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Video Review |
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Video Review |
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Last Updated 12/22/04
Email: robitai@our-town.com
Marilyn Robitaille
"Amélie"
We all know that the French don’t think like the rest of us. Chronic rudeness, that aloof attitude, and a mystifying array of social customs can all be dismissed because, well because it’s the French. That said, the French do know how to make a good movie. If you don’t mind French subtitles (I don’t), then add “Amélie” to your list of must see movies.
Cute and diminutive Audrey
Tautou plays the title character with a charming sense of style, and she steals
every scene. Set in a fairy tale version of
At the beginning of the movie, the major events of Amélie’s childhood help us understand the woman she has become. Her physician father, whom she loved dearly, was never one to express emotion. Amélie, who desperately wanted hugs from him, received attention only during her regular check-ups. Her heart would beat so fast that her father thought she had a heart problem, so she led the overly protected life of an invalid child.
Her mother was killed instantly in a terrible accident that occurred when she was struck by a suicide victim, whose jump off the parapets of Notre Dame took both their lives. So Amélie, all grown up, lives life in the moment, unsure about its meaning.
Then fate steps in. When she hears news of Princess Di’s death, the shock causes her to drop a bottle cap. It knocks against the wall to reveal a secret hiding place, carved out many years ago by a former tenant. Amélie finds a rusty, tin box full of a little boy’s treasures. Suddenly, she’s filled with a sense of purpose. She will find the boy (now a middle-aged man), return the box, and make him happy.
The detective work appeals to Amélie, so much so, that she revels in the sense of mystery. She completes her mission to return the box, but does it anonymously. Part of her pleasure comes from the anonymity of the giving, watching from afar the man’s surprised delight that his childhood box of memories has inexplicably returned.
The success of her first mission leads her to others. She helps an aged blind man, a hypochondriac co-worker, and a lovelorn tenant in her building. Then it happens. Amélie falls in love with Nino.
She reserves the same air of mystery for Nino Quincampoix (Mathieu Kassovitz) who has the soul of an artist, but the unseemly job of clerking in a porn shop. His passion for art leads him to make bizarre collages from discarded photo booth photos of people he’s never met. Amélie watches the booth to watch Nino. It’s a strange way to get a boyfriend, but Nino’s not your everyday conquest. Love comes when it comes.
“Amélie” will make you smile
and remind you that love makes about as much sense as some of those French
customs. You just have to take it for what it is, and be happy.
Rated R
for sexual content
Available
in DVD and Video
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