AmélieAll too often we go through our days with moments of "could have beens" or "should have dones", moments where we feel isolated, separated, alone. It's not because we are lonely or bad people, but because it's hard to go after what you want, even if--deep down--you know it will bring you happiness. For a young French woman named Amélie Poulain (Audrey Tautou), she is keenly in tune with how one's life affects others--like ripples in a pond--and the capability each of us has to influence the lives of others, a power she generally uses for the betterment of those in her community of Montmartre.
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Amélie begins with a seemingly incongruous smattering of random events surrounding Amélie's conception, but the absurdity of it is soon justified as the film progresses. Amélie's world reminds me a lot of a snow globe--sans snow--because so many of the people we meet are revisited, and their lives intertwine in interesting ways, in large part due to Amélie's own intervention. There is an interconnected quality to the world which Amélie sees. She motivates and manipulates, but in the grand scheme of things, her intentions are good, because she wants to enrich the lives of those she sees every day, make their lives better, even if it means a little fudgery. Amélie doesn't really start her career as a do-gooder; she is a waitress in a cafe, itself filled with misfit characters not that far down the line from the characters from "Cheers", each with their own idiosyncrasies. She visits her father regularly, who doesn't really go anywhere since his retirement. Her mother died when she was little by suicide; correction: her mother was killed by a suicide, a jumper from a church landed on her, and her father keeps her ashes in the garden next to his gnome. This kind of odd humor should give you a little bit of an idea of the "quirky" vibe running throughout Amélie, and it is part of the film's signature charm, with another crucial aspect being Amélie herself. Amélie gets joy out of simple pleasures in life, and has done so from her childhood, a quality which makes her endearing. Combine that with her Audrey Hepburn-like charm and grace, as well as her precocious innocence, and that irresistible combination should make it no small wonder that Amélie remains the highest-grossing French film released in the United States.
The "likes" and "dislikes" of the people in Amélie are akin to magnetic properties; people's predispositions make them act and do what makes them comfortable, and give them heart and personality...makes them people like us and the people we know. But sometimes, that comfort is a crutch, and keeps us from branching out into new territory; it can hold us back. When Amélie is shocked by the death of Princess Di, she serendipitously discovers a kind of time capsule hidden in the wall of her apartment, a child's collection of knick-knacks. Amélie takes great lengths to find out who lived where she does decades prior, instinctively sensing that underlying connection of her world and this boy's--who must now be a man. She makes a vow: if she can find him and he responds with goodness, she will continue to do good things; and though her efforts are exhaustive in her search, she does deliver the package...in her own "guardian angel" kind of way. Amélie is shy; she actively avoids making her presence known in her random acts of kindness. But while we suspect that this is due solely to her desire to remain an anonymous benefactress--and that is part of it--it is also an inner fear she has, which her neighbor hints at--rightly--as cowardice. The actions she takes to enrich the lives of those in her circle are heart-warming, funny, or often both. Even the unique and minute tortures she inflicts upon the cruel grocer--her subtle rampage of sabotage through his apartment--is done as retribution for his vicious mistreatment of his kind apprentice. Maybe Amélie takes on this crusade as a way to not only "do good", but to give herself a sense of accomplishment, her days otherwise filled with skipping stones, sticking her hand in bags of grain--good, simple pleasures, true, but when do these run out? It would be nice to imagine that life for Amélie would always be a charmed one. But between her sorrowful landlady, the initially reclusive painter neighbor, and more, it's not too hard to see Amélie falling into a purgatory-like state once the reality of regret sets in. And Amélie is a coward when it comes to her own life; Raymond Dufayel (Serge Merlin), "The Glass Man"--named for his brittle bone disease--and her neighbor who paints reproductions of other painter's work, like Renoir, counsels Amélie in his own way. After noticing how Amélie has been struggling to find the man who should have the time capsule, Dufayel actually initiates the first conversation with her, and ends up showing her one of his paintings he is struggling to complete: a reproduction of Renoir's Luncheon of the Boating Party. The two of them comment on the little girl with the glass, whom Dufayel is struggling to capture the spirit of in his impression of the piece. They discuss what the girl must be like, and the running thread is that the girl is Amélie, and Dufayel--who is fond of observing with his camera and binoculars--sees what Amélie cannot about herself. Dufayel sees that for all her bold, extravagant ways of bringing happiness to others, she is afraid of rejection. She wishes to approach the young man, Nino Quincampoix (Mathieu Kassovitz)--sensing that their interests and personalities are alike--but can only give him elaborate clues to lure him in, never ready to bite and actually encounter him. It is a contradiction which Amélie struggles with as she continues to perform her little miracles. The little girl with the glass is an excellent metaphor for Amélie (and the film, Amélie); she is represented in the personalities of those who surround her, just as Amélie is by the people whose lives she has made better, simply by going out of her way to be a little nicer--would that the world was always this way.
