("Asterix", "City of lost children", "Taxi", "Alien 4", "The messenger", "Amelie", "Brotherhood of the Wolf "...). The company has financial difficulties so this hard and long work could be salutary. Because "A very long engagement" is a french-language movie directed and produced in France, Jeunet asked to have subsidies from the funds of support for the french productions and he had the agreement. But the Independent Producers Society has lodged a complaint against "2003 Productions" because they denounce the american control by Warner and the seizure of the money reserved for the french cinema ! Another polemic. But if the agreement is cancelled, Jeunet threatens to stop shooting. So wait and see...
Back to the shooting. It lasts over 21-24 weeks. It started this summer. The shooting locations are : in Corsica, a beautiful french island in the Mediterranean; in "Bretagne" (Britain) and "Poitou-Charentes" in the West of France, in Paris (the "Orsay" Museum, the "Austerlitz" railway station, the "Montmartre" where "Amelie" was shooted and "Opera" districts). After the outdoor scenes, the shooting will finish in studio in Paris. The hangar "Y", in the forest of Meudon, near Paris, has been transformed into military hospital.
"Montmorillon" is a military base in the West of France where the trenchs of the first world war were reconstituted. An extra was paid about 125$ for 13 hours of shooting. To play soldiers in the trenchs, Jeunet searched guys in good health to be able to run in the mud and under the rain (artificial or not) with heavy uniforms, and with "damaged" and hairy faces. In France, the soldiers of the first world war were called "the hairies". Testimony of an extra : "Tuesday October 7, 10h. Shooting of the opening of film. General shot of the whole of the trenchs (fake smoking trenchs in the distance), all is quiet. Movement of the louma downwards, passing in front of a destroyed calvary, and penetrating slowly in the trench. The movement stops on an oil lamp, with which a soldier lights his cigarette. This one hears steps, turns over and sees a squad with five convicts and their escort... 14 takes under the rain and maybe none is good..." Another testimony mentions the use of a steady-cam inside the trenches. The movements of this camera on the control screen gave the same effect as in Alien 4 when Jeunet filmed the corridors of the spaceship !
"Place des Abbesses", Paris, August 27, 2003. This place had already been used as decoration in "Amelie". The decorators arranged the place because the film takes place in "the Twenties". The place was covered with false paving stones. In fact in the movie we are not "Place des Abbesses" but in front of the "Lyon" railway station. So the subway exit is decorated with the colors of the "Lyon" railway station and a huge blue screen was placed behind the decorations, to add in post-production the station with the decoration. It will be the work of the Duboi company. In this scene, Tautou is supposed to leave the station and to enter the subway. During the repetitions, the exit was not closed, so the people leaving the subway could see Jeunet and Tautou repeating ! Obviously during the shooting, the exit was temporarily closed. The scene was shooted 4 times. Four hours of preparation for only a few seconds in the can. In this scene we will see Audrey Tautou wearing a costume of the time 1920, hobbling and going down the steps of the subway. Indeed, Mathilde, the heroine has polio !
Hurry up 2004 !
Virata
