review by Mr. DuLac Pro
Amélie 2001
Watched Jul 12, 2012
Mr. DuLac’s review:
She doesn't relate to other people. She was always a lonely child.
-Amélie Poulain
The last movie Jean-Pierre Jeunet directed before Amélie was Alien: Resurrection. I just thought that needed mentioning. I can't stay mad at Jean-Pierre for Resurrection anymore after watching Amélie.
It's a film that's made out of cotton candy, rainbows and happiness and it's made for adults. The plot, when examined, is flimsy and exists in a fictitious Paris that probably never existed. It's hard to hold that against it though, because Amélie is also one of the best examples that a film can most certainly be art.
Most often then not the film looks like a painting. You can pick several scenes that have a distinct color palette with one splash of contrasting color in a corner or background. Even when you notice that everyone in the cafe is wearing some sort of green or matching color it still somehow seems natural. As if in this universe these sort of things just happen and there's no questioning it.
Of course the entire film works because of Audrey Tautou. It's near impossible to think of anyone else pulling off the character Amélie with the perfection of Tautou. Having her breaking the fourth and looking straight into the camera at the viewer with her big doe eyes full of innocence thought lost in this generation never gets tiresome or annoying in the film. It's the perfect marriage of character and actress as I can't help but think that Tautou spends her spare time doing good deeds for strangers while sometimes dressed as Zorro.
Man - you're a machine - I thought I watched a few films, you never stop! LOL! - I've had this a while, should really get round to watching it. I'm a pain for that, buy 3or 4 DVD's in the sales, not watch them, buy another 3 or 4. The "to watch" pile just mounts up!
As usual - great review!
Are these the only two of his you've seen? I definitely love Amelie, but I think I like Delicatessen and City of Lost Children even more...they're quite a bit darker and weirder. It's been quite a few years since I've last seen Amelie, and I had been wondering if I would find it a bit too precious, so I'm glad to hear you loved it now. Jeunet does a commentary on the DVD, which I remember liking quite a lot. I think he does a bit about ramping up the colors in post.
Great review and rating. City of Lost Children was also good, but this is his crystallization of Jeunet's work.
@Mike: If by machine, you mean "Man you have no life!", then you would be correct :-)
@Julie: Yes those are the only two lol. I almost started watching Delicatessen a few times off of NetFlix without knowing who directed it. Saying it's darker and weirder just makes me want to see it more. Might be checking that one out tomorrow.
RealDeadOne: I just checked IMDB and Jeunet is filming a movie right now with a home town boy... yup... Robert Maillet! He's listed as "Giant Hobo" lol
Can't believe it took you 11 years to finally watch this.
@Jaime: Yup... I think it was overhyped a the time and it really turned me off from seeing it. I know that's weird rating it 5 stars and saying it was overhyped but I can't explain it any other way.
I definitely agree that Amelie is the most polished. I just prefer the tone of the other two. Micmacs was also great, but still more along the lines of Amelie than City or Delicatessen. Still, all great!
I've added all of these to my watch list. Micmacs is another one I was meaning to watch but forgot about.
Delicatessen is on the U.S. NetFlix and Micmacs is on the Canadian NefFlix so we're all set lol. City of Lost Children is on neither though :-(
Robert is getting a pretty impressive list of directors he's worked with. Now adding Jeunet to Zack Snyder, Guy Richie, Tarsem Singh and Guillermo del Toro. Nice to see a local boy make it big :-)
Delicatessen isn't on NetFlix anymore! I waited to long.
Can you fall in love with a film? I think I just did.