Producer: Jean-Marc Deschamps & Claudie
Ossard
Director: Jean- Pierre Jeunet
Writer: Guillaume Laurant
Main Cast:
Audrey Tautou…
Amélie Poulain
Mathieu Kassovitz… Nino Quincampoix
Serge Merlin… Raymond Dufayel, "The
Glass Man"
Synopsis:
It
is an adventure of a thoughtful, quiet, observant girl named Amelie, who
overcomes a sad childhood and grows up with an active imagination to bring
cheer to her lonely life. Years after her mother died of accident, leaving her
and her grieving father behind, she decided to make a life of her own and
became a waitress at Cafe des 2 Moulins.
While in her apartment, Amelie was listening to
the television, when suddenly she dropped a bottle cap upon hearing the fateful
news on television of Princess Diana's death. When she got to her feet, she
discovered a loose tile on her wall and found an old box with memorabilia
inside and decided to return it to its owner. She then solemnly swore to
herself that if the owner is grateful in retrieving the box, then she’ll
continue to make other people’s life better by her good deeds.
The owner turned out to be very happy to see the
box once again, and so Amelie was engaged with her new mission, to be a fairy
godmother to everyone around her.
Her goodwill includes complicated schemes like,
giving vivid picture of what is going on with their town as she walks the blind
man to his destination, becoming a match- maker to her aged colleague and their
regular patron at the café, plotting a bait for her father to follow his dream
of touring the world with the help of her flight attendant friend, writing a
love letter to a widow neighbor who believes her husband doesn’t love her
anymore when he died, doing pranks to Mr. Collingon to avenge for his abusive
treatment with his kind assistant, Lucien, and finally falling in love with the
guy named Nino Quincampoix.
Amelie found a chance to meet him, when he
dropped his photo album and she had to return it to him. But her shy nature
kept her from facing him and admitting her real feelings towards him, so she
had to organize a plan on how she’ll give back the album to Nino which led her
to sweet ideas.
Mr. Dufayel, a painter and a friend, observed
that Amelie is having trouble concerning with a boy she’s falling in love with,
so he encouraged her to do the thing which will not make her regret in the end
which in effect made Amelie eventually decide to follow her heart and make a
new start of her life together with the man of her dreams.
Critic:
A. Narrative
Amelie is the reason why this requirement didn’t
become a burden that drags me all the way down. I can’t keep myself from saying
that after watching the film.
Pointing out the good points of this film, I
have nothing more to say but that it is magical, the very first film to bring
me to another world, which I usually only get to feel when I read, but this
movie is unbelievably capable of doing so without using computer generated
locations or so.
It made me feel so alive, it made me think life
is beautiful and filled with thoughtful kindness and little sweet memories and
it brought me back to my childhood days where I too once imagined that I was a
princess of my own fairy tale.
From the very beginning of this literally
narrated story up to its very last second, the film with its light hearted
theme gave us a story flow, which might not be considered as the best but has a
supreme charm that allures every senses of my body. It reaches out to its
audience and provides a mystical bond which will definitely hook you up.
The only downside in the narration of this film
is that, they’re all merely fantasy which covers reality. . There is no violence,
trash, or anything really unsightly anywhere to be seen when the truth is the
very location isn’t as beautiful in its normal days as compared to what is
shown in the film. And there are no such people nowadays who will spare a
second of their time saying thanks to others who showed goodness to them, much
more will there be a person to devote her/his life into turning other people’s
lives for the better without getting something in return (is there?).
But I get what the writer might want to convey,
that with all these fantasies that he just imagined for the sake of this film,
there must be something left for us viewers to make it somewhat real. And it is
finding true meaning, love, and above all, pure happiness in a world which
might not be as beautiful as how Amelie’s imagination depicted it to be, but is
possible if we just got the heart to make the very first start.
B. Stylistics
An astonishing visual film, with enormous
art-cinema, beautifully composed instrumental sounds and music, powerful
effects, playful directing style and poof! Amelie is pure magic.
The cinematographers are clearly exploited with
all these ravishing, colorful, artistic techniques used to gain such striking
outcome of a film.
From the movie poster itself, the clearly
defined facial expression of the main character played by French actress,
Audrey, is remarkably unforgettable, as well as her performance throughout the
film. Her role fits her well, her black Lulu haircut, her always innocently
wide opened dark eyes, and her slowly curving lips which automatically turn
into a shy smile, are the hallmarks of Amelie’s character.
The establishing scenes of the film are filled
with great individual shots and ideas. There are scenes packed with bizarre
colors and it begins in a fast paced manner.
The lighting used is exceptionally crafted to
create an effect that the film was set in the 90’s complemented with the
characters’ hair and costumes.
The camera movements are also outstanding, such
as the camera panning where it creates a panoramic effect while keeping the
subject within the frame and also the shots such as the deep focus shot which
focused on a character being described by the narrator with the variation of
long shot that keeps the character in the background, middle ground and in the
foreground. Then there’s a camera angle, while Amelie is inside a train in a
fast forward motion, the view was canted where the camera is tilted to one
side, creating a diagonal composition that suggests impending movement.
There are also a lot of optical effects used
like fade in and out, wipe, dissolve and a lot more in order to connect
different shots, which made the film rather attractive and jolly in its nature.
And another dominant editing style, continuity, wherein inside the frame is the
backyard where the camera was focused on a bear and they had to show that years
are passing by presenting events such as different seasons in a shorter amount
of time than its actual duration.
While of course, a montage sequence was also
present in scenes when Amelie stands high on the terrace of Montmartre and
wonders how many people in Paris are having orgasms at that exact instant, and
we see them, 15 in all, in quick shots.
C. Film Reel
I am giving a perfect score of one for “Amelie.”
I chose this film over “Love in the Time of
Cholera,” simply because its sounds like my name (very genius I know), and the
poster alone is intriguing. Though I doubted at first because the book, Love in
the Time of Cholera, was involved in one my favorite movie, “Serendipity,”
starring my prince, John Cusack, but eventually and as obvious as it is, I am
living to feed my curiosity, so it has to be “Amelie.”
Nonetheless, I am very much satisfied with my
decision, because it took all the negative vibes away after watching “Serbis.”
It is the very counterpart of Serbis, because in
Amelie, everything is good to the eye, even her wild imagination of pairs
having orgasm at that particular moment, because it was coupled of what I was
trying to say ‘art.’
And it does not end with the excellent
exhibition of cinematography, the very plot has its flow, it has a general
story and most of all it is a film which entertains, enlighten, inspire and
tells people that fantasies are still achievable if we look on the brighter
side of each of our lives.
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