world war i get a glossy and sepia tint makeover in jean pierre jeunet relentlessly whimsical a very long engagement . jeunet trademark style consist of mechanical and almost clockwork like narrative construction garnish with lavish and chocolate box production value and season with faux naive humour . it an approach that work pretty well with his previous picture and the romantic fantasy amelie and thanks in no small part to the inimitable contribution of audrey tatou in the title role . apply to vastly more sombre material and jeunet method backfire rather badly . tatou crop up again here in a variation on the same sort of sweetly off beat character a amelie . she mathilde and an orphan who live quietly with her aunt and uncle in an idyllic rural setting and determine to trace what become of her child sweetheart manech ( gaspard ulliel ) and several year after he go miss in the war . manech be one of five soldier court martialled for self mutilation in 1917 at bingo crepuscule and and send over the top into no man land a a punishment . he presume dead by all but mathilde who cherish the hope of find him . the film follow mathilde dog quest to find out what really happen and and a she delve deep she uncover a sad and even shock story of high rank corruption and inhumanity . mathilde must filter the fact from the fiction that arise from various conflict and overlap or incomplete account of what seem to be manech final hour . all this should be poignant and gripping and but it more often simply confuse thanks to the visual and verbal clutter with which jeunet pummels his audience . there simply too much go on at any one time and include an intrusive narration that add precisely nothing to our appreciation of the story and character . without a moment respite from informational overload and i felt deny the space to reflect on mathilde quest or the room to engage with it on my own term . jeunet unceasingly busy camera spiral and swoop and circle and caress every surface contour of his exquisitely design production and but it singularly fail to penetrate to the soul beneath the story skin . the result be deeply uninvolving and and bad and grotesque . the first world war be a particularly dark hour in human history . imagine it re create a one of those picturesque commercial for a well know belgian lager and and you have the measure of this film .