Amélie (Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 2001)

[Michael]

GASP! A thread devoted to Amelie on this forum! I thought we had a discussion on this film some years ago but I can't seem to locate it.

I haven't seen Amelie in a few years so I'm basing everything on my memories. I think it's nice to revaluate popular films from a short time ago to see how they hold up, to analyze the reason for their popularity and so forth. Amelie came out in such perfect timing, the year of 9/11 when we all got wounded in heart. Amelie comforted us, reminding us there is joy to be discovered in unnoticeable, tiny things - like oysters hiding inside roasted birds, ever since seeing the film, I find myself hunting for the oyster every time I carve a bird. Amelie is a perfect holiday film in that sense, and its luxuriously filtered through greens and reds, really amplifying the Christmas-like tone. The characters hiding away drinking coffee or port, catching old films, knitting electric-teal shawls, collecting discarded photos, baking plum tarts with cats at their feet... I couldn't help identifying with those folks and I perfectly understand them, why they are that way, why they are outcast (weirdos to some, esp my family).

Some folks are turned off/annoyed by the films' "self-concious quirkiness" as evidenced somewhere here. The cute Gallic charm and the message about happiness. But is that really a bad thing? A flaw? Amelie works best if taken as a mix of fairytale/fantasy and Kay Thompson's Eloise tales for the grownups and a bit Auntie Mame thrown in - a lovely little escape.

I'd imagine Amelie to be embraced more by younger members here, no?

[s.j. bagley]

i've always rather liked it.
to me, it seems like some of the best aspects of children's fiction, only aimed at adults, making it delightfully entertaining while still managing to be intelligent and beautiful.
(interestingly enough, the first time i saw it, upon it's first release in the states, i was in a much more cynical mindset and just didn't have the patience for it. thankfully, i was in a better place upon revisiting it.)

[Michael]

What brought me to Amelie this morning: I went to pick up morning buns at a bakery, the music from the film was in the air, snowing me with much brightness and warmth. I was smiling the whole time as I gathered the buns, the music painting Amelie's filmscape throughout my mind. It was totally unexpected and it was a very "Amelie" experience itself. I don't own the DVD or CD of the film and I haven't seen it in years but still that experience at the bakery, it gave me the sudden urge to express it, no one was around me so I came here, whereelse? That little thing made me happy, made my day.

[AWA]

This is by far one my favorite films of this decade and love everything about it, top to bottom. I'd venture to say it has had a pretty big influence on subsequent films, but I haven't seen enough to confirm that. Either way, despite it being great it seems like it is sometimes unfashionable to claim one's reverence and love for this film, kind of like a John Lennon fan saying they are also big admirers of all of Paul McCartney's works as well. Similar reactions with regards to fashionable interpretations of the art, but damn it all - who cares.

I recently watched some of it recently (my DVD unfortunately got scratched while out on loan) and was noting how Jeunet applies big production values to small, simple things. It is, in terms of production technique, a very big budget, complicated film but it's heart-warming paradox lies in the fact that still makes for a very small personal film that is based on dialogue and complicated characters. The cinematography is beautiful but equally on par with "art film" cinema and US blockbuster cinema in some of the shots - some shots - like the "chase" scenes - could be transplanted into US action popcorn films (and, of course, be one of the better ones) and some other shots could be in some hyper dramatic art-house chamber drama and be just as effective. There is equal capability of shooting a long shot master conversation with little to no camera movement as there is shooting a massively comlex tracking / crane / zoom / pan / rack-focus sort of thing.

Oh, and Audrey Tautou is insanely attractive. I often wonder how much I really do love this movie as I have been dating a woman for 2 years who looks *exactly* like her (especially the face). Of course, that relationship is based on far more than that but I must say it is strange sometimes looking up from the bed in the throws of passion to see Amelie's face smiling down from my film poster on my wall. Strange, but quite enjoyable I must add

I also wonder what Jeunet's next film is going to be like. A Very Long Engagement was nice, but it seemed slightly tainted by him trying to make Amelie Prt2 or Amelie Goes To War. Still a rewarding film though, but I haven't heard too much about the next one, due out next year. Supposed to be some comedy based in the "gun trade".

[Michael]

Oh I thought Jeunet was going to do Life of Pi. Guess that got dropped.

