Fill in the Blank Parentheses As You Watch the Movie

A Very Long Engagement: Viewing Guide

Fill in the blank parentheses as you watch the movie.

Part 1: The Five Soldiers

Soldier 1: Bastoche

Girlfriend = Veronique Passavant

Occupation = Carpenter

Wounded: The gun accidentally misfires when he is trying to kill a ( )

Sentence: Death for self-mutilation

2.Francis Gaignard (Nickname = Six-Sous)

Occupation: Welder for state railways

Tries to explain: The rich sell the weapons; the poor die in war as soldiers

Mentally scarred by: Watching a young German soldier killed

Wounded: Intentionally burns his own hand

3. Benoit Notre-Dame

Occupation: Farmer

He kills a fellow officer for ( )

Wounded: Shoots own hand

4. Angel Bassignano

Occupation: Pimp

Girlfriend: Tina Lombardi (who works as his prostitute)

He joined the army because ( )

Mentally scarred by: seeing graves dug for his side

Wounded: reciprocal hand shooting with fellow soldier

5. Manech (Nickname: Cornflower)

Age: 19

Occupation: Helped lighthouse keepers

Mentally scarred by: Man blown to bits right in front of him

Wounded: Holds up a ( ) in order to get shot

Girlfriend = Mathilde

Sentence for all five = will be thrown into No-Man’s land to be killed by Germans

Trench where sent to die = Bingo Crepuscule

Only hope: A presidential pardon from French President Poincare

Part 2: Hope at the Hospital

Soldier at the hospital: Esperanza (name means “hope”)

Esperanza’s flashback: He brings the five soldiers to Bingo Crepuscule

Celestin Poux (aka The Mess Hall-Marauder): Kat-like figure who finds ( ) for Manech to drink and gives him a red woolen glove

Esperanza gives Mathilde a box containing belongings of the five soldiers

Esperanza is dying from ( )

Part 3: Introduction to Mathilde

She is crippled from ( )

Does Mathilde’s superstitious counting game succeed or fail? ( )

Parents die in a bus accident

Raised by: Aunt Sylvain and Uncle Benedicte

Plays tuba because it is the only instrument that can imitate ( )

Part 4: Mathilde’s Mission

Aims to find Manech by contacting other people associated with Bingo Crepuscle

Aunt and Uncle’s advice: Don’t hold onto a fantasy – move on with life

Mathilde hires a Private Detective to help her: Germain Pire

Pire is kind to her because his daughter ( )

Mathilde visits her lawyer / banker: Pierre-Marie Rouviere

He also advises her to not look into matter

Mathilde manipulates his emotions by using a ( ) when she goes to see him

Part 5: On the Trail

Pire looks first for: Tina Lombardi (Angel’s girlfriend / prostitute)

Tina Lombardi kills the old fat mustachioed officer (named Lavrouye):

Mathilde goes to the bar to deliver a letter from Bastoche

Louis the barman lost his arm because ( )

Biscuit and Bastoche met while ( )

Mathilde goes to the military archives:

Mathilde steals classified files on trench 108 by standing on ( )

Does Mathilde’s superstitious game on the train succeed or fail? ( )

The screaming sound of the train is symbolic.

Part 6: Mathilde’s Flashback

Who carries Mathilde up the steps to the church bells? ( )

What type of bird do they admire from the top of the church? ( )

This bird is special because it ( ) the wind

What is carved into the bells? ( )

Part 7: A Letter from Veronique Passavant (girlfriend of Bastoche)

Veronique is threatened by a nun in disguise

This nun wants to know ( )

This nun is actually ( )

Part 8: Mathilde at home

Mathilde says that without “ifs” she ( )

Mathilde believes that the apple peel not breaking is a sign that

( )

Part 9: A visit to Elie Gordes (wife of Benjamin Gordes / Biscuit)

Mathilde screams three times ( )

Part 10: A Letter from Elie Gordes

Before the war, Benjamin was a loving and tender husband and father:

Mentally scarred by: the fireworks men, using man as a shield

He wants a sixth child because ( )

