Amelie review

Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain (2001), directed by the auteur influenced Jean-Pierre Jeunet who has made a huge impact to French influenced films such as Delicatessen & City of Lost Children. Jeunet illustrates the setting of Amelie in Montmartre, Paris where he grew up. Montmartre was home to some of the greatest artists such as Pablo Picasso & Vincent Van Gogh. Amelie is physically no longer a child but the attitude she displays resembles how she doesn’t want to step into the adult world and her mentality is still set on childhood. Jeunet was an animator before a director so the sense of innocence and happiness occurs more than the usual film. The fact that there are varied pace in the film, there are childish filters of colours to influence happiness and that there are parts where we hear Amelie’s thoughts immediately creates the Cinema Du Look style of things and how Jeunet is unique in comparison to many other directors. Amelie is an idealised version of reality; even the music suggests to the viewer it will lack the gritty nature of life. Amelie includes important characters which come across as “outsiders” such as Dufayel, Collignon, Madeleine, Nino, Gina, Suzanne, Georgette, Joseph, Hopolito, Philomene & Lucien. Every character has a sense of happiness and childhood in them. For instance Dufayel exemplifies his happiness when Amelie spots the girl in his paintings and Amelie uses the girl as a metaphor for her own happiness. Nino is the main source of Amelie’s happiness, even with doing the good deeds she still has moments of sadness when she begins to daydream. Once they are together the audience assumes that Amelie will live in the present rather than the past or future. Amelie prefers mediated communication because she uses videotapes to capture important moments for Dufayel, she uses directions and clues as to where she is hiding Nino’s bag in Montmartre, and when she conceals her identity from Nino with the similarity of Zorro’s uniform (including the mask, cloak and hat). Simplicity is clearly demonstrated through the repetition of routines for example Amelie visits her father Rafael Poulain every weekend. Amelie starts off her journey on the worst foot when her mother Amandine Poulain commits suicide and her father Raphael refuses to go on holiday, but then she meets Nino and everything turns into a fairytale. In comparison to fairy tales, Amelie resembles Olive Oyle in the Abbesses from Alice in the Wonderland.

Amelie / Alterism

1. Amelie found a chest underneath her sink and looked through it which consisted of old toys and pictures which belonged to a man named Bretodeau. Amelie eventually delivers this chest after going through a journey of finding who he was, even spelling his name wrong at the beginning.
2. Once Amelie figures out she did a good deed, she then helps a blind man get to the train station
3. Amelie creates a series of videos involving events in the world and then gives it to Dufayel (the glass man) so he realises what's in the outside worl as he's never been outside his house and uses a telescope on the town's clock to know the time.
4. Nino dropped his book of pictures whilst chasing the mechanic and Amelie picks it up and delivers it to Nino in a mysterious way.

Amelie/Innocence & Simplicity

Amelie/happiness

Amelie as Cinema Du look

Amelie/outsiders

Amelie Characters

Amelie Poulain
The main character who found a box in her house and was determined to give it back to its original owner. After that she began to do good deeds.

Nino
He collects photographs that have dropped underneath their booths to soon create a sort of collage. Further in the story Amelie and Nino fall in love

Amandine (Amelie’s Mother)
Amelie's mother who died when she was young

Raphael (Amelie’s Father)
Raphael never touched Amelie as a child and creates a small memorial for Amandine in their garden. Amelie and Raphael are still close.

Suzanne (Café Owner)
The café owner which is also Amelie's manager since Amelie works in the café.

Georgette (Tobacconist)
She works in the tobacco shop in the cafe and she begins to have a crush on Joseph. She also has huge eyes which makes the audience indulge in her every movement.

Gina (Waitress)
Gina works in the café alongside Amelie, and she has a stalker who always visits the café. His name is Joseph.

Hipolito (Writer)
He is a writer whose books have been rejected hundreds of times and Amelie helps him out by graffiti'ing his quotes from his books which motivate people who read it and walk by.

Joseph (Regular at Café)
Joseph is a character who always stalks on Gina in the café

Philomene (Stewardess)

Raymond Dufayel (Glass Man)
Dufayel, known as the Glass Man has never left his flat and stays in there continuously drawing one specific painting in his flat, and also uses a telescope to view outside to know the time. Amelie soon visits him to find  out where Bretodeau is.

Madeleine Wallace (Concierge)
Madeleine Wallace introduces herself to Amelie in a mental manner as she offers Amelie instantly with a strong drink. She reminisces about her love life in the past and how it failed. She also has her old stuffed dog present at all times which comes across as quite freaky and weird to Amelie.

Collignon (Grocer)
Collignon is met at the start of the film where Amelie goes to him to try and find where Bretodeau lives. He directs her to his parents which know a lot about the tennants in the block of flats.

Lucien (Grocer’s Assistant)
Lucien gets pushed over all the time by Collignon. He seems quite embarrassed when he's shown up as Amelie approaches them both and asks about Bretodeau.

Bretodeau (Boy with the treasure)
This is the man that Amelie gave the mysterious box to. She went through different travels trying to find this one person and eventually does find him and gives the memory box to him through a phone booth.