Amelie (2001) Rated: R for sexual content. Runtime: 122 mins. Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet Writer: Guillaume Laurant, Jean-Pierre Jeunet Tagline: She'll change your life. Cast: Audrey Tautou, Mathieu Kassovitz, Rufus....complete cast Genre: Comedy/Foreign/Romance
Most memorable quote: "It's better to help people than garden gnomes"
Awards:
2002 Academy Awards: Best Foreign Language Film nominee
2002 Academy Awards: Best Writing Original Screenplay nominee
2002 Academy Awards: Best Cinematography nominee
2002 Academy Awards: Best Sound nominee
2002 Academy Awards: Best Art Direction nominee
How many great movie ideas, especially in America, have never seen the light of day because some movie producer somewhere just didn't think the idea would make money? He doesn't concern himself with whether or not it is a good premise, just whether it will be a blockbuster for the studio and it's stockholders. It would be interesting, although now impossible, to know whether or not the idea of Amelie could have ever been successfully pitched to American studio execs. I expect not, and it is a shame to think that more often than not, these wonderful little titles are shoved to the side to make room for the small-brained, big budgeted action thriller.
Quirky Amelie Poulain (Audrey Tautou) whose emotionally deprived background is revealed in a series of humorous vignettes at the beginning of the film, lives alone and works at the Two Windmills café in the Montmartre area of Paris. She finds a 40 year-old tin of boyhood treasures buried behind a baseboard in her house and takes it upon herself to secretly return the items to the original owner. Seeing the reaction of the recipient inspires the shy and sheltered Amelie to secretly help do-gooders improve their lives and conversely devise intricately detailed pranks to make hateful people miserable. Along the way, Amelie discovers love and awkwardly stumbles to find a way to inform the object of her affections of her feelings. We are treated to beautiful cinematography and innovative camera-work that brings to life the Montmartre area of Paris for those unfortunate souls, including myself, who have never been there.
Audrey Tautou is charming and sexy with her large, soulful eyes and it is hard for me to imagine anyone else in her role. It's almost as if the character was developed in her own image. Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Alien: Resurrection, The City of Lost Children) guides us through Amelie's fairy-tale world with a creative and unique style of storytelling that mesmerizes the viewer and finds a way to make us focus on the simple little things that make up most of what life is, like sticking our hand into a barrel of beans in a dry-goods store, skipping rocks and cracking the topping of Crème Brulee with the back of a spoon.
In an ocean of cookie-cutter films, Amelie stands out as an innovative venture in filmmaking that is a must-see for everyone. It is a delicate masterpiece that could easily collapse under it's own storyline, but instead, it sustains itself, gains momentum, and gets better and better as it moves along. I did not expect much in the way of special effects from a French film, but the many computer-generated effects are perfect and work themselves seamlessly into the patchwork fabric of Amelie Poulain's fairy-tale life.
I smile at the critical and box-office success of films like Amelie, hoping that one day the major American studios will begin to pay more attention to good and creative ideas. They should begin to realize that the monetary success of a small budget film can pay off in a far more successful manner if the film itself is good, instead of a bad film with mammoth marketing campaigns. Amelie was made for a mere $10.3 million and has thus far grossed $152.6 million....put that in your pipe and smoke it you big movie executive sitting behind your big woooden desk with the golden ink pens and marble business card holders!
I think Amelie deserves the highest Julia Roberts factor mark as it examines all human emotions and a fairly low macho factor due to scenes of brief nudity that save it from receiving a 0 in the category. I give a fairly high rating in the wrap-up factor dues to the fact that it has many plot qirks and unexpected twists.
Screen formats: Widescreen (2.35:1) anamorphic. Enhanced for 16x9 televisions.
Subtitles: German (Captions), English, French
Sound: German (Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround), German (DTS 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 5.1), French (DTS 5.1)
Other Features: Color; interactive menus; scene access; The Look of Amelie, Fantasies of Audrey Tautou, Q&A with Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Q&A with Director and Cast, Auditions, Storyboard Comparison, An Intimate Chat with Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet, "Home movies" Inside the Making of Amelie, TV Spots - English & French, Cast & Crew Filmographies, The Amelie Scrapbook, Original Language Track (Parisian French), English & Spanish Subtitles.
DVD Easter Eggs (hidden features): To access the gnome pictures go into the "Station" option from the title menu, go as far right as possible and then point down and then the screen disappears and the gnome flies upwards. This will then give you a map of where the gnome pictures were taken. return to top
Amelie (2001)