In order to have a sixth child he asks his wife to ( )

The problem with this plan is ( )

Part 11: Meeting Manech

Manech’s very first words to Mathilde are ( )

What does MMM stand for? ( )

Mathilde believes that if she reaches the bend before Manech’s car, then ( )

Does this she fail or succeed in getting ahead of Manech’s car? ( )

Part 12: The Cemetery

Mathilde says she is not giving up, even though Manech is dead because ( )

Is this logical? ( )

The last grave we see says Angel Bassignano. He is the boyfriend of ( )

Part 13: Tina Lombardi Strikes Again

She kills a man named Thouvenel by pulling a trigger with her ( )

Part 14: A Visit from Celestin Poux

What was Manech carving into the tree trunk in No Man’s Land? ( )

What is the name of the German Bomber that shoots Manech? ( )

Angel Bassigno is killed by a French soldier named ( )

( ) hits the German bomber with a grenade, but is shot by it in return.

In order to protect Bastoche, Gordes traded ( ) with his friend

Why does Mathilde slap Celestin Poux? ( )

Part 15: Return to Bingo Crepuscle

Mathilde asks the local man if the dead young man he found was wearing ( )

Celestin Poux says he recognizes ( )

Part 16: A Coincidence at the Cafe

The woman in the café signals to Mathilde by creating an MMM by ( )

She reveals that Benoit Notre-Dame (the farmer) improbably survived being hit by a bomb

Part 17: Farewell to the Officer-Killer

Tina Lombardi says that she will only speak to Mathilde because ( )

Lombardi reveals that President Poincare had ( ) all five of the soldiers.

Lombardi killed Lavrouye (the fat mustachioed officer) because he ( )

Inside the pocket watch is a note from Angel that says”( ) is pointless”

Part 18: The Farmer Lives

In a flashback, it is revealed that Benoit Notre-Dame snuck into Mathilde’s home in order to ( ) but couldn’t do it.

Notre Dame switches clothing with the dead body of ( )

Notre-Dame tells some soldiers that he is going to the hospital with Desrochelles; however, he is actually carrying ( )

At the hospital, Notre-Dame manages to survive the explosion of a ( )

Parth 19: The End

( ) is alive, but he suffers from total amnesia.

Mrs. Desrochelles tells ( ) that she is his ( ).

Mrs. Desrochelles is killed by ( ).

A Very Long Engagement: Small Group Discussion Questions

Write out your answers to the following questions.

1.) How are the war-world and the non-war world depicted differently? How are the people different? How is the tone of each world different? How is each world visually depicted? What messages is the movie sending through its depiction of these two contrasting worlds? Give concrete examples from the movie to back up your claims.

2.) Tina Lombardi claims that she and Mathilde are very similar. In what ways is this true? In what ways is this false? Overall, is Tina more of a double or a foil of Mathilde’s? What do you think the movie is suggesting through its depiction of these two central characters?

3.) Which of Mathilda’s superstitious fantasies work out in her favor and which do not? Why do you think Mathilde keeps making up these superstitious games of prediction? What do you think the filmmaker is suggesting by giving Mathilde these superstitious fantasies?

4.) What non-war related diseases injuries, or deaths are in the movie? Why do you think the filmmaker includes all of these instances? What do you think he is trying to say?

5.) This movie is filled with symbolism and irony. What are three examples of symbolism and / or irony in the movie and WHY do you think the filmmaker includes each one?

5.) (continued)

Socratic Seminar Questions: Write down your ideas for each of the Socratic Seminar Questions.

Scene Analysis: For each scene viewed, discuss the visual or film techniques used and how they help to convey a particular message or emotion to the audience.

Socratic Seminar Questions: Write down your ideas for each of the Socratic Seminar Questions.

1.  In what ways is this movie similar to All Quiet on The Western Front? How is it different? What messages are similar or different?

2.  In the end, Mathilde reunites with Manech, but he cannot remember her (or anything else). Is this ending a happy one? Why or why not?

3.  Does this movie suggest that things happen more because of fate / destiny, because of hard work and determination, or because of blind chance and luck? WHY???