Original Title
Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain
Genre
Director
Country
Cast
Audrey Tautou, Mathieu Kassovitz, André Dussollier, Rufus, Serge Merlin, Lorella Cravotta, Clotilde Mollet, Claire Maurier, Isabelle Nanty, Dominique Pinon, Artus de Penguern, Yolande Moreau, Urban Urbain Cancelier, Jamel Debbouze, Maurice Bénichou, Michel Robin, Andrée Damant, Claude Perron, Armelle, Ticky Holgado, Franck-Olivier Bonnet, Alain Floret, Jean-Pol Brissart, Frédéric Mitterrand, Flora Guiet, Amaury Babault, Kevin Fernandes
Storyline
Amélie (Audrey Tautou) is a shy waitress in a Montmartre café. After returning a long-lost childhood treasure to a former occupant of her apartment, and seeing the effect it has on him, she decides to set out on a mission to make others happy and in the meantime pursues a quirky guy (Mathieu Kassovitz) who collects discarded photo booth pictures.
Opinion
For the past few years I've been suggested this title so many times, I don't really know why it took me so long to watch it.
Told like a fairy tale, Amélie is an amusing, charming, colorful, entertaining, funny, unique and heartwarming piece of art that only the French could have made, that shows the daily life of ordinary people, anxieties, fears and obstacles they eventually face in life.
The wonderful, witty screenplay by Guillaume Laurant and Jean-Pierre Jeunet has been brought to life in a visual splendor by Jeunet, with a riot of essential colours - among which prevail green, red and yellow -, and a stunning cinematography by Bruno Delbonnel. The way it manages to capture human emotions, and how dreams are simulated by the movements of objects or talking photographs is stunning.
The characters are memorable, starting from the father, which has as best friend a garden gnome, passing through the grocer, and his clumsy, yet gentle assistant, to Nino, the stranger who collects ripped pictures and will change Amélie's life, and I could go on endlessly talking about Amélie's colleagues, the creepy guy at the Café, the Glass Man, and so on.
The wonderful group of characters, and the unique, and instantly likeable love story will definitely stick with you.
The film has also some wonderful memorable scenes. Just think about when Amélie helps the blind man across the street and she rapidly describes him what's happening, so he can see again. Or the fish's suicide attempt. Also, the musical score by Yann Tiersen is beautiful.
The acting is marvelous. Audrey Tautou brilliantly plays Amélie with innocence, and smartness, delivering an absolutely stunning performance. She identifies herself with the character so much that they actually seem the same person, and her smile is impossible to forget. Matthieu Kassovitz is absolutely fantastic as Nico. Every one else delivers a great performance as well.
If you have a heart, you should definitely watch this. If you don't, I don't know what you are, but I'm sure you're not a vegetable, because even artichokes have hearts.
Quotes
Hipolito: Without you, today's emotions would be the scurf of yesterday's.
Hipolito: We pass the time of day to forget how time passes.
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