Amelie
As mentioned before, one of the most famous French movies to come out in recent years is Amelie. It has such a prolific response globally that even language classes have shown this movie as a whimsical treat, (though perhaps without the sexed up scenes.) Amelie has launched star Audrey Tautou into a modest overseas fame. Even now, the name Amelie is hanging to the lips of all like the stain of a fine French wine with a possible Broadway production coming our way. Yes, quaint, quirky and unbelievable adoring, Amelie has caught the hearts of everyone around.
Amelie, made in 2001, centres around the titular character played by Tautou. Set in the gorgeous Parisian village of Montmartre, Amelie is a care free, “happy-go-lucky” soul who takes pleasure in the little things in life and her constant wonderings. Due to a presumed illness, her parents had kept her locked away from other children and she used dreams to cope with the loneliness. The death of her mother leads her outside but it is the death of Princess Diana leads her on a mission to return a childhood box of memorabilia and dedicating her life to helping people. But when she bumps into a strange man who collects discard photobooth photos, could romance finally enter Amelie’s life?
This movie is such an incredibly beautiful movie. The colours are saturated in this hew that brings the vibrancy of the more eccentric colours such as red and green. Drenching Paris in the spectrum brings the quirkiness and vibrancy, director Jean-Pierre Jeunet brings a world viewed by this innate and original individual. It is great cut with snippets of uniqueness and history combined with this alternative view of life (the fact that it is brilliant.)
It could be argued that Tautou has given birth to the idea of the dreamy pixie girl that you know seem to see in romantic movies (we’ll talk about 500 Days of Summer soon.) True, this could largely be accused of lazily and underwritten fantasy that certain people have birthed. But what Amelie has is this lust for a wholesome and generosity that is layered by different events in her life. Tautou brings to life what easily could be a two dimensional character and the stellar writing of Guillame Laurant turns it into a movie about heart. People said they have fallen in love with Amelie and that’s because of Tautou’s incredible acting and Amelie’s earnestness. The trick here is to mirror her lust for the unusual in her love interest, making her centre of the movie and watching her develop rather than the obeject of affection.
Amelie has spirit and that oozes through the movie. Not one minute of this is unwatchable, it flows nicely with some unbelievably likeable characters. It is simplistic and good natured.
A funny film about a girl, named Amelie.
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