Delbonnel recalls that the colors for the trench scenes were the hardest to come by. “We got the color by seeking out the clay brown of the earth,” he says. Adds Lucas, “I can’t even describe the color of the trenches. I can’t call it green or blue-green. We ended up calling it a clay hue. Our job was difficult because everything is linked to the contrast, and there were also those blue-gray costumes that had to be strengthened.”

Delbonnel reminds us that faces are essential to cinema. For the trench scenes, he shot tests to find a pale, greenish makeup for the actors that would remain white when he later warmed up the image digitally. “In the trenches, despite everything else, you go to the faces. The faces have a different tone than the rest of the image. That’s why I didn’t want just one color, because an image where everything is the same tonality doesn’t direct your eye. In cinema, the viewer’s eye must go towards the actors’ faces.”

For peacetime scenes, Lucas notes, “We brightened the faces by putting a little gold in the midtones and the whites.” While working on peacetime exteriors, the team sought to create golden browns. “For the split-screens, though, we never tried to respect the original colors, but rather to contrast them. So they are very marked.” To further direct the viewer’s eye, Delbonnel asked Lucas to use Power Windows to add a slight vignetting to much of the film, which subtly harks back to early silent films.

A Very Long Engagement was output via Arrilaser directly to an interpositive, skipping the usual negative stock generation. Lucas observes that the resultant image is “a little sharper. Even though there’s not a huge difference, you’re a little closer to the original negative.” He adds that Delbonnel’s choice of Vision Premier print stock was essential to the DI, because it renders “beautiful blacks and increases the apparent sharpness,” compensating for the slight loss inherent in the 2K process.

As Delbonnel looks back on the production, he takes time to thank the many collaborators who made it possible: Steadicam operator Monge, gaffer Michel Sabourdy, first AC Eric Vallée, key grip Bruno Dubet and post supervisor Lionel Kopp. He also cites Technovision’s Natasza Chroscicki, Transpalux’ Didier Diaz and Éclair’s Olivier Chiavassa for their support, and credits Duboi’s Alain Carsoux and his team for “stunning” visual effects.

Asked about the impressionistic feel of A Very Long Engagement, Delbonnel offers, “In the past, I always thought it was false to compare cinema to painting. There’s been a century of cinema, which is distinct from photography and painting. So my references have always been the great cinematographers, like Gianni Di Venanzo and [ASC members] Conrad Hall, Sven Nykvist and Vilmos Zsigmond. However, the DI is a new step in the creation of a film. With this process, we can start to work with elements that are close to painting, and we can work on contrast and color relationships that were impossible with photochemistry.”

TECHNICAL SPECS Super 35mm 2.35:1 Digital Intermediate by Éclair Laboratories Printed on Printed on Kodak Vision Premier 2393