"She'll change your life."

Amelie is sweet and delicate, like a nice glass of white wine. This is a French film, and like the country's reputation, it is about love and how sometimes you need help in obtaining it.

The movie starts literally at the moment of Amelie's conception. She is born to two unaffectionate parents. They never touch her and thus she gets excited whenever her dad does a monthly physical exam on her. She gets excited hoping he might hug her. He believes her accelerated heart rate is a defect and thus she is home schooled.

Amelie, grown up, is an introverted waitress in a Paris cafe. One day she finds a tin of objects that obviously belonged to a young boy once. She returns it to the, now middle aged owner, without him knowing it came from her. She is so touched by his reaction that she decides to help other people.

Without anyone knowing, she attempts to get a coworker and a regular customer together. She torments an abusive grocery store boss, because he picks on his handicapped employee. My favorite project of hers, though, is the way she gets her father out of his rut and out of his house.

One day Amelie meets someone and it is love at first sight. She is good at helping other people with their problems but she has no idea how to handle her own. As I wrote, this is a French film and love just needs a little push.

Besides being a feel good movie, it is also often quite funny. In one scene, Amelie is looking out over the Paris skyline wondering how many people are currently having orgasms. It then shows you exactly how many. The last orgasm is quite hilarious.

This film is beautifully shot and briskly paced, yet the best thing this it has is the aptly named Audrey Tautou. Aptly named because she looks so much like a young Audrey Hepburn. Tautou, like Hepburn, carries herself in front of the camera with demure class and radiates her charm with a mere glance or smile.

The movie is book ended by little events that have nothing directly to do with the plot. What they illustrate is that little events are happening all around us that are causing someone else to do something. We affect each other's lives directly and indirectly. At times, we could all use a little Amelie.

Did you enjoy Eric's review? +2 -0

 

Everything about Amelie is designed to make you feel good. From its playful humor to its charismatic star, the movie makes you happy. Even the color scheme is based around a soothing shade of green.

Like Eric, I found the humor to be one of the best parts of the story. As he alluded, the way in which she gets her father out of the house and into the world by using his gnome is ingenious and laugh-out-loud hilarious. The offbeat narration in which we learn small, intimate details about supporting characters, adds a touch of surreal, almost Pythonesque humor.

And again agreeing with my brother (Wow! Twice in one review), I found Audrey Tautou to be the brightest spot in this already bright movie. Small in size, her pixie-like personality fills the screen as she spreads her magic among those around her.

The movie really gets going with the news broadcast of the death of Princess Diana, but rather than being the impetus of the story it merely causes Amelie to drop a cap that leads her to discover the metal box. It shows that the big events to which we have no personal connection, while making headlines, can never touch us in the same way as the tiny ones that are going on in our own lives do.

The magical thing about Amelie is, unlike so many supposed feel-good movies, it actually does leave you smiling.

Did you enjoy Scott's review? +1 -0