Cinemablographer: Amélie

So, after much pressure and thought, I've decided to do a series of movie reviews for this blog. For loving cinema so much, I'm actually really underexposed to those films that changed the industry to what it is today. I thought this should change...I work at the theater, after all! So with that, I begin my Cinemablographer series of reviews with one of my all-time favorites...Amélie.



The film's tagline is "One person can change your life forever." The plot focuses on a storybook-like timeline structure; it begins detailing a day in the 1970s in France, when Amélie Poulain (Audrey Tautou) is conceived. Her parents, like many other main characters, are introduced in a very straightforward way, detailing their likes and dislikes. The Poulains are made out to be very uptight, orderly people. Amélie's demeanor and incredible imagination are a product of her parents' failure to emotionally nurture her. Her father--a doctor--for example, only touched her when performing her routine checkups. The abnormality of physical contact between the two led to her heart racing when that rare contact was made, leading her parents to think she had a heart defect. Her parents then sacrificed their wish to travel the world to homeschool Amélie, who occupied herself with her imagination.



Flash forward twenty years later to 1997, where the rest of the movie takes place. Amélie lives a simple, quiet life on her own, working as a waitress in a bar called the Two Windmills, never getting very close to anyone. When surprising news about Princess Diana airs, a perfume lid slips out of Amélie's hand and dislodges a tile from the bathroom wall, revealing a young boy's box of favorite pictures and toys looking to be from the '50s.

When Amélie sets out to return the box to its owner, she resolves that if the man is happy to get the box back, she'll become a regular do-gooder. Despite her crippling shyness and never interacting with the man herself, Amélie succeeds in her goal and sets out to better the lives of people in need in clever, subtle ways. However, when she finds a kindred spirit in Nino Quincampoix(Matieu Kassovitz), an eccentric young man who she frequently encounters at the subway station's photo booths, scrounging in trash cans and under cracks for ripped and forgotten portraits, Amélie is faced with the decision of remaining to keep to herself and not take risks, or to grant herself the happiness she has given others.



It is an absolutely beautiful, simple yet intricate story that I would recommend to anyone (despite the sometimes rather explicit sexual content). The soundtrack by Yann Tiersen stands alone without falter. Every time one of the quaint piano/toy piano, accordion, and violin tracks begins playing on my iPod, I have to listen to it. Having watched the movie again last night and listened to the soundtrack almost nonstop since I first saw Amélie four months ago, I am a bit disappointed how much was cut out of each track for the film; a theme here, a few chimes resounding there. The nostalgia, tranquility, and exhileration of each of Tiersen's movements were interesting to see matched to their accompanying scenes, however; one instance that comes to mind is the pairing of one of my favorite songs on the album, La Noyee, with a fast paced rush as Amélie helps a blind man to the subway station, simultaneously describing everything around them in incredible detail.



The one thing that saddens me about this film is that it is foreign. Don't get me wrong, the French was beautiful to listen to, but I know that subtitles only summarize what is actually said. English-speaking viewers get a condensed, slightly warped version of the dialogue, and are subject to what the translator deems important enough to transcribe for us. Background conversations and atmosphere are lost on anyone who is unable to understand it themselves. The relevance of word choice is lost on us, as even the same words in different languages have different connotations. The pronunciation problems one character has do not have the same impact on American moviegoers as they would on the French audiences. That particular character is supposedly particularly slow; how am I supposed to know? His French sounds good to me, but that's what I get for studying Spanish.

The director Jean-Pierre Jeunet paid particular attention to the photography of the film. Every single shot's angle, sweeping arc of the camera, and color scheme are utter works of art. The saturation actually is personally reminiscent to the cancelled television show, Pushing Daisies, another thing I love about it. And despite the aforementioned language barriers, Amélie is conducted very much like a silent movie in many ways; there are several scenes in which there is little to no dialogue, but the fundamental attraction between Amélie and Nino doesn't need any translation.

All in all, Amélie is quirky, suspenseful, torrential, and beautiful in every way. Audrey is adorable, and Matieu is a perfect match to play opposite her. I would recommend this movie to anyone; even if you (yes, YOU!) aren't a particularly big fan of reading subtitles, this film is definitely worth it. Just watch out for the kiddies; Amélie is rated R for a reason.



"Without you, today's emotions would be the scurf of yesterday's."


Zatarra
The Cinemablographer.