Amelie Directed by: Jean-Pierre Jeunet
There's bound to be backlash against a film like Amelie. Made in France and shown with subtitles, Amelie makes you smile even at the mere thought of its power for days afterwards, and presents a whole new path in cinema. Its charming, black haired star, Amelie (Audrey Tautou) is like a little mouse doing you a favor so you can't help but leave some cheese our for her. The film contains and examines, and then re-examines almost all the facets of human emotion in a two-hour running time, and it doesn't even have Julia Roberts in the cast. People are going to hate this movie. The film Amelie is a phenomenon, the rare silver screen gem that creates a buzz and atmosphere that makes movies a legal drug once again. I couldn't get enough of this film, so I went back again a few days later. Then I found myself back again two weeks later, this time dragging as many friends, family members and people off the street as I could, creating a caravan of cars driving like fanatics to Kansas City. I was letting them all in on the magical realism (is that possible?) of Amelie. Amelie is that film that people have to brag or talk about with other people at the copy machine on Monday morning, over 3 a.m. coffee on a cold autumn weekend, or even to their postman. You'll want to dance with your postman after seeing this movie, you'll wonder why it is that your hands prune up in the bathtub. It's a mantra I've found myself repeating over and over again the last month: "You have to see Amelie, You have to see Amelie." Amelie recharges you for life, reaffirming that the world is a sad and beautiful place. Five minutes of this film covers more ground and emotional range than any film as a whole to overtake the local multiplex this entire year. Forget about the summer blockbusters that never happened, the heartbreaking films based on the famous books by the best-selling authors that you'll never read, or the surprise hit of the year that comes with a free refill on that large popcorn. Put Amelie to the test, its fail-safe. The film is an exhaustive experience, overwhelming at points, but it's the sole reason why you will be applauding at the credits. The trick behind the magic of Amelie lies in the structure of the story. A curious girl in her young twenties is trying to make people happy about life, while at the same time learning about why it is that she hasn't found someone to really love and to hold. Amelie is a young woman who is smart, cunning, and full of sympathy, but she has her flaws. She's shy, a daydreamer, scared of personal confrontation. It's funny how social and helpful she is in her mind and in her anonymous deeds, but to almost everyone in her life she comes off as anti-social. She works as a waitress at a local diner, but the other socialites she works with dominate the usual diner chatter. The people who work at the diner, and the regulars who are like fixtures along with the salt and pepper shakers, are too busy worrying about themselves to notice Amelie, and that neglect obviously pains her. But Amelie has her eyes and heart set on a curious young man who has amassed some odd hobbies, and it's only natural that her attraction is spurned by his total lack of identity with the modern world, a picture she's always been painted in to. The actress playing Amelie, Audrey Tautou, will remind some of a young Audrey Hepburn or the foreign actress Juliette Binoche in terms of looks and mannerisms. Tautouis the obvious reason while the film mechanizes as beautifully as it does and within five minutes of her being on the screen she becomes an irresistible force. The less obvious reason the film Amelie is the perfect slice of cinematic pie is that the director of Amelie, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, turns out to be a happy guy. Anyone familiar with Jeunet's previous darker films like Delicatessen, City of Lost Children, and Alien Resurrection (believe me, you need a flashlight to watch these films) will realize this is a giant step to a brightly lit world. It's not like he needed to take a risk, as his previous work all contained strong liberation attitudes. I myself appreciate his new approach as much as I admire his old haunting grounds. There have been certain circles that have lambasted the film for being too cute or quaint, dismissing it as a misrepresentation of modern day Paris. That's like saying Gotham City doesn't have as many shadows and strangulations as in the good old days. Everything changes: people, life, film. It's about personal perception and new outlooks, something lacking from most works of art today. Who's to say this film isn't how one person, or several feel about Paris and the world in present times? The old saying goes "We will always have Paris" but I take it a step further and proclaim, "We will always have Paris and Amelie."
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