Review of Amélie (2001) by Jayakrishnan R — 19 Dec 2014

Considered one of the most critically acclaimed pieces of world cinema ever made, Amelie sounded like another exciting look into the artistic mind of Jean-Pierre Jeunet.

Amelie is a gleefully eccentric film with a wonderful sense of spirit to it. The story may be somewhat inconsistent due to the fantasy elements within it, but the positive intentions of it are unmissable. It is a very eccentric tale with a lot of energy and a lot of story to tell. In that sense, it may be packed with a few too many characters and plot dynamics that detract somewhat from the main premise. Then again, the style of Jean-Pierre Jeunet's filmmaking tends to be in the form of many plot dynamics in the context of an odd society. The only difference is that Amelie takes place in a more conventional context, being set simply in France in the time of Princess Diana's death with that being minimal in relevance to the overall story. From there, a story unfolds which turns into a journey about a woman searching for love and seeking to find the happiness in others. Although the lack of story context and limited focus on the universe may not be as explored as it could have been due to the style-over-substance approach of Jean Pierre-Jeunet, he still makes the perfect director for the film.

Amelie easily benefits from Jean-Pierre Jeunet's iconic sense of dark humour. He is able to find dark tragicomedy in the story and then take advantage of it without deviating from the lighthearted nature of the film as a whole. There are elements of strange humour in the story which ensure that the lighthearted mood of the film is easy to grasp. The mix of dark humour and light atmosphere in Amelie makes it an interesting experience. The narrative isn't too complex or deep and the themes are somewhat scattered, but the stylish charm of Amelie remains undeniable.

As expected, Amelia is visually magnificent. While Jean-Pierre Jeunet has created many films with innovative style before, they have usually been some kind of dark fantasy falling into the dystopian or steampunk genre. With Amelie, the film is partially a fantasy but plays itself off as being a more realistic story and successfully comes off as legitimate all while having a sense of surrealism put into play by Jean-Pierre Jeunet's signature style as a director. There are many little elements of Amelie which reflect many of his earlier pieces while the more lighthearted and positive nature of the film as a whole work as a step in a different direction for Jean-Pierre Jeunet. The strange mood of the film is captured incredibly well thanks to both the general atmosphere and the visual style of the film.

A manner of emphasising the surrealism in Amelie, Jean-Pierre Jeunet uses beautiful emphatic cinematography to emphasise a lot of little details and make the somewhat farcical atmosphere of the feature clear. It is all edited gently and used in a creative manner which captures the beautiful visual aspects of the film, ranging from the wonderful scenery and colourful production design to the costumes in the film. All of the visual elements in Amelie work together to ensure that the film maintains a very classical feel which it succeeds at even if it is only a mild one. Either way it fuels the film with a nice sense of nostalgia and adds to the light charm of the film. There is a lot of spirit in Amelie and lighthearted energy which presents a new angle for Jean-Pierre Jeunet to take his sense of style in. His work on the film is arguably worthy of an Academy Award nomination for Best Director because he once again proves that he is one of the most creative directors in French cinema. As his most successful film, Amelie serves perhaps as the endeavour of his career. Although it is not my favourite of his works as The City of Lost Children remains his most mesmerising piece in my opinion, it is not hard to see why it is such a critically acclaimed piece. At least he scored a nomination for Best Original Screenplay alongside Guillaume Laurant because the language and plot structure in the film is interesting, even if the story is not as complex as it could have been.

And one of the most memorable aspects of Amelie remains the leading performance of Audrey Tatou.

Taking on the titular role of Amelie Poulain, Audrey Tatou remains a perfectly charming lead in the film. With her natural beauty and wonderful smile, she is a treat for the eyes. But the amount of charisma she delivers in the role excels far beyond that because she really captures the spirit of a Jean-Pierre Jeunet creation. Whenever she is silent on screen, she remains dedicated to the role through all elements of physical acting ranging from the way she engages her stare with the world around her or simply the way her facial expressions change with the situation. She always manages to make herself the centre of attention without forcing it on viewers simply because of the fact that her natural charm sucks viewers in. It doesn't take a lot for Audrey Tatou to have viewers sympathising for her in Amelie, and either way she easily delivers with a performance which is subtle in drama yet exceedingly excellent in many little areas. Her performance is a wonderful one which is easily Cesar Award calibre, made better by the fact that she did in turn score a nomination for said award. She immediately establishes herself as a memorable actress and steals the screen whenever she is present without even having to try too hard, so aside from the imagery of the film she remains its most memorable sight.

So although Amelie is more style over substance, it is a visually striking film which is rich on atmosphere, directed with incredible tenacity by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and led in an impressive breakthrough performance by Audrey Tatou.