Amelie Review

Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain – Review

Realistically, most people probably wouldn’t be particularly interested in watching a French film, as this, unfortunately, is not what the people of today are used to. Generally cinema today has become about making money rather than making film; some of the most widely popular films may not be classed as top quality, especially in my opinion. I think this is a shame, as Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain is one of the more fantastic films I’ve ever seen and I’m sure any viewer would feel just as amazed as me. I personally do not appreciate a film for its special effects or its action drama, and it’s a shame that other people do look for these qualities in films. Amelie could be enjoyed by anyone, if it is first viewed with an open mind. Rather than sitting on your sofa watching mind-numbing comedy, you should get yourself engrossed in an honestly great movie.

Each character involved in the narrative of Amelie is just as important as the next; if one were to be taken out the movie wouldn’t make sense. This is a skill that I feel many film directors struggle to accomplish, where as Jean-Pierre Jeunet presents his talents very well here. Watching this movie almost feels magical, as though you’re experiencing something completely surreal, mainly due to the Cinema Du Look style that Jeunet uses very effectively, as the film feels as though it is fantasy. The bold colour filters used on every shot create a bold and colourful image which overall gives an uplifting feel to the movie and brings this upon the audience when watching it. Paris is boldly celebrated in this film, or even exaggerated as the representation put across is ideal, and made to look flawless as all graffiti or litter, as would appear in reality, is removed.

Amelie (Audrey Tautou) as a character is hugely endearing, and as a viewer you grow to love her, and even know her as though she is a friend to you. The audience feel as though Amelie is speaking to you personally, or as if she is in the room with you due to the direct address to the camera.

Amelie Review - Exam

The final section of the Amelie exam will likely ask you to conduct a review of the film.

This will assess both your writing skills and your overall knowledge of the film and its production credits (director, cast, year, etc)

Structure of the review

1. The narrative
2. The characters
3. The director’s style
4. The themes
5. Personal remarks

The Narrative

You should begin by giving a summary of the film’s narrative. Never reveal all the details and hint at the ending without giving too much away.

E.g. the film centres around the adventures of our heroine Amelie (Audrey Tatou). From a rather uninspiring childhood the audience witnesses her develop into a shy yet idiosyncratic young adult whose life is changed when she discovers a mysterious box. This discovery fuels Amelie’s passion for helping others yet at the same time she refuses to satisfy her own pleasures until her attraction to enigmatic Nino (Matteau Kassovitz) becomes too much to bear.

The characters

•       Here you have an opportunity to discuss the array of supporting characters who add to the films charm. You should mention the impact or role they have on the film.

E.g.

Amidst Amelie’s life the audience are also introduced to a wide range of similarly memorable characters, from Georgette the hypochondriac and her short life affair with the obsessive Joseph,  Amelie’s father and his reluctance to travel, Amelie’s guardian angel Dufayel, the man with bones so brittle so as to not be able to wind his own clocks and the films only antagonist Collignon who’s abuse of his ever present assistant causes Amelie to seek just revenge. 

The Films Style

•       Here you should discuss the director’s techniques.

–      Cinema Du Look

–      Use of colour filters (particularly green and red)

–      Perfect ideal of Paris

–      Direct Address to camera

–      Dynamic Camera Movement

–      Use of bittersweet humour

–      Background in animation / fantasy

–      Importance of Montmartre (homage to his home)

–      Focus of small pleasures as character introduction.

–      Artistic influences (Renoir, Monet)

–      Traditional French soundtrack

Themes

Revisit the films themes of

-          Simplicity / innocence

-          Happiness

-          Outsiders

-          Childhood

Overall Jeunet creates a world which asks the audience to consider notions of happiness and engage in the simpler pleasures of life. We are also encouraged to look to our own child within and to perhaps feel young at heart.

Personal Reflection

•       Give the film a testimonial – convince the reader that it is important they watch the film

•       E.g. Watching Amelie could perhaps be the moment you wake up to life’s small (and greater) pleasures.

When writing your should aim for at least 1 side of A4 in the exam. (Remember this exam is only 1 hour)

When giving details of characters you should follow with the actor’s name in brackets e.g. our protagonist Amelie (Audrey Tatou) embarks on...

