All cinema lovers
should have a special place in their hearts for films that are unashamedly
optimistic and whimsical. There is a lot of darkness in this world, but the
world inhabited by the protagonist of Amélie
(1999) is one where a happy ending is just about guaranteed if you work for
it. Directed by French director Jean-Pierre Jeunet it is set in a version of
Paris that Jeunet himself has admitted is much cleaner than the real one. No
matter. Sometimes you go to the movies for hope, not reality.
I can indeed
confirm the French capital is not as rosy as portrayed in Amélie having been lucky enough to go there a few times for
vacation/work. I saw the movie on TV just a month prior to going on an
internship at radio station in northern France in 2011, and on my days off I
would sometimes take the train to go walk the streets of Paris. On my last day
I had the chance to see the Eiffel Tower at night, which I believe is the sort
of imagery Jeunet was aiming for when making his movie. True, the city is
filled with many cigarette butts and the laws forcing people to pick up after
their dogs are pretty lax, but there is enough poetry in that city to inspire
plenty more of filmmakers like Jeunet.
Amélie (Audrey
Tautou), a Parisian waitress, can be best described as Ebenezer Scrooge after
he has discovered the true meaning of Christmas, only she doesn’t have money to
throw at the masses. That doesn’t stop her from trying to bring joy to as many
people as she can, even if she is quite lonely herself due to her shy nature.
Her quest to spread cheer is spurred by the discovery of an old metal box she
finds behind the bathroom tiles in her apartment. The box if filled with
childhood memorabilia and through some amateur detective work she manages to
track down the owner (Maurice Bénichou) and devises a clever way to deliver the
box to him without ever being seen.
The owner’s
reaction sends her on other quests of happiness. Some are relatively easy, such
as describing a colourful street to a blind man, and others require a bit more finesse,
such as when she sets up her hypochondriac co-worker (Isabelle Nanty) with a
customer in the café bathroom and the vibration from their lovemaking can be
felt all the way into the kitchen. Amélie’s only darkness surfaces when she
decides to be an avenger of sorts against a mean grocer (Urbain Cancelier) who
constantly abuses his helper (Jamel Debbouze). True to her whimsical nature she
doesn’t hurt him, but messes with his mind by swapping his slippers for a
smaller pair and switches his toothpaste for foot cream. It’s a simple and
slightly childish revenge scheme, but it gets the job done.
Regarding her own
happiness, the poor girl is at a bit of a loss. When she sees a young man
called Nino (Mathieu Kassovitz), at a train station a close-up of her chest
shows her heart beating at a very rapid rate. Nino has some equally oddball
habits of his own such as collecting photographs of strangers from passport
photo booths, so he would of course be perfect for Amélie. However she is so
shy that when she gets a second chance to talk to him she literally melts into
a puddle.
That these two
will overcome every obstacle in their way and get together at the end is about
as obvious as whether or not the Grinch will understand the true meaning of
Christmas. Some have criticized the movie for being too picturesque or
unrealistic, but audiences the world over have embraced it and its influence
can be seen in everything from Bryan Fuller’s show Pushing Daisies to those travel commercials where the gnome is
getting his picture taken all over the world.
The
cinematography and Jeunet’s direction helped set the film’s very specific tone,
but the movie also owes a great deal to Tautou who perfectly embodies the title
character. There are probably not many people like Amélie in real life, but if
there were the world would be a better place.
Comments
Post a Comment