French Direction

Last night I watched, the beautiful film 'A Very Long Engagement' directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and starring Audrey Tautou.

My love of film has recently become more focused in my life. I'm looking differently at films, and I'm also looking at different styles of films compared to those I used to watch in the past.

Jean-Pierre Jeunet's 2004 film of a story, telling of a woman's relentless search for her fiancé, who seems to have disappeared from the trenches during World War one is one that has beautiful creative direction and a classic Jeunet focus throughout. The styling in the film references heavily the French chic 1920's style , with the lovely little cloche hats and Coco Chanel-esque fashions. Another style choice I loved in the film was the lighting that kept consistent throughout. There are two key styles in terms of the lighting; the day lit lighting, with hints of yellow and orange, which only highlighted more Tautou's elegant look, and then, when the scene went back to the trenches the mood was hit with a bleak grey/blue light, which was obviously very fitting for the context.

A beautiful film. One to watch.