Whoever said French people are rude clearly never saw the movie Amélie, a movie all about an altruistic young French woman living in late '90s Paris.
Audrey Tautou plays Amélie, a very passive and observant young Parisian. Her life seems without purpose as she lives day to day as a server in a small cafe. We learn about her life as a child, and can understand her slight bit of anti-social behavior -- for the most part, it was due to being raised by anti-social and eccentric parents. Her mother (Lorella Cravotta) eventually dies in a freak accident involving a woman jumping off a building and landing on her, and so grows up with only her inattentive father (Rufus) by her side.
Amélie's life is pushed in a new direction when, after seeing the news of Princess Diana's fatal car crash, she drops what she's holding in her hands and knocks a bathroom tile loose. It's behind this tile that Amélie finds a small box full of old toys and pictures, left there decades ago in secret, likely by a child. Amélie decides to pursue whoever left the small time capsule and once she does, Amélie catches the do-gooder fever and starts fixing the lives of those around her.
The very way that Amélie obtains her knack for helping people is cleverly indirect, and that's how pretty much everything happens in this movie, in an indirect fashion. Amélie almost possesses a Magnolia-type pacing and whimsy as it tells its story, and does so in such a rapid and fun pace that it's almost impossible to not watch. It hooks you right from the moment when Amélie's parents conceive, and doesn't let go until the credits roll.
As the movie's narrator brings us through Amélie's lives, he makes sure to focus heavily on the individuals that make up the small circle of people she is familiar with. Amélie's world is full of details, and it's in these details that the characters in Amélie become more than excuses for dialogue. The best part about the movie, if it isn't how amazingly good-looking the movie is, is the diversity of fun characters. The movie's style helps in great ways bringing the characters to life -- often the characters will speak or look to the camera and give asides, kind of like Fight Club's narrator cut scenes.
One by one, Amélie helps those around her live better lives, whether it's hooking up one of her co-workers with one of the lovelorn regular customers, or simply helping a blind man cross the street. Amélie takes great pleasure in her anonymity, as well, and often dreams herself as Zorro, furtively helping her fellow citizens. The movie plays out like a fairy tale for this part of the movie, and doesn't start to get a bit realer until the last stretch, where Amélie is forced to take a look at her own life. It not only adds to the story, but greatly adds to Amélie's character. Any selfless and charitable person like Amélie is a fairy tale character in itself, so seeing her confront her own sets of problems turns her back into a human again.
It's packed with a fun and original vibe you don't see every day, both in story and direction.
Amélie was nominated at the Academy Awards for best screenplay as well as cinematography -- if you don't care for the story's content, at least get this (on Blu-ray) for the purpose of just looking at. The cameras brought Paris to life in tremendous ways.
Extras:
Lots of stuff: there's a trailer, an audio commentary with director Jean-Pierre Jeunet, along with a small bit where Jean-Pierre Jeunet speaks directly to the camera about more facets and creation of the movie. There's a Q & A with the cast and crew, a making-of, a storyboard comparison bit (which is worth a look), a featurette on the film's production design, a scrapbook-type collection of the film's French Posters and other film pictures, and a weird gag reel of sorts of Audrey Tautou.
"Amélie" is on sale July 19, 2011 and is rated R. Directed by Jean Pierre Jeunet. Written by Guillaume Laurent, Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Starring Audrey Tautou, Lorella Cravotta, Mathieu Kassovitz, Rufus, Serge Merlin.
