Another Bizarre Nude Scene From a European Film

  Not too long ago I mentioned a brief, bizarre nude scene in the Werner Herzog film “Heart of Glass.” Personally I’m not against nude scenes in movies at all, but I feel like they should at least kind of fit into the story and make sense. For this article I now want to discuss another strange nude scene from another European film, this time from the 2004 French movie “A Very Long Engagement.”

“A Very Long Engagement” stars Audrey Tautou and was directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, both of whom were involved in “Amelie,” one of the first foreign films I ever saw. Jodie Foster, who is fluent in French in real life, also plays a supporting character. It tells the story of Mathilde, a sickly but beautiful young woman cursed with polio, who tries to find her presumed dead lover during the trials and tribulations of World War I. Throughout the film Mathilde meets soldiers and their lovers who suffered during the war, and there are several scenes showing the horrors of the First World War.

Early in the movie we see a montage sequence of the life of Mathilde, describing her childhood, her aunt and uncle who raised her, and her illness and treatments. It’s during this montage sequence that we briefly see Audrey Tautou (or at least a body double) stark naked. The narrator says, “Mathilde needs daily treatment. Since the Armistice, Georges Comu, a swimming champion, massages her. She used to get embarrassed, but she got over it.” And it’s during this time that we see Mathilde lying completely nude on her stomach, while a muscular French man is specifically massaging her butt cheeks. The swimmer turned massage therapist then says to Mathilde, “You do have a fine figure miss. And I’ve kneaded quite a few.”

A few things to keep in mind.

I’ve been massaged before, and quite enjoyed it. In my experience one is not completely 100% naked; you’re still covered up in a sheet, and one is given the option of being nude under said sheet or “undressing to your level of comfort” (i.e. keeping your underwear on). This is true whether or not a member of the opposite sex is massaging you or not. Also, the massage therapist isn’t supposed to comment on their client’s body, whether or not it’s complimentary. 

And lastly, could a female massage therapist not have been brought in? I know that this film took place in the early 20th century, and opportunities for women weren’t nearly as wide as they are now (although quite frankly there’s still a lot of room for improvement). But if nothing else, there were still female nurses back then; I figure that at least a few of them had to have been trained in the art of massage. If for some reason Mathilde had to truly be 100% naked for her massages due to her illness, could not a female massage therapist have been brought in?

Maybe this was true to the time period in France. Maybe it was typical for one to be completely nude when being massaged, and maybe massage therapists would make comments on said nude bodies (something that would not fly in today’s world). More likely I think the director thought to himself, “Hey, you know what this World War I romance filled with carnage could use? A scene of Audrey Tautou’s bare bottom!”