Recommended for: Fans of a charming and touching comedy, one which thrives on simple pleasures and gentle delights, but has a precocious streak running through it. With her magnetic, on-screen presence, it's no wonder that Amélie made Audrey Tautou an instant celebrity.
The "likes" and "dislikes" of the people in Amélie are akin to magnetic properties; people's predispositions make them act and do what makes them comfortable, and give them heart and personality...makes them people like us and the people we know. But sometimes, that comfort is a crutch, and keeps us from branching out into new territory; it can hold us back. When Amélie is shocked by the death of Princess Di, she serendipitously discovers a kind of time capsule hidden in the wall of her apartment, a child's collection of knick-knacks. Amélie takes great lengths to find out who lived where she does decades prior, instinctively sensing that underlying connection of her world and this boy's--who must now be a man. She makes a vow: if she can find him and he responds with goodness, she will continue to do good things; and though her efforts are exhaustive in her search, she does deliver the package...in her own "guardian angel" kind of way. Amélie is shy; she actively avoids making her presence known in her random acts of kindness. But while we suspect that this is due solely to her desire to remain an anonymous benefactress--and that is part of it--it is also an inner fear she has, which her neighbor hints at--rightly--as cowardice. The actions she takes to enrich the lives of those in her circle are heart-warming, funny, or often both. Even the unique and minute tortures she inflicts upon the cruel grocer--her subtle rampage of sabotage through his apartment--is done as retribution for his vicious mistreatment of his kind apprentice. Maybe Amélie takes on this crusade as a way to not only "do good", but to give herself a sense of accomplishment, her days otherwise filled with skipping stones, sticking her hand in bags of grain--good, simple pleasures, true, but when do these run out? It would be nice to imagine that life for Amélie would always be a charmed one. But between her sorrowful landlady, the initially reclusive painter neighbor, and more, it's not too hard to see Amélie falling into a purgatory-like state once the reality of regret sets in. And Amélie is a coward when it comes to her own life; Raymond Dufayel (Serge Merlin), "The Glass Man"--named for his brittle bone disease--and her neighbor who paints reproductions of other painter's work, like Renoir, counsels Amélie in his own way. After noticing how Amélie has been struggling to find the man who should have the time capsule, Dufayel actually initiates the first conversation with her, and ends up showing her one of his paintings he is struggling to complete: a reproduction of Renoir's Luncheon of the Boating Party. The two of them comment on the little girl with the glass, whom Dufayel is struggling to capture the spirit of in his impression of the piece. They discuss what the girl must be like, and the running thread is that the girl is Amélie, and Dufayel--who is fond of observing with his camera and binoculars--sees what Amélie cannot about herself. Dufayel sees that for all her bold, extravagant ways of bringing happiness to others, she is afraid of rejection. She wishes to approach the young man, Nino Quincampoix (Mathieu Kassovitz)--sensing that their interests and personalities are alike--but can only give him elaborate clues to lure him in, never ready to bite and actually encounter him. It is a contradiction which Amélie struggles with as she continues to perform her little miracles. The little girl with the glass is an excellent metaphor for Amélie (and the film, Amélie); she is represented in the personalities of those who surround her, just as Amélie is by the people whose lives she has made better, simply by going out of her way to be a little nicer--would that the world was always this way.
Recommended for: Fans of a charming and touching comedy, one which thrives on simple pleasures and gentle delights, but has a precocious streak running through it. With her magnetic, on-screen presence, it's no wonder that Amélie made Audrey Tautou an instant celebrity.