AWA, thanks for sharing your personal thoughts, it was a pleasure reading them.

I always suspect Amelie being a very popular foreign film among younger generations of film-enthusiasts (still in the top 40 on IMDB!). It was probably one of the first foreign films they saw in theaters, like Fanny and Alexander was for me back in the early 80s.

[domino harvey]

I always suspect Amelie being a very popular foreign film among younger generations of film-enthusiasts

Boy is it ever. It's up there with Fight Club and Donnie Darko on the Hipster Movie Scale-- though certainly it's the best of that lot.

[Jean-Luc Garbo]

I always suspect Amelie being a very popular foreign film among younger generations of film-enthusiasts

Boy is it ever. It's up there with Fight Club and Donnie Darko on the Hipster Movie Scale-- though certainly it's the best of that lot.

On the same note, there was an Amazon list (so take it as you will) that called this "the only foreign film seen by Generation X". At my college, the indie kids had this film (along with Eternal Sunshine) as "teh coolest movies ever". Nonetheless, Michael here has me curious as to how much it's really worth as a film. I've never seen it so I could get into the holiday spirit for this movie. I'd certainly take this film over Von Trier.

[domino harvey]

Let me tell you, there are few things more disheartening than having a conversation about movies with someone at a party and then they say the magic words, "I like foreign films." You lean in close, ready to hear what they're into, and then it turns out that just means Amelie. So, sort of a theoretical love of foreign films

[mfunk9786]

It's a shame though, that this film has to be judged for the company it keeps. Because it's really a sweet little picture that certainly wasn't made with the intention of becoming an American college cliche. Movies like Fight Club, well, they got what they deserved. But Amelie is a genuinely good film.

[MyNameCriterionForum]

[domino harvey]

It's a shame though, that this film has to be judged for the company it keeps. Because it's really a sweet little picture that certainly wasn't made with the intention of becoming an American college cliche.

Yeah, it's been a while since I've seen it, but I remember it being a slight but very cute, harmless little film. If only it opened more doors to international cinemas for more people than it apparently has

[Murdoch]

Wow, such hostility toward Fight Club, I've never particularly understood why it became so despised, I've always enjoyed it. I wasn't very impressed by Amelie, it was a cute romance and I think it was a good date movie that one can use to see if the person you go out with has at least a tolerance of foreign movies. But overall its quirkiness left a very sour taste in my mouth. It's not something I want to see again, Double Life of Veronique on the other hand...

[Antoine Doinel]

Yeah, I'll stand up for Fight Club as well. It's a very good film, despite the legions of AICN-type mouthbreathers who hail it the "greatest film every made". I don't think it's entirely fair to judge a film by the company it keeps. That said, I'm usually fair game for twee films, but Amelie never registered that strongly with me. I found the coyness of the character to be irritating to the point of distraction -- I could just never sit back and get swept up in the world of the film. However, I do see its appeal and I'm not surprised at how popular it became, and if anything, it introduced to me Audrey Tautou.

[hot_locket]

Someone lent me this film on DVD at a very traumatic and awakening time in my life. Early my senior year in high school I was having a hard time coping with depression (including the accompanying medications that I soon learned to stay the hell away from) and a new school with no friends. During the few months that I look back at as some of the darkest as strangest of my boring life I was just beginning to explore the depths of the literary world through books like Catch-22 and John C. Gardner's Grendel and the intensely-emotional musical world of The Beach Boys and Pet Sounds. Amélie was the very first film to have a profound effect on me and it was devastating. So much life and beauty I had never seen in a film before, and I have it to thank for turning me into the cinephile I am today.

[skuhn8]

It's a shame though, that this film has to be judged for the company it keeps. Because it's really a sweet little picture that certainly wasn't made with the intention of becoming an American college cliche. Movies like Fight Club, well, they got what they deserved. But Amelie is a genuinely good film.

I agree. Just watched it for the umpteenth time last month with my kids. Tightly paced, colorful, beautiful lead--a great little fantasy overall. It's funny how people are so quick to slam a film based on its fanbase...even though that's just as stupid as liking a film because everyone else does. I really don't care how many otherwise ignorant 'film fans' claim this as their foot in foreign film--it is what it is.

