AMELIE  4.0***

     Not a lot of movies create their own special universe. These movies are so distinct and original that they fashion their own special place in the universe, untouched by anything else. You can add “Amelie” to that list. Here is a film so original, so funny, and so warm that it left me with a long lasting “feel good” glow.  

This 2001 French film tells the story of a young French woman Amélie (Audrey Tautou.) She is in her early twenties, works as a waitress at a small cafe in Paris,  and had a gloomy, lonely childhood.  Her life changes one day, in a unique moment of contrasting  tragedy and happiness, when she hears the news that Princess Di has died which causes her to accidently drop a  bottle cap that dislodges a wall panel in her flat where she discovers hidden therein an old box of a child’s treasures left by a dweller from the 1950s. She decides to anonymously return it to the owner. She  seeks out the man and when she witnesses his happiness in the treasures being returned, she decides that one of her missions in life will be to anonymously help people who are her acquaintances by using her fantasy and unique tricks. For instance she tricks her father into fantasizing about traveling abroad by having friends take pictures from all over the world of his favorite garden gnome; and she befriends her neighbor, a lonely outcast/recluse who paints the same masterpiece picture year after year. She also  plays delightful pranks on a mean-spirited man who badly mistreats his employee.   Amélie goes about her escapades of kindness with great success. One particularly wonderful scene shows Amélie helping a blind man cross the street while colorfully describing  what's happening around him to give him a picture of the world he doesn't get to see.   

As she continues enriching the lives of people around her, Amélie becomes challenged with the fact that if she only helps others anonymously, she may end up living her life alone and without the happiness she brings to others. Amélie's conflict is what rounds out the picture and makes it complete. The movie, though a comedy, takes Amélie's inner struggle seriously, but never too heavily. Brilliantly hilarious, "Amélie" has a wonderfully touching and funny script and is brought to life in a visual splendor by director Jean-Pierre Jeunet,   AND, most importantly,it has at its center the lovely enchanting Audrey Tatou as Amelie, giving one of the warmest, most sincere and funniest performances that you'll ever see . She, and the others in the film, are wonderful to watch - the camerawork is superb and most scenes are shot with a slightly golden filter that heightens the fairytale atmosphere. And because it's in French( with SUBTITLES), with French being one of the most lyrical of languages,  together with the excellent music, it's a pleasure to listen to as well.

The World needs a lot of Amelies so we can better appreciate the World’s endless beauty rather than just its materiality !!!

Clark

PS: I urge you to see  this movie…you’ll find it on DVD and through most movie outlets such as Netflix, Red Box, and TV movie sites. I promise you’ll feel good and feel better after seeing it.

It is rated “R” but should not have been… this is more a PG13.