Amelie
2001
Amelie Poulain (Audrey Tautou) is a young woman who glides through the streets of Paris as quietly as a mouse. With wide eyes and a tiny grin, she sees the world in a magical light, discovering minor miracles every day. A shy and reserved person whose favorite moments are spent alone skimming stones into the water, Amelie was .. Read more
| Starring | Audrey Tautou, Mathieu Kassovitz, Yolande Moreau, Dominique Pinon |
|---|---|
| Director | Jean-Pierre Jeunet |
| Genres | Comedy, Romance, World Cinema |
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Amelie
Amelie Poulain (Audrey Tautou) is a young woman who glides through the streets of Paris as quietly as a mouse. With wide eyes and a tiny grin, she sees the world in a magical light, discovering minor miracles every day. A shy and reserved person whose favorite moments are spent alone skimming stones into the water, Amelie was raised by a pair of eccentrics who falsely diagnosed her with a heart problem at the age of six and so limited her exposure to the outside world. Now a free and independent woman, Amelie wears a bob that curls in every direction and dresses in red. With a job in a cafe and an aptitude for spying on her neighbors, Amelie entertains herself by enacting a series of homemade, kindhearted practical jokes. She returns a long-forgotten box of childhood knickknacks to its proper owner, she sends her father's garden troll on a trip around the world, and she creates a love connection at the cafe between the hypochondriac druggist and a beer-drinking grouch. But when the day is done, Amelie finds one stone unturned, and decides to work her magic on the quirky object of her affections, Nino Quincampoix (Matthieu Kassovitz), whom she has never met.
Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet (who codirected DELICATESSEN and THE CITY OF LOST CHILDREN with Marc Caro) presents AMELIE, an aesthetically gorgeous and inventive film. The rich, glowing color scheme is offset by flashbacks in black and white archival footage that give short biographies of each character. A soft-spoken narrator guides viewers through this enlightening fairy tale, which sometimes speeds through the streets and other times drifts in slow motion. AMELIE is humorous, questioning, and strange, and it will change the lives of all who watch it, if only for a short while after leaving Amelie's world.
| Starring | Audrey Tautou, Mathieu Kassovitz, Yolande Moreau, Dominique Pinon, Michel Robin |
|---|---|
| Director | Jean-Pierre Jeunet |
| Studio | MOMENTUM PICTURES |
| Run time | DVD: 1 hr 56 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Collections | 100 must-see movies, 100 Rom-Coms |
| Genres | Comedy, Romance, World Cinema |
| Language | French |
| Subtitles | English |
| Released | DVD: 15 Apr 2002 Production year: 2001 |
| Format | DVD |
Amelie (2001)
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Critics' reviews (5)
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Jean-Pierre Jeunet, along with former collaborator Marc Caro, is better known as a purveyor of nightmarish excursions into the fantastic — Delicatessen, City of Lost Children, Alien: Resurrection. But this romantic comedy drama enchants and beguiles with a nostalgic optimism thanks to glorious visuals and ceaseless invention. Audrey Tautou is guaranteed iconic status as Amélie, the Montmartre waitress whose selfless joie de vivre leads her to improve the lives of her friends and neighbours. She only takes a break from her role of good fairy to pursue Mathieu Kassovitz, the handsome loner who collects rejected photo-booth snaps for his album of forgotten smiles. It has to be conceded that complaints of uncosmopolitan conservatism made against this film have some justification. But as a love letter to the City of Light — filmed at locations all around Paris yet retaining the stylised magic of a movie set — this is as deliciously romantic and ingeniously mischievous as cinema gets.
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"...Mr. Jeunet's sense of humor gives the movie heart; his real affection for the medium can be seen in all the funny little curlicues and jottings around the action..."
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Most helpful member's review
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87 out of 101 people found this review helpful
Amelie
I found this film to be be perfectly crafted in all respects.
The first thing that caught my eye was the stunning beauty of every frame. Each shot appeared to be perfectly 'manicured'. There was no 'dissonace', all images; people, background, objects lived in perfect harmony to the eye.
I loved the way that each character was drawn in purely existential terms. I.e.What they did to pass their time, their quirks and idiosyncracies. This made indentification with the characters all the stronger. Anal retention was a popular theme. (Both mother and father, the painter (only to the extent of his art) and the ardent lover in the cafe (tinged with jealousy).
I savoured the contrast of the outward hardiness of the young, physically strong Amelie with the physical brittleness of the Old painter. Conversely, the inner brittleness of Amelie, starved of affection and physical contact, with the hardiness and impermeability of the old painter's life-style. These two characters constituted the ballast of the work and between them provided the continuity in which the others existed.
I could go on, but I would urge all those who thought the ending too long to watch it again. This time, see how Jeunet interposes the final 'chase' with the 'pulling together' of earlier threads. When Amelie finally falls into the arms of her love, there is nothing left to say. If you think this is too long then you just haven't been watching carefully enough.
10 sur 10 Monsieur Jeunet!! -
Most recent members' review
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67 out of 88 people found this review helpful
I hated this
Unless you understand French do not bother with this
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News and features
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Tautou rules out Hollywood move
- 22 Sep 2009
French actress Audrey Tautou has ruled out a permanent move to Hollywood despite acknowledging it would help her career - because she fears living in Los Angeles would inflate her ego. The star has risen to international fame with roles in award-winning film Amelie and The Da Vinci Code, opposite Tom Hanks. However, Tautou, who still lives in Paris, prefers working close to home - because she is convinced stars who live in Hollywood are pursuing glory and fame rather than good roles. She tells Read more
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Amelie
Amelie Poulain (Audrey Tautou) is a young woman who glides through the streets of Paris as quietly as a mouse. With wide eyes and a tiny grin, she sees the world in a magical light, discovering minor miracles every day. A shy and reserved person whose favorite moments are spent alone skimming ...
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