Review
Amélie
- Director
- Jean-Pierre Jeunet
- Year
- 2001
- Rating
- Reviewed by
- a.k.a. Jacinda
- Review date
- Monday, August 27, 2001
Amélie Poulain (Audrey Tautou) is a shy young woman that grew up in isolation from other children. One day destiny decides that Amélie should give up her solitude to step out into the world. Through her vivid imagination she starts to straighten out other people’s lives. When Amélie meets Nico (Mathieu Kassovitz) she believes to have found her soul mate. Step by step she tries to win over his heart.
I do not want to give away further details of the story. Amélie’s universe is filled with odd characters and weird incidents. Magic is the word that describes Amélie best. Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s visual style is something you have to experience for yourself. There are no limits to his creativity. He surprises us with breath-taking special effects every other minute. This is a combination I have never seen before.
The movie has a fairy tale feeling to it but it is also a modern story of the city. Paris takes on an important role while the musical score creates a lovely and incomparably French atmosphere. Jean-Pierre Jeunet collected all sorts of weird anecdotes and stories over the years. The idea of Amélie made it possible to combine them in one fabulous movie. Hardly is there a movie which is capable of capturing the essence of life in such an enchanting way. It is pure joie de vivre sparkling in Amélie’s eyes.
Audrey Tautou is a genuine find. She captures Amélie’s astonishment at the world in a magnificent way. There is such an incredible warmness to her character – especially in the scenes in which she tries to attract Nico’s attention. Amélie never feels like a weirdo, we rather find pieces of ourselves in her.
Amélie from Montmartre is not just a movie, it is a one-of-a-kind experience. A timeless classic that will possibly change the way you see the world!
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Other reviews of Amélie (2001): Groucho
Comments
Morris wrote at 6/22/2002:
Well, you certainly know how to build such high expectations on a movie Jacinda! I simply can't wait to see this one. Seems so different and beautiful... Guybrush Threepwood wrote at 6/22/2002:
This movie is really magic. It's like a dream. I remember leaving the theatre with a smile on my face like I was a child. Go and see it, you wont' regret it!! Khanhigou wrote at 6/22/2002:
Hi, I'm a french student living in Paris and I have only one wish for you Americans... I want you to feel happy, really happy. I know it may seem difficult to some of you but, believe me, this movie is like the tenderness of a first kiss.
You know, every single french boy that has seen the movie is in love with Amélie... she's perfect, desperatly perfect.
I remember having smiled for about one hour leaving the movie theater after seeing it.
Fankly, If you see one foreign movie this year, see Amélie.
French touch as you have never been able to feel it yet.
Signed,
Your devouted andenchanted Khanhigou
Morris wrote at 6/22/2002:
You guys are simply increasing my already HUGE expectations about this movie. I simply cannot wait to see it. Even my body is starting to need it. Help! Groucho wrote at 6/22/2002:
My God, I'm feeling just the same way as Morris!! When will this one arrive here? I wanna feel as happy as you tell me I'll feel!!!! Morris wrote at 6/22/2002:
I've now seen "Amelie" and I can assuredly say the world is a better place because of this. My God, what a fantastic experience! I started to smile when the movie started and I think I never stopped. It's simply contagious. No other movie had had this effect on me. At the end I just couldn't stop smiling because my face had gotten so used to it!One of the reasons I loved this movie so much is because, without wanting to sound pretentious, Amelie's point of view towards life is almost exactly as mine. I happen to think that the small details of life are the ones that make it so special. There's nothing as a perfect life, and those small moments of joy or pleasure are the ones who keep us going. That's my philosophy and this movie is kind of an ode to that idea.
I also loved the way Amelie lived to make other people happy without paying more attention to herself. She is simply one of the most adorable characters ever commited to the screen and Audrey Tatou simply nailed it.
I also have to mention the spectacular photography and art direction of the movie. I think the movie is actually competing for the Oscar in those categories and it surely deserves it. Visually it is a jaw-dropping extravaganza. Paris has never ever looked so beautiful and Annaud should be applauded forever for what he accomplished here.
Was there anything in the movie that I didn't like? Just a very few minor things. I thought that at the middle the movie dragged a bit and I also thought the character of the "writer" was totally unnecessary.
Yet again the beginning of the movie (its strongest part from my perspective) is brilliant. BRILLIANT! Those first 15-20 minutes are already worthy of all the praise the movie has received.
A unique, fantastic, memorable, joyful movie everyone should see!
Groucho wrote at 6/22/2002:
I don't really know, my friends...I'm starting to sound like my idol Leonard Maltin, who doesn't like most movies of today. However, I really really didn't love 'Amélie'. In a few words, I thought it was a movie filled with brilliant ideas, which wasn't particularly brilliant overall.
I enjoyed it, of course, and actually liked it. But did I love it? No. Will I see it again? Perhaps, to hear that beautiful music, enjoy the great editing and the precise direction, and of course to fall in love again with Tatou. But otherwise, I don't think that the movie is worth it. Or is it? I dunno.
Now that I think about it, it did transmit some optimism to me as well. But then I think about Amélie's ways to make people happy, and how some of her ways included revenge, and I think again. Is she a wacko? Maybe not, but she's not all that special either. Only a weird, lonely girl, to be honest.
And that happy, Hollywood-style finale... oh well.
Anyway, a fun ride!
Let me read what I wrote, wait a sec...
Done. Well, I didn't really trash it. I'll post this now...
