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Amelie (2001)
A Review by Jeff Johnson
Life rarely behaves like "the movies." It's often fickle, clever and lacks a clean three-act structure. It's the rare film that mirrors the troubles and triumphs of existence. The rare film that revels in the simple inexplicable; the hidden moments that act as an engulfing patchwork.
Amelie is such a film.
In a powerful use of cinematic storytelling, Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet (his cast & crew) has created a film that dares to celebrate the exquisite elegance of destiny. Yet, not some free carnival ride destiny that one jumps on and rides out glibly. No, Amelie presents a three-dimensional destiny that arrives unexpectedly, acts surprisingly and waits only a sliver for you to grab hold and ride; always with a degree of risk.
Audrey Tautou is exuberant as Amelie, a sort of 21st Century "It" girl:
"She's a ripping sort really, she's absolutely heavy with "it".
- It (1927)
Tautou fills the screen with eyes, sweetness and a healthy dose of genuine mischievousness. She breathes life into the screen and infuses the story with personality and charm. She creates a character that one could easily fall in love with, were "the movies" only real life.
A shy dreamer, Amelie sets about affecting others through anonymous acts of kindness. And, while acting on her new found self-appointed destiny, exerts her presence in a world accustomed to overlooking the shy and the little, little things. However, her selflessness soon reveals itself as a selfish desire to hide and refuse to face the perils of personal change. This is soon altered though thanks to fate and some well placed advice that leads Amelie to open her eyes and seize a fleeting instant.
Her friends, family and those at the bar where Amelie works are interesting and entertaining characters, played to perfection by the supporting cast, that make the viewer want to stay with them long after the film has finished.
Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Delicatessen, Alien Resurrection & City of Lost Children) has a well deserved reputation for originality and visual brilliance. With Amelie he continues form by swirling an unobtrusive use of the camera and shards of the conventions of cinema to tell the story. The screen pops with imaginative eye-tickling surprises and offers a portrait of Paris' Montmartre district in all of it's widescreen twisted street beauty.
Acting as a sugary liquid thread, the music of Yann Tiersen accentuates, elevates and taps the emotions of the motions and the movements of the moments inside the life presented in Amelie. In a terrific fusion, Tiersen's music clearly represents the character of Amelie, deftly playing off her child-like whimsy, her sharp fiery motivation as well as her love-struck grief.
It is often said that one should appreciate the little things in life. Yet, the film Amelie declares, in the breezy melody that is French, that in fact life itself is only a collection of little things; seconds to go right or left, glances to return or rebuff, hands to hold, happy minutes vs. the sad, destiny's to claim or pass. The ripples we create with the blink of an eye that wash up at the top of each others feet.
I must say that I can't help but wish that life were like "the movies"; I'd be better looking, witty, have faults that were fixable in two hours and would fall into bed with a raven haired beauty in the time it took to write this review. Ridiculous? Yes. Yet, I must admit that a tiny fragment of the joy, wonderment, curiousity and heart contained in the film Amelie did leak out of the screen, snuck into my pocket and came home with me. A tiny, tiny fragment that continues to celebrate the little, little things in a very real, real life.
Copyright © 2002 Nuvein Magazine.
