Amelie

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It was almost a toss-up for me which was my favorite foreign-language film of 2001, "Amelie," "Sexy Beast," or "No Man's Land." I finally decided I liked the crime and war dramas slightly better than the light romantic-comedy, and so did the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, for that matter. But my decision had nothing to do with liking more serious movies over lighter ones. "Amelie" (or "Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain") deserves its box office success and deserves a look on DVD. There may be the danger among some viewers in finding it too cute, too saccharine, too much the trifling confection, but, regardless, it drew far more people into movie theaters than "Sexy Beast" and "No Man's Land" combined (and it was one of the biggest hits, if not THE biggest hit, in French film history), suggesting that I am not alone in liking the picture.

"Amelie" is the brainchild of director Jean-Pierre Jeunet, whose previous credits--"Delecatessen" (1991), "The City of Lost Children" (1995), and "Alien: Resurrection" (1997)--would not in terms of their subject matter have lead one to suspect whence this latest happy romance came. But when one considers the look and fashion of his prior films, one can readily see that Jeunet is a stylist above all, sometimes forsaking narrative continuity for the sake of beautiful or memorable images. "Amelie" definitely looks different from most other movies; its visual impression is sometimes marked by soft golden tones, other times drenched in reds, browns, and greens. What's more, these shots are alternated with ones in bright, deep, vivid colors depending on the mood the director is trying to project. Jeunet has said that he doesn't care for realism, that realistic movies in realistic colors bore him. Anyway, in "Amelie" he essentially creates a fairy tale, so I suppose anything goes and it all works out.

There's not a lot of plot or substance to "Amelie"; it's largely a succession of vignettes drawn from the life of a naive, almost childlike young woman, Amelie Poulain (Audrey Tautou), living in the Montmartre district of Paris. Or more precisely, according to what Jeunet tells us in one of several interviews accompanying the DVD, it's a series of vignettes accumulated over the years by the director. Whatever, these little snippets of life, these delicate French postcards, convey an exhilarating sense of joy and fun for most of the film's running time. I just wish they had had more of a story line drawing them together. Instead, for the movie's first hour we have hardly any plot at all. With the focus somewhat jumbled and Jeunet's camera constantly on the move, one sometimes longs for something, anything, finally just to happen. Paradoxically, I found the first hour of the movie going by at about half the speed of the remainder of the story, despite the fact that the actual tempo of the first hour is quicker! Go figure. Maybe it's part of the dreamscape Jeunet creates; you know, like how in a dream a hundred things can occur in a single rapid-eye movement.

The movie's introduction begins with Amelie's birth in 1973, continues with her rearing and education in the home by overprotective parents who don't think her heart is strong enough for her to attend regular, public school, and concludes with the death of her mother in a bizarre, comically tragic accident. She lives with her father for a time before going out on her on, getting a small apartment, and working in a cafe. After this lengthy exposition, the story takes place mainly in 1997, the year the lonely and withdrawn Amelie makes two great discoveries that change her life.

The first discovery is precipitated by her finding a small, concealed box of toys and photographs in her apartment that were apparently hidden away and forgotten there by a child some forty years earlier. She decides to find the person who hid them, hoping he's still alive, and return them to him. The narrator tells us, "Amelie had a dazzling idea. Wherever he was, she would find the box's owner and give him back his treasure. If he was touched, she'd become a regular do-gooder. If not, too bad." Amelie, with no steady beau, few regular friends, and little future, means to make up for lost time through anonymous help to others. She returns the box in secret and watches as the man rejoices. The game is on. She gives a tour of the city to a blind man; she sets up two lovelorn people with each other; she helps an assistant greengrocer get even with his abusive, dictatorial boss. All done from afar, you understand, and without any real, personal involvement with the persons she's helping. She's much too shy for direct contact with people she doesn't know.

Her second great discovery comes about when she finds a photo album and attempts to return it. Its owner is a young man, Nino (Mathieu Kassovitz), who is almost as detached from reality as she is. Her discovery (no, not the photo album), which should be obvious, makes her life, as it does all our lives, far more worth living than ever before.

Although there is a fine supporting cast of colorful characters, the movie depends primarily upon Ms. Tautou to carry the day. She is completely captivating, and if I had any doubts about the quality of the rest of the movie, I had no doubts about Tautou. She is absolutely delightful playing the simple, lovable, waiflike lead character, who is so irresistibly drawn to people yet unable to interrelate with them. Not that in her efforts to help other people she is entirely benevolent, incidentally. She takes a devilish delight, for example, in secretly tormenting the obnoxious grocer. In appearance Ms. Tautou bears a resemblance to a young Audrey Hepburn, and her part in the movie is similar to those lovely, innocently magnetic early roles played by the late actress. Amelie is a hopeless romantic, too, with a romantic imagination, leading her to fanaticize about all sorts of dreamy adventures. And the movie itself becomes just such a dreamy adventure.

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