If you lead with the director or actors name you should follow with their other films

E.g. the director Jeunet has created Delicatessen, City of Lost Children

Amelie Timeline

1.       We are introduced to an idyllic Paris with seemingly insignificant details – bluebottles flying, glasses dancing

2.       Title sequence with Amelie indulging in childhood activities – eating strawberries from fingers, creating a face with her hand, making noises using the top of a wine glass, spinning coins etc.

3.       We meet Amelie’s mother and father and find out their Likes / Dislikes

4.       We see Amelie as a six year old. Her father treats her like a patient and her mother like a student. As Amelie gets excited with contrast from her father, her heart beats fast – he diagnoses her as having a heart defect and declares her unfit for school.

5.       Amelie resorts to a childhood where her imagination runs riot, she thinks records are like pancakes, imagines playing doctors with monsters and has a suicidal goldfish as her only friend – whom she then has to set free. (On a bridge we later see her skimming stones)

6.       Amelie takes pictures with a used camera – again her imagination is clear with clouds becoming rabbits and bears. Following a crash a neighbour makes her think it is her photos that caused the crash. When she sees the news she thinks her camera has caused major accidents. Realising she’s been tricked she gets her own back by ruining the football on television for him.

7.       Amelie’s mother is killed by a suicidal tourist and as a result of this her Dad becomes a recluse .

8.       Forward to Amelie as a young adult – working in Les Deux Moulin (Two Windmills) in Montmartre.

9.       We meet her co-workers, a Former Circus performer, a hypochondriac, a rejected lover, an airhostess .

10.   On her way to visit her father she offers money to a homeless man who replies, ‘No Thankyou, I don’t work on Sundays.’

11.   We see Amelie’s Likes / Dislikes. Plunging hand into grain, breaking Crème Brule, skimming stones, We learn relationships have been a disappointment for her.

12.   We meet the glass man (Dufayel) – his bones are so brittle he can’t leave his house. He films a clock on a camera as he is unable to wind up his own, he paints recreations of famous paintings  - a link to the artists of Montmartre.

13.   When she hears of Princess Diana’s Death she drops a bottle top which reveals the location of a hidden box – left by a former inhabitant of the house. She vows to find the owner.

14.   She asks Madeleine, the concierge of the apartment who used to live there. Madeleine tells of how her husband left her. Before this he used to write her letters.

15.   Amelie then sees Collingnon, the grocer, to find out who lived in her apartment. He is mean about his assistant Lucien. Collingnon sends her to his parents and they give her the name Bredoteau .

16.   She walks along an empty subway, containing only a blind man and sees Nino rummaging under a photobooth. We see also that Nino had a tough childhood – bullied by his peers.

17.   She visits her dad who is cleaning a Gnome to add to his wife’s shrine.

18.   After failed attempts to find Bredoteau, she is informed by the glass man that the correct spelling is Bretodeau. Meanwhile he shows her a picture he is painting – Renoir’s Luncheon of the Boating Party. He is having trouble painting one girl.

19.   Amelie ensures Bretodeau gets his box back by leaving it in a phone box. He is delighted. He claims he will get back in touch with his daughter.

20.   Amelie, vowing to help others, leads the blind man down the road and explains all that is around him.

21.   Amelie sees the Glassman dining alone. She eulogises her future – helping others but eventually dying sad and lonely.

22.   Amelie goes to see her father but he is asleep, instead she takes his gnome. She missed the last train and has to sleep in a photo booth.

23.   When she awakes Nino is in the station, once again rummaging for photos. He runs after a man with red trainers. In the chase Nino drops a scrapbook. Amelie retrieves it.

24.   Amelie looks through the scrapbook. It is full of discarded ID photos. The same man keeps reappearing in the album.

25.   Back in the Café, Amelie begins to set up Joseph with Georgette.

26.   On her way to work the next day, Amelie reads an article about a mailbag which has been discovered after decades of being lost.

27.   Amelie sees that Collignon has left his keys in his apartment door. She takes them and gets a spare key cut. She uses thins to break and create a series of practical jokes on him.

28.   Amelie visits her father who shows her a photo of his Gnome in Moscow. On her way home she sees that Nino has put up a poster asking for his album back.

29.   Joseph and Georgette get together at the Café!!!

30.   Amelie visits Nino’s workplace, he is not there, she is sent to the fairground where Nino works on the ghost train.

31.   She leaves Nino a note, saying to meet at Montmartre and to bring 5 francs (French money before the Euro). When Nino gets home he dreams that the photos are talking to him – similar to Amelie’s daydreams.

