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| Amélie (2001) |
One thing I'll say about this movie right off the bat is that's definitely... how can I put this... very French. Stylistically, it's unlike any movie I've seen, with the narration and the editing and the story in general. It really feels like a gratuitously French movie, yet this is one of the film's biggest strengths. I dare say this movie would not have worked nearly as well had it been made in any other country. It's a movie that flourishes with the stylistic editing, that loves its big sweeping shots of France, a movie that frankly would not be nearly as effective without the narrator both going into too much detail and not telling us anything about our characters. The narration specifically goes a long way to setting the tone for the movie, and the characters as a whole, very effectively, though I'll come back to that in a second. I can just feel that had an American production team taken a shot at this kind of story, it would have been so pathetically by-the-numbers for an American rom-com that it would have just sucked out all the charm. This is a movie that thrives on charm, and it has it in spades.
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| Audrey Tautou as Amelie |
The titular Amélie, of course, goes a long way to adding charm to the movie. Amélie is such a great character; Audrey Tautou plays her wonderfully, and she had a lot of work to do. Tautou essentially needs to carry the entire movie on her shoulders, and she does so effortlessly. She plays this introverted character almost too well; I see a lot of people I know in real life in the character of Amélie, myself included. In fact, all of the characters are really well-grounded and feel real, even when they're playing to the extremes, like with Amélie's parents. The Glass Man is a great concept, and I like his friendship with Amélie. When they start talking about 'the girl with the glass' and Amélie is holding a glass of water and the entire time they're clearly talking about Amélie and it's not subtle but the characters know it as well... Didn't mean to ramble about that, but that entire subplot was wonderful, I think I audibly said 'Well done' to the movie the first time they set that up. Like I said, it's not subtle, but it's not mean to be subtext. The characters are painfully aware they're using the painting as a framing device for Amélie and they just roll with it. See what I was talking about with the charm?
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| Serge Merlin as Dufayel |
The plot is, I'll admit, somewhat by-the-numbers, but the way the film presents it stops it from seeming that way. A big part of that is down to the comedy, which is this really unique French humour that I adored. There were moments that were lost-in-translation, but they were few and far between. But, there were a lot of genuine laughs here, and the general style helps this plot seem original. Even if it's not, it's just so wholesome. It's about someone making everyone's lives better for no personal gain, it couldn't not be wholesome. The movie does seem a little front-loaded, in that the narrator goes rapid-fire through all the characters right at the start so when certain elements from those characters show up again an hour later, you're left there for a bit wondering which character they're talking about, which doesn't help. And, the fact that there is such a big ensemble, there are a few characters that didn't really get resolutions that I feel really needed them. Georgette and Lucian, for example; I feel like their plots just got dropped because the film was wrapping up. Even seeing them for a bit in the montage ending would have been helpful.
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| Rufus as Raphael |
At the end of the day, however, I can overlook a lot of these nitpicks due to one factor this movie excels at which I mentioned in the beginning: relatability. Holy crap, this movie is relatable. I mentioned earlier that I saw a lot of people I know, including myself, in the character of Amélie, and that wasn't hyperbole. The really interesting and unique person that isn't good with people and is super shy but wants to make people happy yet can't bring themselves to allow that for themself? That just spoke to me on such a personal level, and a lot of the situations Amélie is in; I found myself mirroring those moments with stuff that happened to me in my own life. What a way to get around the 'lost-in-translation' fear; I feel like this movie could speak to almost anyone on the planet. The movie does such an amazing job of making you care for Amélie, you want her to be happy, so when she's got the opportunity right in front of her and she walks away, you're right there with her saying 'Nooooo, why?!' Again, it's just so relatable, and that extends to the romance as well. Something I usually hate in a movie, where two people who barely know each other fall in love; here it just works. I'm not sure why, maybe it's the French factor or maybe it's that the movie does an amazing job of showing us these characters on their own and letting us make the connection that they'd be great together. In that sense, the movie lets us play matchmaker, watching two people who clearly like each other but aren't together and you're there saying 'Go on, just do it, you're made for each other' which, again, is a situation that is very familiar for me, and a lot of other people. It all comes back to the relatability.
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| Mathieu Kassovitz as Nino |
Honestly, I could drive this point home forever, but it comes down to this: Amélie (2001) is a hilarious and charming movie with themes that will speak to just about anyone and absolutely everyone should watch it. There are one or two things that stop this from being a 'perfect movie', if such a thing exists, but subjectively speaking, this is one of my favourites I've seen. 9.5/10.
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