Amelie Director Reengages Fans

“My destiny was not to make a film,” says Jean Pierre Jeunet of the long, obstacle-filled journey that he endured to create his latest film, Un Long Dimanche de Fiancailles or A Very Long Engagement. The statement is particularly surprising coming from the French director best known for creating the pervasive crowd-pleaser Amélie, one of the most widely praised films of 2001. Despite that film’s tremendous success in his home country, Jeunet insists, “You must be very strong to make a film like [A Very Long Engagement] in France.”

Jeunet draws a comparison between his own personality and the personality of Mathilde, the main character in Engagement, which is being released in Boston today. “She is very strong...she has a drive, a willpower,” says Jeunet. “I recognize me in her.”

Jeunet knew that he had to be strong long before a Paris court ruled that the film could not compete in French film festivals because of American backing from Warner Brothers; the court also rescinded the approval given by France’s National Center for Cinematography for state funds to subsidize this film. Furthermore, the film is ineligible to compete for an award in next year’s Cannes Film Festival because it has now been shown in the United States, a country other than its nation of origin.

The ruling is only the latest hurdle for Jeunet, who has spent more then ten years trying to film A Very Long Engagement, based on Sebastian Japrisot’s best-selling novel. The series of blows in Jeunet’s own home country is particularly absurd given that, aside from an outstanding performance by American actress Jodie Foster, the film is utterly and beautifully French. In fact, her inclusion in the film is obviously the exception to the rule: Jeunet had been adamant that the movie be filmed in French, by a French cast and crew, in France.

However, Jeunet’s very long holdup was due to several factors—namely a lack of money and inability to find the perfect actress to play Mathilde. Both were answered through Amélie. That film’s success gave Jeunet the recognition needed to gain the approval of Warner Brothers, who held the rights to Japrisot’s book. Amélie’s pixie-like star Audrey Tautou answered his need for a Mathilde,.

“Oh my God. It’s Mathilde!” exclaims Jeunet recounting his thoughts when he first met Tautou.

His praise of Tautou is explosive in its enthusiasm. “For me, she is a perfect actress, able to make everything—comedy, drama,” says Jeunet, “She is perfect for me.”

The novel was also perfect for him: Jeunet had always been drawn to World War I and 1920s Paris, and he felt that the beautiful story was an artful combination of his passions. To testify to his interest in the period, Jeunet recalls having a feeling of déjà vu when on set in the trenches, speculating that “maybe I died in the war.”

After Jeunet had found his Mathilde, finding the right Manech was a lengthy process. Before discovering Ulliel in the film Summer Things directed by Michel Blanc, Jeunet had auditioned between 50 to 60 young men. Jeunet jests, “I suppose I met everyone in France.”

Casting for minor roles is equally important to Jeunet, and he describes how he would sometimes see 20 to 25 people for a very small part. For him, even for a character who just says “Hello,” it has to be the perfect “Hello.” The exception, Jeunet recalls with a fond smile and a tilt of the head, was Jodie Foster.

Foster had approached Jeunet, asking if she could be in a French film, speaking French. At first she was refused; the second time she was granted the concession of a very small cameo. In the end, Foster was given a small but significant role.

Despite working with many of the same people from Amélie, Jeunet points out several key differences between the films. Unlike Amélie, this film is a period piece, his first film on a large scale and an adaptation rather than an original screenplay.

When writing Amélie, Jeunet felt a bit scared working alone in front of a piece of blank white paper. He came to adapting A Very Long Engagement with quite a different attitude. “It’s a best seller, of course it’s a good story,” says Jeunet.

Even though this was Jeunet’s first large scale production, juggling a large cast, crew, and elaborate sets was not a problem for the French director. For Jeunet, it was a good learning opportunity that was “just a different technique” and generally a pleasure. After filming A Very Long Engagement, Jeunet knows that he can work on a big scale again.

Yet the one thing that never changes is Jeunet’s rigorous work ethic. Before actually filming each scene, Jeunet details extensive storyboards and would use a handheld camera to create a working guideline to follow during shooting.

“I believe in work. I believe in working hard. Picasso made about 150 sketches before painting ‘Guernica,’” says Jeunet on his pre-production work.

The French director plays a game of give and take, literally, in his movie-making process—adding some of his own personal quirks to Mathilde’s characterization and taking a memento from the set of each of his films. For example, Mathilde’s superstitious nature is not part of her original characterization, but is instead, a detail added by Jeunet, who confesses to having been a very superstitious youth himself.

To remember Engagement, Jeunet took a beautifully crafted wooden hand that was used by one of the actors. It is a welcome addition to past keepsakes, which include the pig lamp from Amélie and an alien prop from Alien: Resurrection. He speculates that the alien may be useful in frightening thieves.

Yet, Jeunet is a bit of the temperamental “arteest” and finds it hard to speak about his style, which is known for having every frame look like a painting. He explains his process as driven simply by instinct, though he does admit to finding inspiration in Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange and Orson Welles’s Citizen Kane, two classics by notoriously perfectionist auteurs.

Although A Very Long Engagement has been a huge box office success in France and has generated Oscar talk in some quarters, Jeunet does not wish to raise his hopes too high. With the recent court ruling and Franco-mocking critics everywhere, awards may be elusive. But if he is nominated for an Oscar, Jeunet expresses some minor worries, “[Then] I’m in deep shit. My suit is too small.”