Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Starring: Audrey Tautou, Mathieu Kassovitz, Dominique Pinon, Rufus
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Amélie
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Films directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet (PAL Video, Region 2 DVD)
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One of France's most commercially successful films, skillfully blending comedy, romance and fantasy, Amélie (released in France as Le Fableaux Destin De Amélie Poulain) sees a return to form for director Jean-Pierre Jeunet after the debacle that was his Hollywood debut, Alien Resurrection (1997). His first French production without his long-term collaborator, Marc Caro, Amélie is lighter than his previous work, but displays the inventiveness that made Delicatessen (1990) such a delight.
With a childhood marked by family tragedy, Amélie Poulain (Audrey Tautou) has overcome her past by living her life vicariously through those around her. An active participant in improving her neighbours' and work colleagues' lot, she refrains from any close contact with people until she meets a stranger on a train platform. Knowing only that he collects discarded passport photographs from booths around Paris, she sets out to find her mysterious collector, unaware that her interest may be more personal than she originally thought.
The pleasure of Jeunet's film lies not only in the beautifully written script and excellent performances from the ensemble cast, but also in his re-envisioning of contemporary Paris. Creating the fantastical out of the everyday, Jeunet paints a seductive image of Montmartre. A contrast to the lurid images created by Baz Luhrmann for his overblown, underwritten Moulin Rouge (2001), Amélie's strength lies in the transformation of what could have been a confection into an account of loneliness; the tiniest details building up a portrait of life in a bustling metropolis.
All around Amélie are characters whose existence is made up of the daily routine of working, sleeping and finding pleasure in any activity that offers comfort to relieve the pain of being alone. Amélie's father takes pleasure in collecting gnomes, while her landlady re-reads the letters of her dead husband. At the café where she works, Amélie's colleagues and clientele are imbued with a sadness and longing for happiness or company. An aspiring novelist muses over the one drink he can afford while waiting for success. A colleague is desperate for someone to love her. An ex-lover of a waitress watches her jealously, recording on a dictaphone her every movement or conversation. With each character, Amélie takes it upon herself to improve their lives, with varying degrees of success.
Jeunet's defence against critics who lambasted the film for it's bourgeois attitude and its 'whitenesss' is that the film is neither real nor representative, but his imagining of the Montmartre of his youth. The resulting film draws closely on the more lyrical elements of both Marcel Carné and Julien Duvivier in their compassionate portraits of Parisian life.
Jeunet found his perfect couple in Mathieu Kassovitz and Audrey Tautou. A former model, Tautou exudes a fragile, glacial beauty, which contrasts well with her character's impish sense of mischievousness, as she sets about righting wrongs and wreaking havoc on the lives of those for whom meanness is their only quality. Occasionally cartoon in her expressions, she embodies Jeunet's lighter touch and makes the transition from the darker portrayals of human nature of his previous work, to a lighter view of human existence, easier to swallow. Similarly, Kassovitz's lithe, handsome stranger replaces the awkward and grotesque heroes of Delicatessen and City of the Lost Children (1995). Similar to the role he played in A Self-Made Hero (1995), Kassovitz possesses an other-worldliness that perfectly complements Tautou's kooky outsider.
Jeunet's film is lightweight. There is no desire to ask searching questions about human existence or throw a light upon the problems of life in contemporary France. It is, however, an utterly spellbinding fable that, though needing a complete suspension of disbelief and requiring you to check in any cynical attitudes at the box office, will leave you enthralled. Rarely in contemporary cinema has a director conveyed so beautifully the feeling of falling in love.
Reviewed by Ian Haydn Smith
Reader comments about Amélie
Juan Romero(from Spain) (jri@ole.com) writes:
It is visually a pleasure but, in my opinion, it fails to succesfully "grab emotions". The spectator is condemmed to maintain a distant view-point. The director should have cut some scenes in order to gain emotion and tension and, in this way, add fluency to the storyline. It is nevertheless, worth watching.
oryan (oryanganot@hotmail.com) writes:
Amelie was the most wonderfull movie i have ever saw, and i saw a LOT of movies in my life....(that's my occupation).
i wondered if someone could help me find jean pierre jeunet e-mail or adress, so i can send him a letter, to thank him and tell him how he made me feel... like no movie/song or anything ever made me feel.
i already wrote it and can't find where to send it to...
asking for your help, please.
Paul Fox (paulrfox32@hotmail.com) writes:
Brilliant, capsulates a romantic idealists spirit.
Pan Bellis (Email address withheld) writes:
It was awful in every way. And it is not romantic but a feel-good-attitude-of-life-for no-reason at all.
Erasmus Napier (Email address withheld) writes:
Depressing, profoundly depressing. Manipulative, interfering, presumptuous, twee - funny, but still twee - and generally unpleasant.
Sorry folks, but genuinely hated this - it made me cry. In the street.