When did Fight Club make the shit list? I missed that memo. I know we're supposed to shit on Tarrantino (because we don't like the fanbase) but does this apply to all Fincher as well or just the fanboy favs? Poor Kristof made the list as well. Perhaps we should have a dedicated lists thread for those directors that we need to disapprove of because A) they made it big by their second film and didn't pay their dues B) they have a fanbase that threatens to trespass on hallowed cineaste territory.

[MyNameCriterionForum]

Oh no, I'm not knocking Double Life of Veronique -- I'm saying Amelie owes more than a bit to it, but most fans of Amelie would balk at DLOV's relative ambiguities and difficulties. I worked in an "art house" (I use the term veeeeeeery loosely) video store in a college town, and I can guarantee this as a fact. "You liked Amelie? Try this one..." -- that shit never worked. Amelie is the Forrest Gump of foreign films (heck, I like Gump more, myself). About 50% of amelie's fans are the type of young girls who are looking for the next Audrey Hepburn -- and boy do they think they found her with this film. Another 25% of the film's fans are middle-aged women. The remainder are just those curious about "subtitled films".

[domino harvey]

It's funny how people are so quick to slam a film based on its fanbase...even though that's just as stupid as liking a film because everyone else does. I really don't care how many otherwise ignorant 'film fans' claim this as their foot in foreign film--it is what it is.

When did Fight Club make the shit list? I missed that memo. I know we're supposed to shit on Tarrantino (because we don't like the fanbase) but does this apply to all Fincher as well or just the fanboy favs? Poor Kristof made the list as well. Perhaps we should have a dedicated lists thread for those directors that we need to disapprove of because A) they made it big by their second film and didn't pay their dues B) they have a fanbase that threatens to trespass on hallowed cineaste territory.

The problem is, based on your location at least, I don't think you've experienced the brunt of this fanbase or can conceptualize it in a way that accurately replicates its prominence. For social American posters here between the ages of probably sixteen and thirty, I would venture that somewhere in the vicinity of one out of every two people in the same age group you encounter at a social function will bring these films up as shining examples of film art (with little or no other knowledge of films older than they are) and thus the sheer magnitude of people who express these opinions does hold some weight on the ability to see the film without contextualizing it within its fanbase. Despite your absurd huff, I don't recall anyone in this thread saying these films are worse because people like them. We're just saying that for people exposed to their fanbase on such a large scale, it's very hard to not take that into consideration when discussing the films.

[Tom Hagen]

Let me tell you, there are few things more disheartening than having a conversation about movies with someone at a party and then they say the magic words, "I like foreign films." You lean in close, ready to hear what they're into, and then it turns out that just means Amelie. So, sort of a theoretical love of foreign films

I have this experience all of the time with Life is Beautiful.

[Highway 61]

Let me tell you, there are few things more disheartening than having a conversation about movies with someone at a party and then they say the magic words, "I like foreign films." You lean in close, ready to hear what they're into, and then it turns out that just means Amelie. So, sort of a theoretical love of foreign films

That is the worst. Close enough is a gathering of genuinely intelligent students of French and realizing that everyone of them is totally unaware of French film outside of Amelie. The film's death grip has even extended to French professors from fucking France. I took a class on French cinema taught by a visiting professor from Avignon, and Amelie was the extent of what he was prepared to talk about. It was pitiful.

Regarding the question at hand, I think it's fair enough to judge a film based on its popularity when said popularity ends up influencing subsequent films in adverse ways. It seems that audience favorites like Saving Private Ryan, Fight Club, Requiem for a Dream, and yes, Amelie, have all created an obnoxiously kinetic style that dominates American film. Personally, I feel like I've outgrown the initial appeal of the kinetic style, and I have no real desire to revisit it. Amelie may very well be a sincere film that deserves to be seen independently of its popularity, but today, my interests lie elsewhere.

[karmajuice]

I met a French girl who had never seen Amelie. I wonder if that's common.

I like Amelie a great deal and it's one of those films that's so easy and delightful to revisit that I find myself watching it pretty often. It always makes me feel good, and if that's what it's trying to do then I can't criticize the film too much. I certainly don't think it aspires to reach any lofty heights. It is what it is: a film about people trying to be happy, and it's nice to think it can work out sometimes.

