Comes With A Smile (Amelie (DVD))

Member Name: moongod

Product:	Amelie (DVD)
Date:	05/03/02 (143 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Feelgood without any schmaltz, Charming, Stunning

Disadvantages: Apparently it's better without subtitles...

A magically real experience. Amelie by all accounts will charm you off your feet.

WHAT IS IT ABOUT?
Amelie is about a love for life, the peculiarities of life, what drives a life. Something timeless and yet contemporary. Expect kamikaze goldfish, salty gin, raspberry thimbles, toothpaste boobytraps, love, Paris…Romantic comedy without a hint of sugary sweetness.

INSPIRATION
Much of this film comes straight from the heart of the director, Jean-Pierre Jeunet; from his experiences as a child. He sits in cinemas, studying the faces of the audience, the wheezing hypochondriac, Georgette is based on Jeunet's mother - he plagiarises his own scene from Delicatessen with the toilet orgasm scene (and the squeaking mattress), the goldfish scene re-enacts the fate of a runaway childhood pet. The list goes on. Little moments that some of us file away in our the system that is our memories, but Amelie reminds us of them - showing us that they're still there to be experienced, for those who are open to it.

SPIRIT
This is Jeunet's follow up to Alien Resurrection. He wanted to make a quiet, personal film - the story of a girl who has an very sheltered childhood, living in an insular world where a vivid imagination makes up for a lack of social interaction. The introverted extrovert lives alone and works as a waitress in Montmartre, one day a chance occurrence makes her suddenly awaken to the world and she decides to dovote her life towards helping people. Amelie decides to play a series of pranks and ruses in order to change the lives of people around her. However, we soon see that she is Amelie that needs the most help. The film is jam packed of little ideas and moments - just as life is. Through all the positivity, it manages to avoid any sense of tackiness and instead lands smack in a puddle of sincerity.

ANIMATED PAINTING
Visually rich, Amelie is edited at incredible pace, each frame burgeoning with
rich gloss. Jeunet is a student of Kurosawa's school of direction - 'every shot should be like a painting', somehow more successful than the muted colours of Sokurov's 'Mother and Son'. Jeunet wanted to create a painting aesthetically and emotionally and as far as I am concerned, he's succeeded. I love the saturated colours, the beautiful character of all things living within the film. This is not a caricature of visuals, but a celebration of colour and aesthetic.

STAR
The first choice for Amelie Poulain was Emily Watson. Jeunet envisioned the candour and determination of her character in Breaking the Waves. Jeunet even modified the script for her, so that it took place in North London, moving to Montmartre as a teenager. However, that fell through and within ten seconds of meeting Audrey Tatou (he saw her first on a billboard!), Jeunet knew that she was the embodiment of Amelie. Jeunet can't even imagine Emily Watson in the part now! Somehow I connect with Amelie in her hopes and aspirations - her simplified view on life (how difficult can life be?!)

DIANA & THE CITY
This film has been criticised for it's overly gilded view of Paris. But I think Jeunet is trying to convey something more than a rose-tinted view...Jeunet paints a city pulsing with colour and beautiful vistas…no homelessness, no violence, small family businesses on the cobbled streets of Montmartre - the kind of Paris he dreamt about when he first went to the city. The way you remember your home after a year way - a total fantasy, but a strong, elusive and convincing one. Amid this compelling artifice, the Princess of princesses, Diana, is brought into the story as the catalyst for Amelie's awakening. The aesthetic is so nostalgic, the audience almost loses sense of a reality, and suddenly here is something they can identify with - the emotion the world felt.

SO IS IT WORTH IT?
There is no tokenism in thi
s film. A film that communicates how every small thing means something, how every small action counts, that beauty can be found in everything. Audrey Tatou is simply wonderful as the mischievous girl who chases a mystery man (a marvellously off beat Mathieu Kassovitz) around the city, seducing him with her games. At one point you are scared that a downbeat reality might strike home, but Jeunet doesn't fail and carries you up, up and away - sending you out of the auditorium on a little cloud of your own, with Amelie wrapped around your heart.

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