Fully engaged

It is no wonder French actress Audrey Tautou was described as the “new” Audrey Hepburn three years ago when she shot to international fame as the whimsical title character in Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s fanciful comedy, “Amelie.”

The 26-year-old has the same big, expressive dark eyes as Hepburn and, like the late actress, is a wafer-thin gamin. She also shares some of Amelie’s whimsical qualities -- she takes photos of every journalist who interviews her for her scrapbook, making her request in heavily accented English.

Tautou and Jeunet have reunited for the epic World War I romantic drama “A Very Long Engagement,” which opened Nov. 26. The film finds Tautou playing Mathilde, an orphan, left with a limp by polio, who lives on a farm with her aunt and uncle. When she receives news that her fiance, Manech (Gaspard Ulliel), died in the war, she refuses to believe it’s true and sets out on a long, difficult journey to prove he is alive.

Has your life calmed down since the “Amelie” juggernaut three years ago?

Yeah. It was heavy when it happened because I wasn’t prepared for that. Also, it was a huge surprise. I had acted in this movie as I acted in every movie.

In fact, it took me some time to realize what was happening and to accept that I had to deal with the attention of people. In fact, now I deal with all of those things much more easy because I learned that if you find a life of quiet and if you refuse to be exposed [all the] time, people tend to forget you. It is nice to have the opportunity to go and be exposed when you have to for your work, but then to be able to withdraw and have the quiet time so you can recharge.

Though “A Very Long Engagement” is a drama set during and after World War I, it still features a lot of the same whimsy and fantasy found in “Amelie.”

Jean-Pierre Jeunet has a style. So of course he didn’t lose that for this movie. That is what people are expecting by going to see a Jean-Pierre Jeunet movie. They want to get into that special world. Even though he’s telling a darker story, he still has his unique fingerprint. And there are some similarities between all the characters he’s created. In “City of Lost Children” and “Delicatessen” and “Amelie” and now this, the heroes are always orphans. They never have both their parents. It’s true. They come from a modest condition. They are lonesome, and they try to make their own way and take their destiny in their hands. We can feel that Jean-Pierre Jeunet is their dad.

Did you do any research on World War I before production began?

Yes, I did some research of what the condition of women was who were waiting [for husbands and boyfriends]. I needed to find some portraits, some pictures of their faces because I wanted to have an idea of how hard life was without their husbands or boyfriends.

That’s what I wanted to re-create in the character of Mathilde. She is very young in the movie; she is 20. But I wanted to see in her face the pain has aged her, the strain has aged her.

But she never loses her determination and inner strength.

She is very determined and has a very strong character. I think that her love [for Manech] ... is the rhythm of her life. If she loses that rhythm she is not going to live anymore. For me, that was the secret [to Mathilde]. She was going to spend maybe her life trying to find him. She is going to have this hope, and this hope allows her to stay firm. And if one day the hope can’t exist anymore and she doesn’t find Manech, then she is not going to live anymore.

This is a lengthy movie with many locations and scenes. Was it an arduous production?

It was a very intense shoot, and because my character -- she is full of tears but she never lets them run -- I had to try to be as close to Mathilde’s mood even when I was not shooting, even between the scenes. I couldn’t go too far from her. Emotionally it requires for me a lot of concentration. I had to focus on her pain and suffering. Mathilde is very proud and she hides her pain. She never complains. But it is more difficult [as an actress] to hide the suffering than just to show it.

I was surprised you didn’t make a Hollywood movie after “Amelie.”

I have never felt that [the offers were] serious. Everything was so new and huge, I couldn’t understand why suddenly I had to deal with all of that attention. So I think that I was not ready for it.

Do you feel you are ready now to do a movie here?

I think if it is for a director I admire and if it is an artistic movie with a point of view and cleverness, I know that I would manage to bear the pressure and the attention. I wouldn’t be scared of that as much.... I feel more peaceful about everything, more mature.