Apus (Email address withheld) writes:
Yeah, really good, lively, entertaining, good colours, story, quirkiness, I feel sorry for people who cried in disgust afterwards, you must have the weakest constitution. A romantic comedy by definition, but so much more...(I strongly dislike romantic comedies)
Cheryl (parmiter20@aol.com) writes:
A truly unique and brilliant film..touches of pathos but also brilliantly executed comedy. I nearly died laughing when Amelie, as a little girl, exacted her revenge on her adult neighbour..the roof scene!!
dina (glassumbrella@hotmail.com) writes:
amelie is the most beautiful film, i love the rich colors and the filming, the scenes remind me of how i dream, the slipper part was hilarious, and i loved how they showed people's strange hobbies, thank you for imagining such a film
Joli Martinez (aussie_chick56@hotmail.com) writes:
I loved this film to me it represented the arty and cultured viewing of Paris! It represented someoen hopes and dreams in such a way that you could truly depict there passions!
miss coops (Email address withheld) writes:
Amelie is AMAZING, no other film has captured the spirit of Paris quite like this film has. When watching the film, I could almost taste the creme brulee and smell the familiar absesses metro station. Tautou's acting is superb. I really identify with her character in the way that she loves to dream about how life might be. This film has so many levels - those of u who didnt like it obviously only took the film at face value. Quite simply - a wonderful film!
Julie Lord (Julieskoylord@attbi.com) writes:
Jean Pierre Jeunet's vision is stellar. To tell a story with depth, compassion and longing is a challenge, let alone SHOWING it with a multiplicity of colors, camera angles and interweaving it with brilliant music. One of the most refreshing films I've seen...and also inspiring me to go back to the the ol pen and paper and write again. Anyone know his email address???
Branko Lazic - Serbia & Montenegro (Email address withheld) writes:
Great movie. This movie shows all power of french film industry and creativity of their directors. It is very intresting and original story. I think that this movie have deserved an Oscar in 2001.
Peter Robertson (Email address withheld) writes:
I think Amelie is, put simply, a love or a hate thing. Some hated it for its slow moving pace or its moral messages or the fact that it is French. I didn't. I loved it. I honestly feel this is the only film that has real characters. Granted, many films have great individual characters in them (such as the drill sergeant in "Full Metal Jacket" or the hitmen in "Pulp Fiction") but this film explores so many intricacies in its characters it makes them seem almost human. An utterly brilliant film.
Emma (Email address withheld) writes:
I love this movie to pieces! It is absolutely brilliant. Amélie's character is lovely and is played extremely well by Audrey Tatou. Studying the film in french gave a lot more meaning to the film - it is full of clever puns and aphorisms that would be missed in english. Even without these I lved it. it is hilarious.
Ammie (Email address withheld) writes:
Amelie, sadly dated yet appealing still.
I would not recommend this film even though I have a quiet respect for it. I would not
appluad it although I encored its end and I would never defend it from your judgement as if judgement alone could suffice.
Amelie: a bit like marzipan
mirela (mirelarosu2003@yahoo) writes:
i was at a concert with yann tiersen and i realized something:with the songs that y.t. composed,with audrey tatou,with jean pierre jeunnet-amelie it's a true fairry tale.so i thank them for this incredible dream come true.
John Gorick (Email address withheld) writes:
Archetypal French whimsy at its worst
Chili (Email address withheld) writes:
Truly brilliant. Saw it twice in two weeks. Such range of device, color, etc. that it no one event ever seemed out of place, including her "liquid" reaction to just missing her beau in the cafe where she works. I have to wonder about the imagination and/or heart of those who pan this movie.
Ellie (Email address withheld) writes:
I love everything about this film.
It is pure fantasy, and a wonderful sensual journey. The fairground scene is to me what the film is about - nothing is real and it is only for fun.
The carousel style music compliments the visual perfectly.
amilcar (tiralacadena@hotmail.com) writes:
i´m from argentina & i'dont speak inglish, but i try to show my feelings about this film
she so amazing ,this flim it's amazing
i can see this film in a bad momment of my life & i can understend so much things like:it's good make good things 4 the others ,like my innocense.
now i´m go ,bye,good luck
pd:like whe cant says in my country HASTA LUEGO HERMANOS!!!!
Nell (stompstompstomp@hotmail.com) writes:
Who is the woman who throws herself off a building, at the start of the film? I can remember the building to be a church, maybe, I need to watch the film again really. Vaguely I felt that the film explored ideas that surround womanhood and expectations, innocence and loss. The film is whimsical but that goes without saying really. The most challenging aspect of the film for me was that it made me consider that it takes more to be a good mother, hmm parent even, than thinking like a child. My thoughts are still forming on this subject, I wouldn't take them too seriously. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to express them.
Nell
Nell (Email address withheld) writes:
Sorry, just as an afterthought, are there any films I could watch that explain one man's pollution of the female psyche in a search for and adoration of the perfect wife. I feel that the two films would work well as a double bill.
Nell
Allan Sac (hielo@itelgua.com) writes:
....seguramente la fantasia y la realidad son parte de nuestro diario vivir, aunque algunas veces las mezclamos y nos perdemos en ellas, como el caso de amelie....
Uma Thermals (vests@hotmail.com) writes:
Amélie is a modern-day fairy tale that owes much of it's charm to the charisma of it's star, Audrey Tautou.
Effortlessly charming and lovable, with her big dark eyes and quirky smile. In any case, she's all French with no pretense. She displays more than a passing resemblance to Audrey Hepburn but this does not detract from the originality of her performance, much.
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