BY BLUE KAUFMAN
Romantic comedies seldom make it on to anyone’s favorite lists, as they are often held back by their own specific expectations. However, Amélie might be the exception to this rule. Breathing life into a usually predictable genre, Amélie conveys romance in a way that you typically wouldn’t see in a movie. It is a film about a quest for happiness, the small things, about the hopes and dreams carefully folded beneath the surface of reality desperately longing for a way out.
Released in 2001, Amélie follows the story of a girl named Amélie (Audrey Tautou) whose childhood was suppressed by her Father’s mistaken concerns of a heart defect. As a result, Amélie is home schooled and lonely; she uses her exceptional imagination as her escape. In her mid 20’s she sees the world from a different perspective and decides to devote her life to helping the people around her. In the midst of her wild adventures, she finds romance in the form of her long lost love, Nino (Mathieu Kassovitz).
The story is standard, and had it been plainly presented, it easily could have become another mass- produced romance film. However, Amélie is hardly conventional and the film takes clear steps to ensure this. Using a narrative technique that mildly resembles a storybook, director Jean-Pierre Jeunet uses his sharp screenplay to connect with the audience on a more personal level. During Amélie’s childhood, we learn about the pleasure Amélie gets from cracking the sugar on a crème brule. She also loves sticking her hand into barrels of grain and despises the pruny fingers you get after taking a bath. It is these little tidbits, these peculiar behind-the-scene glimpses into the makeup of our main character that set Amélie apart.
Magical. That is the type of world in which Amelie lives in. It’s a world where lamps come to life and statues wink back at you. It’s a world of where your imagination is allowed to soar and the possibilities twist and turn without any definite direction. Granted, while Amélie’s eccentric (and sometimes over the top) personality takes some getting used to, as a whole, the film is pieced together impressively.
However,even if you don’t appreciate the quirks and dialogue Amélie has to offer, it’s impossible to deny the level of craftsmanship put into the cinematography. Effortlessly Jeunet splashes vibrant watercolors across his canvas, mixing them together to distinguish different aspects and stages of Amélie’s life. While watching, I had this strange yet wonderful sensation of being trapped within the mind of Amélie herself, seeing everything in the brilliant hues in which she viewed life with. The exaggerated colors and use of subtle sepia also reminded me of Across the Universe, a film which was released in 2007. Perhaps Amélie was a source of inspiration.
Despite the film’s theme, “life is fleeting,” I see this films success ongoing, providing moviegoers with a unique outlet of cinema for years to come. As other films wither away into oblivion, Amélie reigns supreme, triumphantly grinning, as though the winds of time are unable to weather away at its whimsical charm and feel-good atmosphere.