Groucho wrote at 6/22/2002:
Sorry, I meant 'punishment' rather than 'revenge'. Morris wrote at 6/22/2002:
Well my friend, I'm really shocked. I had a hunch that you would love this movie and apparently I was wrong. Then again, what's there to do? I obviously hold your opinion in high esteem, but I do have to come in the movie's defense in a couple of aspects you mentioned. :)
First of all, you're right about Amelie not only doing nice things to people, but also punishing a guy who's done more bad than good. It all depends on how you see it, because what she actually did to that guy was a way of helping the OTHER one, his "assistant". She's hurting someone by doing so, but to be fair the things she did weren't really harmful or dangerous. They were more like childish pranks, like getting up to a mischief. But on the other hand, you've come up with something really important: Amelie isn't anything extraordinary. That's what I loved. She's a common girl who is certainly not perfect but who does want to be a better person. The will to do that is what elevates some people from others.
And about that happy Hollywood-style ending, well, unfortunately Hollywood has come up with so many ridiculous endings of this type that the moment you see something like it you instantly stereotype it. "Amelie" was an optimistic fun movie from start to finish and a different ending would have been totally out of place. As I said in my comments, I kept smiling all the time throughout the entire movie. What use would a more simple ending have had? I say it was the perfect way to end the movie and leave a great impression.
So anyway, just wanted to share my opinion on those two topics. Otherwise I'm glad you loved some of the things I loved as well. After all, not a lot of movies come that are as charming as this one. Way to go!
Morris wrote at 6/22/2002:
I just heard "Amelie" won 4 Cesar Awards this weekend including Best Picture and Best Director. Those are the French equivalent of the Oscars, so way to go! Groucho wrote at 6/22/2002:
OK, let me talk back now, bud. You stated before that you have a lot of Amélie in yourself. I know you, and I'm certain that you wouldn't break into someone's house and fill it with little traps to drive someone crazy, helping someone else in the process. It's not right.As for the happy ending, I think most other things would be in place. The impression that it leaves in me is that there was no point throughout. Amélie ended up helping herself more than anyone else! How selfish is that for a girl who allegedly wanted to dedicate herself to the happiness of others? Why didn't she help the writer then? I don't know.
Morris wrote at 6/22/2002:
I see your point bud, but even though I stated that I have a lot of Amelie in me it doesn't mean that we're the same. I do like to see people around me happy and so does she... but that's about it! I don't help others in such imaginative ways as she does and therein lies the magic of the concept of the movie. I know it's not "right" to do what she did to that man, but it was a naughty thing to do. Amelie is like a child, she's extremelly innocent and playful. That's part of her charm!As for the ending, well, we do have veeeeeery different points of view. If you notice, what Amelie does for all those people she helps has nothing, nothing, to do with her "love story" with that guy. It isn't as if at the end she ended up being egoistical because as a matter of fact one thing never intruded with the other. She helped others because that's what she liked and then there was this story about a man she feels something for. The way I see it, the movie has the beautiful message that everything you do in life is always returned to you. If you're good, if you care for people, then one day, when you need it, people will be good to you and will care for you. It's as simple as that and it might also work the other way around.
And about the writer, well, she did help him, although not in the big way she helped the others. Near the end there's a scene where something is written on a public wall and the writer becomes happy to see it. I didn't understand that scene very well, but it is because of that and because overall I didn't see the point in the character that I thought he could've been trimmed all the way. But the thing here is that even if Amelie hadn't helped him at all it wouldn't have been bad because after all it's not like she had the obligation to do it. Helping others is a really nice thing that you choose to do, but that if you don't it doesn't necessarily make you a worse person or, to put it more mildly, a hypocrite. Well, that's what I think anyway...
Groucho wrote at 6/22/2002:
Yeah, you got many things right, Moe. I clearly see that you're convinced of what you say because you have strong arguments. Unfortunately, as you have noticed, I have as many arguments to prove my own points. Let's just say that we both liked it, which is also true. The things is, the things we say are all true, so there's no need to prove them, as they are there, but they influence us differently. I don't want to be remembered after I'm dead as the man who hated 'Amélie' because it's not true. I have just seen many better movies but that's about it...As always, a pleasure to discuss with you, though.
Any rumors on Tatou's future work?
Morris wrote at 6/22/2002:
You're right bud. And about Tatou's future work, I heard she was going to be in a Hollywood movie, but I don't know more about it. I wonder what role she'll play, since she barely speaks English and that's something we all witnessed during the Golden Globes. Yet again it would be something similar to Zhang ZiYi's work in "Rush Hour 2". She barely uttered a word!
Groucho wrote at 6/22/2002:
...or a dreadful English-speaker like Penélope Cruz, who was great in Spain before she came to "the land of opportunity"! ;) Morris wrote at 6/22/2002:
You're absolutely right pal. I really hope she does something good or more low-key than expected. Take Franka Potente for example, who's German and has done only a few Hollywood movies and has been excellent in all of them.As for Penélope, you're also right, but I guess we can't completely fault her. She's done nothing but work with great directors and great actors in great projects... too bad none has lived up to expectations. But there's no denying her awful accent. She should really do something about it!!!
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Jacinda wrote at 6/22/2002:
I have to add a few comments to my review. As I said before it's hard for me to express my feelings for a movie that touches me on a personal level. Amélie is one of those rare experiences. I could have talked about all the beautiful aspects of this movie for hours. But it wouldn't have worked without giving away the small details of the movie. And I don't want to spoil Amélie for anyone.Just one note: if I could I would have given Amélie a 5 star rating. :)