A Very Long Engagement

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Rotten Tomatoes® Score
78% 85%

Release Date: December 17, 2004

On DVD/VOD: July 12, 2005

2h 13m | Drama

As World War I draws to an end, a young French woman's greatest fight is about to begin. Mathilde has received word that her fiancé Manech is one of five wounded soldiers who have been court-martialed and pushed out into the no-man's land between the French and German armies…and almost certain death.

Unwilling to accept that her beloved Manech is lost to her forever, Mathilde embarks on an extraordinary journey to discover the fate of her lover. At each turn, she receives a heartbreaking variation on how Manech must have spent those last days, those last moments. Still, she never gets discouraged.

If Manech were dead, Mathilde would know.

With a steadfast faith, strengthened by hope and a stubbornly cheerful disposition, Mathilde follows her investigation to its conclusion, convincing those who might help her and ignoring those who will not. As she draws closer to the truth about the five soldiers, she is drawn deeper into the horrors of war and the indelible marks it leaves behind on those whose lives it has touched.