32.   Next day Nino arrives at Montmartre, a telephone call tells him to follow the arrows. When he gets to the top he puts 5 francs into the telescope to reveal Amelie placing his album back in his scooter.

33.   After Collignon is mean to Lucien once again, Amelie goes back into his apartment to play more tricks.

34.   Amelie uses the letters sent to Madeleine to recreate a new letter (supposedly lost) which convinces her that her husband always loved her.

35.   The gnome returns and Amelie leaves another note for Nino to meet her at the Two Windmills.

36.   When at first Nino doesn’t turn up, Amelie begins to imagine an elaborate reason why he hasn’t turned up. Finally he arrives but she can't bring herself to talk to him. A Note is placed in Nino’s pocket by Amelie’s co-worker.

37.   Nino goes to meet Amelie at the train station, where she has purposely broken the photo booth. The man with the red trainers is there fixing it – The mystery of the man is revealed!

38.   Amelie falsely thinks that her co-worker friend has met up with Nino to steal him from her. She is sad and imagines what life would have been like with Nino.

39.   Nino knocks on her door, she can’t bring herself to open it, Nino goes away. Amelie receives a phone call from Dufayel telling her to go in the bedroom where candles and a video await. On the video Dufayel tells her she must take this chance or her heart will become as brittle as his bones.

40.   Nino returns to the flat and they kiss.

41.   As the film ends Nino and Amelie drive off together.

Themes

·         Innocence and Simplicity

·         Happiness

·         Childhood

·         Outsiders

Amelie Critique

• She tries to keep her life within the world of childhood pleasures, notably through playing games.

• Although she is physically no longer a child, her attitude shows that she is scared of stepping into an adult world.

• It has been said that her character is ‘articulated around the trauma of a lost childhood’

• Amelie is inhibited. She enjoys being around people but is pathologically shy and withdrawn, to the point of sometimes becoming transparent. This is evident in the scene when she first meets Nino at the station, or on her encounter with Bretodeau in the bar, where she chokes in her drink because he addresses her directly.

• She prefers mediated (rather than in person) communication: this is shown through videotapes, fliers, cryptic notes, photographs or anonymous phone calls.

• She also uses a telescope to remain distant form others and even wears costumes to conceal her own identity.

• Anonymity is key to many of Amelie’s interactions. She tricks her childhood neighbour by hiding on the roof and pranks Collingon by sneaking into his flat. When Nino seeks her out and asks ‘Is this you?’ whilst holding her poster, she denies it.

• The film lingers on the small aspects of everyday lie which can be universally related to. This has been said to be a characteristic of ‘Petisme’ or ‘paying homage to little things and pleasures’.

• Characters are in tern identified by these small pleasures and idiosyncrasies. For Amelie’s character it’s through the colours of red and green, collecting pebbles or feeling grain.

Amelie Themes - Childhood

• Sex shop – she is uncomfortable in there as her family have never taught her about sex and relationships. This is also evident when she kisses Nino as she is unsure about what to do.
• When she’s at the bar she gulps down her glass of wine which links to the idea of childhood because she seemed greedy and excited.
• Life hasn’t always been easy but turns out like a fairytale: prince and princess.
• Georgette the hypochondriac seems childish in the way she overreacts.
• The dad believes that the gnome has really come to live suggesting his immature outlook on life.
• She goes to the fairground to find Nino – location relating to childhood
• Skimming pebbles – she’s idiosyncratic
• Dips her hand in grain – links to the simple pleasures a child has
• She has a very creative imagination (takes pictures of clouds which turn into childlike things. Also her dreams are in clouds which is a projection of her childlike mind) which “comes to life above her in a bubble”. It also stems from her childhood because she was forced to use it as she was isolated.
• Jeunet uses lots of primary colours especially red, these colours are often used and seen in primary schools which link to the theme of childhood.
• Breaks into Collingon’s apartment and plays tricks on him – childish. He’s mean to her friends so she does this twice.
• Nino means child in Spanish – he’s a childlike character as he collects things.
• She was not brought up as an adult because her mum dies when she was pre-pubescent and her dad became depressed.
• In the booth, she dresses up as Zorro which is childlike behaviour.
• Ghost train are a metaphor for her fears – her fears are to be alone with Nino.
• She finds the scrapbook and makes a game out of it – blue arrows (made of breadcrumbs, similar to the fairy tale Hansel and Gretel)
• Wide angle camera creates a distorted face – creating childlike features.