Personally, I tend to associate the film with a friend of mine. I watched it for the first time with this friend. We sat on my couch and watched it on his laptop, I think. He was in the rather boyish and wonderful early moments of his first real relationship, and he and that moment in our lives and the film all seem inextricably tied together. It's maybe odd that I associate the film with him and his relationship, rather than something more directly related to me. But I could tell that the movie meant a lot to him, the way it reflected his own relationship and his feelings at the time, and probably the girl's as well (I believe she showed it to him). I say that even now that their relationship has ended; the two seem parallel to me, too.

As MyNameCF pointed out, the film owes a great deal to The Double Life of Veronique, yet it's hard for me to compare the two. DLOV affects me more deeply as a film, and triggers emotions and sensations that are seldom, if ever, triggered by anything else. It's an elusive and probing film, and among my favorites. Amelie's effects are much more overt, but the sheer likability of the film and the weight of memory count for quite a lot. And it has moments which stand apart.
Now, whether Irene Jacob or Audrey Tautou is more beautiful -- that's not even worth debating. I'd get nowhere.

I was talking to a friend online recently and the subject of Amelie came up. Either it was on while we were talking or she had just watched it again recently. I mentioned DLOV and its influence on the film and we agreed to watch it when we saw each other over Christmas. If that ends up happening, I'll let you know how it goes.

[heredity4me]

I've been looking at a backlog of Hipsters' weekly newsletter and cannot find anything but hatred for the movie Fight Club. I always thought is was more in line with Frat boys at their deepest. Amelie seems about the same but for sorority girls. Now Eternal Sunshine there's a movie that scores with the hipsters (Kaufman in general).

Amelie is ok though (Fight Club is not). I haven't seen it in ages. I guess these films, as annoying as they may be, can be nice gateways for the small fraction of people who end up delving deeper into foreign film.

Now as a hipster I'm going to return to my Animal Collective remixes of Joanna Newsom...

[kaujot]

I always felt that Fight Club had a great first 2/3rds. It's when Project Mayhem starts in that cracks around the story form. At least for me.

As for Amélie, I haven't seen it in ages, but I remember enjoying it quite a lot. A fun distraction. I don't recall if I preferred this or A Very Long Engagement in Jeunet's more recent films.

[skuhn8]

Seems that one of the major issues regarding Amelie is the "Foreign Film Conversation" that involves the vigorous waving of an Amelie flag. Possible antidote: recommend it's even more heartwarming prequel, Delicatessen--"Oh, you haven't seen that? If you liked Amelie you'll love this one. Same director, many of the same cast. Instead of a garden gnome and a cigar box of trinkets you have bed springs, a saw that sings and a can that moo's." That should either push them further into subtitled territory...or stop them from asking your opinion on matters cinema.

Dom, I'll brush past the 'absurd huff' comment and address your point from the post above that started off intelligently enough. I too have had my share of 'Amelie' and Almodovar conversations that left me chomping at the bit to push my interlocutor further into cinematic 'foreign' territory. During my dotcom tour of duty in the San Fran Bay Area from 2000-2004 I hosted a number of large house parties where my guests aged 30-40 would browse the DVD rack lost and befuddled until they found titles like Amelie or Fight Club. Heck, during an all-too-long stint teaching English in the Hungarian countryside I listened in on two of my colleagues discussing how films like Amelie and All About My Mother proved that American cinema was shit. I can certainly see how that kind of saturation can be annoying; but I guess my reaction is different. I think this also merges into another topic that has been raised: lovers of light film asking for advice/recommendations. Best just to terminate the conversation quickly and politely or throw Amadeus or The Right Stuff at them.

[Michael]

Almodovar had been making films for two decades before All About My Mother came. It was long enough for him to build his fanbase. His fans, mostly Latin and gay, have been very loyal to him through the years. Even if=f he makes a misstep like Kika, his fans still forgive him and continue to stand with him. He struck the perfect balance, the gold with All About My Mother and his fans started bringing new people, new generations to this film, expanding his fanbase a lot further. Plus that Oscar win helped tremendously. Its fame is very easy to understand. All that is so more than well deserved, IMO. He is the Fellini of our today.

I have this experience all of the time with Life is Beautiful.

I get that all the time too!

[aox]

The film's death grip has even extended to French professors from fucking France.

Perhaps given the stereotype that Americans are dumb and don't watch many french films, the professor tailored the class?