Amélie

This film quite successfully teeters on the edge of great kitsch and utter perfection. On the one hand, you have to admire Jeunet's original and heartfelt narration; on the other, at times it makes you wonder why the whole thing is so strangely (in short, weirdly) filmed and nothing proper happens. The casting of Audrey Tautou was a hit, without her Amélie wouldn't be half as atypical and likeable a character, and the film wouldn't be one that can move, make you laugh and feel amazed; and it only needs a few thoughtful shots to do so. (05/25/2012)

Amélie is an autobiographical film by Jenuet in which an overgrown child directs the lives of others to manipulate them into certain positions. In doing so, she proves that no one's destiny is predefined, and more than once she defends a lie over an ugly truth (see, for example, the fictional letters from her landlady redeeming her crooked husband in her eyes). An existentialist romance and defense of a life led in a constant compilation of sidequests without a main motive that leads only to unhappiness and disappointment. After all, the proof can be found in the work itself, with its setting in the same Paris in which, for example, Hate was set six years prior. Jenuet himself admits that with each set change, the crew faced an hour-long martyrdom of cleaning up trash, cleaning off graffiti, and I suspect a little old man who would also have preferred to paint the black extras white. The reason is that the Paris we see is the Paris the protagonist herself has invented in her escapist naive imagination. And the fact that there is no such Paris, never has been, and never will be, is our problem alone, because we don't see it that way, even though we have the same means that she does. ______ Even if any of the above doesn't resonate, it's hard not to succumb to something so incredibly well and unmistakably filmed. Name any formal method and the film will use it at least once. There are all types of shots, several types of narration, and now that I've finally seen the Blu Ray, I also enjoyed the incredible sound design. The changes in the background sounds when the landlady reads the fake letter pieced together from other letters, the apocalyptic noise of the trees that sounds around Amélie's widowed father. There’s that clichéd phrase "This movie’s got it all" – but. this. movie. really. does. have. it. all. You could edit a trailer for virtually any film genre out of all the footage. That's also why the final recognition of Amélie and Nino works, because after all the audiovisual escapism, suddenly everything shuts down and they're left with a slow, silent scene with no music and no words, just the two of them. I'm trying unsuccessfully to rein it in, but I really haven't seen anything this well shot in a long time. It's a romantic comedy about overgrown kids in a giant sandbox, where the director mixes that infantile enthusiasm with an empathetic and thoughtful nature that manages to make each character out of conscious soulfulness. EDIT 2022: Set in a dream variation of reality, where a romantic story can unfold against a backdrop of stagnating history, Amélie (heroine of The End of History) is actually the spiritual successor to The Woman Behind the Counter (the heroine of normalization). (08/10/2020)

The rumors and thousands of rave reviews didn't lie: Amelie is amazing. This endearingly poetic film has a kind of irresistible charm, thanks to which it combines several genres, looks both kitschy and original at the same time, the actors playing bizarre characters suddenly become ordinary people living ordinary lives in an ordinary Parisian neighborhood... In short, it is an extraordinarily ordinary film, bursting with color and optimism, and with great music. (10/21/2011)

What I like most about Amélie and this film about her is that she notices the little things. She lives in her own happy and colorful world. Amélie is definitely different from the other girls... but sometimes I wondered if the effort to be different was too much. Audrey Tautou was definitely the best choice. I don't know many actresses who look that interesting yet fresh. I rarely give a French film 4 or 5 stars, and unfortunately I won't do so now. Still, something nice stayed with me. (08/03/2011)

Amelie can be considered the commercial and artistic pinnacle of Jean-Pierre Jeunet's work. The film was enjoyed by practically everyone except for French critics, who criticized the excessive idealization of present-day Paris in the film. Jeunet himself admitted that Montmartre, as he filmed it, doesn't actually exist anymore, but in his movie, it's not about realism but about poetic exaggeration, playfulness, and imagination. It's a very positive spectacle, an unconventional romance, full of clever scenes, funny situations, and the charm of Audrey Tautou, who built a decent career on the back of this comedy. Overall impression: 95%. (04/24/2009)