Dir. Jean-Pierre Jeunet
"These are hard times for dreamers."
Ryan Demarest is a film enthusiast. He likes foreign films. Quirky, off-beat comedies. Bread. He doesn't like popcorn. Formulaic plots nor characters. Ashton Kutcher. And popcorn.
He also happened to absolutely adore Amelie (alliteration?). For years I've missed out on this film, largely due to a mix-up on my part. Whenever brought up in conversation, I always assumed Amelie was the [equally great film] Chocolat, for some reason. So when asked what I thought of Amelie, I would give them my opinions on how great of a villian Alfred Molina was, and what a great lead Juliette Binoche made or even what an odd pirate Johnny Depp made (oh, the irony, right?). Imagine my surprise when I found out Amelie and Chocolat were actually two different films.
The better surprise was finding out just how wonderfully crafted Amelie was. It's a simple love story, told in an elegant, cute, and very engaging way. Amelie is the story of, well, Amelie (Audrey Tautou), an introverted woman who after a happenstance accident decides to help those around her in secret. Much like a French, cute version of Robin Hood or Zorro, the latter of which is actually heavily alluded to in the film. Along the way she meets her equal, someone just as odd, interesting and endearing to her. To say anything else would ruin the mystery of this film.
Now, I will admit, I am a sucker for slightly left of the mainstream films, and anything that even attempts to try to do anything new or inventive wins points in my book. But I'm just being easy or favoring Amelie for being different. Amelie is a beautifully shot and fully realized love story, that not only focuses on the often covered theme of love, but it touches on the human spirit. Amelie connects on such a deep level that it is hard to imagine anyone not walking away touched from this film in some way. The characters on display here are all richly imagined and given their own histories that are only hinted at, but still provide more depth than most films allow. Maybe even more touching than the budding romance between Amelie and her mystery soulmate, Nino (Mathieu Kassovitz), is the relationship between Amelie and her neighbor, also an introvert but for very different reasons.
Amelie is such a hard film to write about for the simple fact that I would love to tell you everything I loved about the film, but it would be ruining so many great moments that are best seen and experienced for yourselves. Now, I guess I would be lying if I said I didn't have a few nitpicks, as I think it could've been trimmed ten minutes or so and been more effective and efficient. Likewise my absolutely least favorite movie plot device shows up, which is a misunderstanding between a couple that causes heartbreak for someone, but it's so quickly done that I definitely did not mind it as much here. Again, these are very minor nitpicks, and this film is pretty close to perfection.
Amelie is a film that as soon as I was done watching it, I wanted to play it over again to take in the world and the characters, as they are all wonderfully realized and engaging. I wanted the story to continue and see more adventures of Amelie, and I guess that's the mark of a true film...when it leaves you wanting more, but at the same time completely satisfied. I loved Amelie, and am looking forward to sitting down with it again in the future. I'm happy to say Amelie is going to get the first perfect score during this project. I can't recommend this film enough, please, go see it.
5 out of 5
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