|
| Foocha! is a non-profit Web site. We do it for kicks, not for cash. If you're interested in writing for the site, click here |
|
 |
| Amelie,
Jean-Pierre Jeunet |
|
 |
|
| Movies,
Richard Young,
31 October 2001 |
Rating: F5
|
|
| |
| |
|
Feeling blue? Portable raincloud overhead? Need a sunny pick-me-up as the nights begin to draw in? There is a perfect cinematic medication to what ails thee. Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain or “Amelie” as the English release has it, is a sweet and stylish rom-com by the talented French director, Jean Pierre Jeunet. Following the life, literally from conception, of sweet-natured, bob-haired Amelie, played by the talented Audrey Tatou, this is a sugar coated, soft centred flick, albeit one which thankfully avoids typical Hollywood sentimentality.
Amelie is the story of girl who never grew up, who does her very best to help those she likes, but is very capable of causing mischief should the situation demand it. Working as a waitress in Paris, she is less well equipped when it comes to finding love herself, and the whole courting process becomes an elaborate game. More than just a typical narrative on finding love, Amelie is full of deft comedy touches that rely on the magnification of the irrelevant. The benevolent voice over tells us that Amelie enjoys immersing her hand in sacks of grain and skipping stones across water. Her mother, before her bizarre demise (don’t ask), used to like rearranging the contents of her handbag, but dislikes it when her skin goes wrinkly in the bath. It’s the tiny details of people’s habits and interests that gives the film a sense of childlike naivety and charm which is personified in it’s central character.
The audience is treated to the surreal manifestations of Amelie’s imagination taking shape around her, from her childhood fantasy about caring for sick monsters to a glowing X-ray of her pounding heart when she first sees her equally eccentric soul-mate Nino, played by Mathieu Kassovitz. Nino’s collection of torn up photographs that he finds discarded at the various instant photo booths around Paris become the link between his and Amelie’s inevitable meeting, casting another sideways look at people and their habits in the process.
Amelie is a difficult film to criticise because it is so refreshing. I did find myself feeling quite sorry for whoever had to provide the subtitles because much of the dialogue and editing is fairly rapid, making it easier to miss the comic subtleties, but that is my fault for not being able to speak French. There are few surprises in the film, but plenty of pleasant discoveries, and considering that the last film to be directed by Jeunet was the appalling Alien Resurrection, this is a true return to form from the man who brought us Delicatessen and City of the Lost Children. Only the most cynical of hearts would fail to be charmed by Tatou’s big brown-eyed Belle du Jour and the world she inhabits, so go on – treat yourself.
UK rating:
15
US rating:
R
Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Starring Audrey Tatou, Mathieu Kassovitz & Dominique Pinon
Top Home |
|
|
|
|
