Amelie
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Movie Reviews of Amelie
Movie Review: Amelie is a character who will definitely inspire you!!
Summary: 5 Stars
I know she is just a fictional character, but I have to say that I absolutely fell in love with the person of Amelie, yet not necessarily in the romantic sense. One cannot help, at the very least, finding someone like Amelie very likable. The expressions she gets on her face alone would make even the hardest of hearts melt. I have always found it a great joy in my own life to come across someone who truly inspires you and makes you feel rejuvenated like the elderly men of the film "Cocoon" after they went swimming in the aliens' "Fountain of Youth". Amelie is such a person. When you feel old and ancient, she can make you feel young and refreshed and ready to take on the world.
I particularly enjoyed how well this film dealt with her awakening to the fact that the greatest joy can be found in helping others and reaching out in order to touch people's lives in such a positive way. Perhaps my favorite scene of all is when she takes the lonely blind man by the hand and guides him down the street, explaining everything that is going amid the French hussle and bussle of town. Just that one act alone was enough to make that poor man's day and it is probably something that he would cherish for the rest of his life.
Also, after viewing this film, it made me think of a certain personal development guru by the name of Bill Reidler I heard on a cassette not to long ago and how he talked about focusing on "Interest Out"--where you make it your entire goal in life to focus your interest outward towards others and not focusing so much on yourself. I think that Mr. Reidler would really enjoy "Amelie", in that it demonstrates "Interest Out" to the max.
In conclusion I have to say that, if I was a father, I would be very proud to have a daughter like Amelie. One who visits me every weekend (even if I were a little nutty like her father in the film and tinkering with a giant garden gnome) and shows me genuine respect--just as I would show her, and not just shoving me into a retirement home when I got old. I would also be proud of the fact that she spent her life doing the best to rectify the lives of others which would give me bragging rights that I think would be quite justified.
"Amelie" is much more than a cute, romantic comedy. It is a film that offers valuable life lessons, that, unfortunatly, are not often respected in today's selfish society.
Movie Review: A fabulous movie of destiny!
Summary: 5 Stars
Let me make something perfectly clear right from the start. Amelie is not a comedy. Amelie is not a romance movie. Amelie is nothing less than a work of fine art! Amelie is certainly not a romantic comedy and if you set out to judge it by these standards you are apt to be disappointed. Also bear in mind that like a classical symphony, it must be experienced several times before this wonderful movie can be fully appreciated. I first heard the word, "Amelie" on a pay-per-view ad, the first thing I thought of was a brand of motor oil from the fifties. (Maybe spelled Amalie?), "Well", I thought, "any girl named after a brand of engine oil is worth checking out". Then when I saw the teaser on TV I thought; "Any movie that features a black-haired, doe-eyed pixie and an animated pig-lamp must be worth seeing".
I expected a light entertainment, a bit-o-fluff romantic comedy, and thats exactly what I saw. But deep in my soul I began to sense something else. So I watched it again and a whole new world began to reveal itself. then somewhere around the fifth viewing it hit me; This is cinematic magic! A symphonic dream of light, sound and love brought to life for all to see. Yes, it took five viewings before it got through my hard shell of cynicism. I am so glad it did!
Amelie lives in a beautiful fantasy world where streets are clean and uncongested. A world where waitresses and store clerks find happiness and love. Where bad guys get there comeuppance and not a single drop of blood is spilled. For anyone who grew up lonely, got picked on but never picked for the team, those who would never be a cheerleader or have a chance to date one, this movie tells your story. The entire film is populated with also-rans. Lame bartenders, failed writers, hypochondriacs. People like we meet everyday in the grim, soul crushing, ultraviolet stained world of reality. But these lucky souls live in a beautiful, green and orange colored world where hope still lives and dreams still come true.
After a long, hard, day at work, when I've dodged all the angry and bitter people on the freeway and performed all the daily chores that let me keep resident on earth for yet another day, then its time. I take off my shoes, relax and enter Amelie's little world. Soon I feel the anger and depression slip away and for a while, life is worth living again.
Maybe this movie should be prescribed as therapy.
Movie Review: Ooh La La!
Summary: 5 Stars
As far as foreign films go, I don't have a lot of viewing hours devoted; most of my viewing pleasure has been with American Hollywood. Amelie may change that for me!
After Run Lola Run, a German film with non-stop action and tons of allegory, I wanted a film that would fit the same bill and Amelie was clearly that: fun acting, interesting allegory, some very strange scenes and several themes.
The film throws a few curves, gives information that has nothing to do with the film's plot but apparently was thrown in for fun. The fact that a bluebottle fly buzzes by a table where, unnoticed, two glasses of wine are dancing on a table cloth is interesting curiosa but the narrator makes it sound so important.
Grown up with a worrisome, unaffectionate father and a very strange mother, (who oddly gets killed by someone jumping off a church tower! - Happens every day, right?) Amelie is a shy person who does not know how to deal with people in general. But she's very clever.
