MovieChat Forums > Un long dimanche de fiançailles (2005) Discussion > Questions for those who had seen the fil...

Questions for those who had seen the film

posted 15 years ago by HenryCW
5 replies | jump to latest

1. I still am not clear how Manech's hand was shot by the Germans. Was he doing it deliberately, or was he trying to reach for something outside the trench?

2. There was one scene in the film where a woman was threatened by a nun who held a knife to her neck. Who was the woman and what was the significance of that scene?

3. The German woman gave Mathilde the idea that the farmer Benoît was using cypher in his letter to his wife. Was it just by coincidence that both she and Benoît used cypher? Why was Benoît's letter shown on the information board of the train station? (Later, Mathilde wiped away some words from the notice board and got Benoît's message).

4. If the German woman's brother was killed, then how did she know what her brother saw about Manech?

Thanks in advance for any answer(s).

[–] tinuvielle 15 years ago

I've just reread the book, havent seen the film in a while but here we go, from the book

1. Manche light a many cigarettes in the trench hoping that a german will shot his hands. He is sick of the war seems a comarade was shot next to him and he ended up cover in his blood. So yes, he wanted to be mutilated, to be send home.

2. The woman with the knive, I think it Tina Lombardi trying to get information, but not sure, it isnt in the book.

3. Dont know

4. In the book, the brother was kill but its another soldier, that come to tell her that her brother died, that tell the story that h have been made capture and he saw those thing.

Hope this help.

[–] bithok 15 years ago

3. it's just an allegory: a woman wipes some words from a chalkboard an Mathilde who suspected a code suddenly understands.
Then in the station, she internally visualizes the letter and we see it projected as an allegory.

[–] rcoulam999 15 years ago

1. Manech was drawing the attention of the German sniper to himself by holding up the lit cigarette. It is considered unlucky to be the 3rd person to light a cigarette from the same match because of experiences in the trenches: the initial flare of the match as the 1st person lights up attracts a sniper's attention. As the 2nd person lights up, the sniper takes aim. And as the 3rd person takes the match, the sniper shoots.

2. I didn't think it was a knife - I thought it was a syringe of infected (syphillitic) blood.

3. I think that the appearance of the message on the chalk board was a simple device to allow us, the audience, to see how the code worked.

4. One of her brother's comradeds passed on the story.

[–] HenryCW 15 years ago

Thanks.

2. Now I notice that it was in fact a syringe. But who was the woman (or nun) holding the syringe and who was the woman that was threatened?

[–] dnlale 15 years ago

Tina Lombardi was disguised as a Nun and she was holding the syringe to Bastogne's girlfriend to get information from her. It was just another example of how ruthless Tina was in her investigation in contrast to Mathilde.