A Very Long Engagement
Lewis Carroll’s "Alice in Wonderland" and its sequel serve as a constant point of reference in Japrisot’s work, providing the epigraphs for "One Deadly Summer", "The Passion of Women", and "A Very Long Engagement", and appearing as on-screen opening quotes in "Rider on the Rain" as well as in "And Hope to Die". These quotes allude to the characters’ limited vision and "their inability to master the events that surround and confound them." Carroll's texts may have provided Japrisot with "the archetype of the young female protagonist in search of knowledge and identity" that figures in "Trap for Cinderella", "The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun", "One Deadly Summer" and "A Very Long Engagement". Just like Carroll's heroine, "Japrisot’s characters seem to have entered a dimension where certainties no longer exist and the mystery lies in knowing who you are."