Amelie

Production
}Full Title – ‘Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain ‘
}Director  -  Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Delicatessen, City of Lost Children)
}Released 2001
}Starring: Audrey Tautou (Amelie) and Mathieu Kassovitz  (Nino)

Setting
}Set in Montmarte, Paris (an area famed for artists [Picasso, Monet, Dali, Van Gogh] nightclubs [Moulin Rouge] and the Basillica of the Sacre Coeur
}Based around a fictional Café: The Two Windmills


Characters
}Amelie
}Nino
}Raphael Poulain (Amelie’s Dad)
}Amandine Poulain
}Raymond Dufayel (Glass Man)
}Lucien  (Grocer’s Assistant
}Georgette (Hypochondriac)
}Joseph (Obsessive Man)
}Madeleine Wallace  (Lady with Letters)
}Collignon (Grocer)
}Bretodeau (Boy with the treasure)


OSCARS Award Nominations
}Best Art Direction
}Best Cinematography
}Best Foreign Language Film, France
}Best Original Screenplay
}Best Sound


Style
Cinéma du look was a French film movement. It referred to films that had a slick visual style and a focus on young, alienated character.
Jeunet’s background was in animation and this can be seen in the fantasy style colours and visual style that is used.
There is a bitter-sweet tone to the film. The black humour makes even the sad moments comical.


Themes
}Innocence / Simplicity
}Childhood
}Happiness
}Outsiders


Innocence and simplicity
}Throughout the film we discover the simple things in life that the characters take pleasure in.
}The film is an idealised version of reality – its how we’d like things to be – Clean, Grafitti free, relaxed etc
}Even the music suggest the film will lack the gritty nature of life.


Happiness
}Both the audience and characters all get to experience Amelie’s brand of Happiness.
}In the end, It is the Glass man who returns the favour to Amilie.
}Amelie herself has several ‘daydream’ sequences where she imagines where her life is taking her. These provide reality checks to steer her on the right path.


Childhood.
}The entire opening sequences give an insight into Amelie’s childhood and suggests it is the reason why Amelie has grown up to be the person she is.
}Nino’s childhood was the antithesis of Amelie’s
}The simple pleasures of adulthood minor the simple pleasures of childhood.


Outsiders
}The characters could all be considered ‘outsiders’
}Their flaws and quirks place them outside the normal world.
}Regardless, the film reminds us to make the most of life “To a kid time drags, all of a sudden you are fifty”