After finding a hidden box of boy's stuff, filled with jacks, photos and all, she manages to find the person whose box it belonged to from some 40 years before. After much adventure, she manages to find him and creates creative ways to get it to him without knowledge of benefactor.
She succeeds! After this, it's her goal to make life happier for others. With the help of a recluse painter, she comes to realize that her life would be better if, rather than being a do-gooder, that she really should help herself too.
The film is quite imaginative. She fails at meeting the person she loves, turns to water and SPLASH! She does not really become water of course - it was metaphor. These kinds of scenes are peppered throughout the film.
Amelie is billed as a romantic comedy. It's comedic for sure, but it is more a story of her confrontation with life, her realization that she's creating her own barriers to happiness and the adventure of overcoming these. The wild actions she engages in to avoid contact with her crush are just hilarious.
Audrey Tautou is perfect as the shy girl with big eyes and clever lines.
Highly recommended, although the film is a bit too long and has enough sex and nudity to keep it in the R rated category.
Movie Review: A superb comedic fantasy
Summary: 5 Stars
Last year the selection committee at the Cannes Film Festival in France proclaimed that Amelie was not `serious enough' to be included in the event. This slight didn't harm the movie's performance. It became one of France's biggest hits ever and went on to become the highest grossing French film ever released in America. Amelie is pure fantasy. It takes place in that fabulous Paris that exists only in the movies - the Paris of Moulin Rouge, An American in Paris and Gigi. Movies as fantasy can be tricky, though. When poorly conceived, we roll our eyes and sigh, "Only in the movies!" But when done well, as in Amelie, we smile, feel good inside, and exclaim, "Only in the movies!"
Amelie [Audrey Tautou] is 23 years old. She had a miserable childhood. After her mother died accidentally. her father mistakenly decided Amelie had a heart condition and treated her accordingly. She watched him become lonely and sad. Now, she works in a Paris cafe, surrounded by co-workers and customers as daffy and eccentric as she is. One day she finds a cigar box with a child's toys in it. It's been hidden away in her apartment for years. She decides to find its owner, and the happiness this act brings to a stranger causes her to make a hobby out of helping people. Sometimes, if a person deserves it, she plays tricks on them, but this is just part of her plan to help them. Her biggest challenge is to trick her father into coming out of his isolation. She also falls in love with a young man who hardly knows she exists. How she gets him is as strange and delightful as the ways in which she carries out her good works.
Tautou is wondrous as Amelie. Her big eyes, amazing hairdo, somewhat gawky manner, and quirky, knowing smile combine to make her character unique and charming.
The movie is photographed in wonderfully rich, warm tones that make Amelie's world most inviting.
Some critics seemed irritated by the movie, claiming that it manipulated their feelings. I didn't see it that way. We find out at the beginning that Amelie is a lonely child who finds happiness in a fantasy world. So, it's logical that she would see the good things in life as fantastical. Her actions always fit her odd view of reality.
The biggest drawback for some viewers is that the movie is in French. Imagine that! A French movie in French!
Movie Review: A colorful look inside a beautiful world
Summary: 5 Stars
From the very beginning, Amélie shows itself to be different from the predictable, irritatingly obvious American movies that I have grown to abhor over the past years. Its opening sequence, the retelling of the salient points of Amélie's childhood (according to her delightfully skewed view), draws the viewer into her sweet little world with its clever script and beautiful cinematography. We learn all about her parent's small quirks; her father, for instance, hates the feeling of wet swimming shorts sticking to his legs but thoroughly enjoys polishing his shoes to a deep shine, while her mother detests the wrinkled hands that come from bathing too long while finding great pleasure in empting out and reorganizing her purse. Amelie lives in a world where everyone can be categorized by such small but vitally important facts, and every little deed has its own reward. Amélie spends her days in two activities, for she is both a waitress and a doer of good deeds. A decided introvert, the heroine delights in interesting ways of relating and interacting with the world which might not occur to the more literal minded. Much of the film is spend detailing the whimsical ways she discovers and carries out the most fantastical wishes of those unrecognized worthies that live around her. And in the midst of her small philanthropic acts, Améile thinks about about the mysterious man whose photo album she acquires when it falls right off his pannier, and plans how she might get in contact with him. The end, of course, is no surprise to anyone except Amélie; though expected, it lacks not one bit of charm, and the seducer becomes the seduced in a beautiful turn of roles.
The Paris shown is not a gritty city but rather the City of Lights as the dreamers might see it, and the enhancement of reality is perfect for the new view of the world it gives. We might see the world through Amelie's eyes, and thank goodness for it: I never knew the world could look this bright, nor the colors so sharp and dazzling. The little integration of computer animation that does occur is both unexpected and seamless, delighting in its whimsical nature. This movie is a treasure from all perspectives, and I look forward to seeing both past and future efforts from director Jean-Pierre Jeunet.