 | Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain Starring: Audrey Tautou, Mathieu Kassovitz, Rufus, Yolande Moreau, Artus de Penguern, Urbain Cancelier, Dominique Pinon, Maurice Benichou, Isabelle Nanty, Lorella Cravotta, Claire Maurier, Serge Merlin, Jamel Dabbouze |
"Amélie" is much more than a feel-good film for romantics and dreamers. It is, as one viewer has commented, "almost a necessity for peace in this world." Indeed, in this era of globalised ethical decline "Amélie" is a film that almost begs those who have corporatised their souls and succumbed to mean-spirited intolerance to once again find their humanity. Set in a nostalgically digitalised Paris (a Paris that, for me, resides at the centre of my dream of the ultimate civilisation, where "business" is just something some people do), "Amélie" presents the archetypal fairytale of a young woman whose bleak childhood has rendered her a lonely misfit, though still able to function in the somewhat real world of director Jean-Pierre Jeunet's creation. Her desire, like anyone's, is to achieve some control over her life and to give it meaning. In one of the film's many bizarre episodes she finds her solution. While watching a Television report on the mass grieving over Princess Diana's death, she inadvertently drops a bottle cap which rolls to the wall and knocks loose a tile, revealing a hole. Peering inside she finds an old metal box with toys inside, toys which, she subsequently discovers, date back some 40 years. She promptly switches off the TV and vows to find the original owner and present him with this memento of his childhood. In so doing, she rejects passive commiseration for an active plan to bring happiness to others, albeit with a great deal of positive manipulation. In the process she finds true love. But what a process it is. From the very first image we are plunged into a fast-moving two hours of cinema as both profound and rollicking art. "Amélie" is replete with hilarious dialogue, sometimes acting as no more than a surreal throwaway introduction to a scene about something entirely else, with homages to past films and the painter Renoir, with quirky character development, especially with the sub-characters whose briefly stated idiosyncrasies tell us everything we need to know about them, with Jeunet's trademark plot complexity, and with a seemingly endless supply of oddities which include the adventures of a travelling garden gnome, talking photos, the sensuousness of legumes and the satisfaction of skipping stones across water. Viewers unfamiliar with French will likely have a hard time, for the images and dialogue zip past unrelentingly. As another viewer commented, "The construction is so meticulous in both writing and execution that it may take several viewings to understand what an achievement it truly is." Audrey Tautou ("Voyous Voyelles," "Venus Beauty Institute") was obviously born to play this role. Her sometimes beautiful, sometimes pixyish, but always expressive face and, above all, her "eyes like worlds" often seems larger than the screen. Though it's rumoured that the film was originally written for British actress Emily Watson (hence the name "Amélie"), Jeunet could not have chosen better. Tautou will remind viewers of Giulietta Masina, Audrey Hepburn and Leslie Caron, but she is her own actress. "Amélie" appears to have polarised viewers. Australian reviewer Jim Schembri detested what many perceive as its interminable cuteness: "...the kind of cute that is so thoroughly self-conscious it makes you wish for the immediate and total destruction of all life on this planet." I read his humorous review before I saw the film and was prepared for the worst. However, within ten seconds of the opening I was hooked. And when it was over, I left the theatre with a lot more hope for the human race than when I entered. Jeunet's film is anything but cute. At times it has an almost sinister edge; you feel a mild anxiety that just around the corner something awful is going to happen. After all, Jeunet's earlier films ("Delicatessen," "The City of Lost Children") were as gothically dark and densely plotted as is possible. But with "Amélie," he set out to make, in his words, "a sweet film, one that makes people dream, which gives them pleasure". The result is anything but a trifle and nothing if not life affirming. In an age where individuation is sacrificed on the altar of selfish individualism, "Amélie" represents one individual who chooses to have a positive affect on people who are either stuck with disabilities or are unable to see beyond their petty miseries; her actions, always behind the scenes, help to release them. She asks for no rewards beyond the joy it gives her. For Schembri and a rather large and sadly cynical demographic of the human race, this is the stuff of derision, a hoot at the expense of do-gooders. For the rest of us it brings up a mind-blowing what-if? What if I decided to take account of other people instead of passing them by as if they were no different than a tree or a doorway or a piece of rubbish? What if I made an effort to perceive them, to comprehend them as I do myself, to actually grasp their beingness, no different to my own except for particulars. And then, when appropriate, to make some little effort to lighten their load, a simple smile, or an unbidden hello, perhaps. In short, to transcend my self-centred isolation and act as if I were not the only human being on the planet! In its way, "Amélie" acts as the antithesis to the culture of greed and selfishness that has forever seeded intolerance and war, of the littleness reflected in "me and mine and to hell with everyone else," as opposed to the expansive "we're all in it together". If, at one time or other in your life, you have felt the overwhelming freedom associated with an unannounced, fleeting, yet direct connection with all of humanity, you probably felt liberated watching "Amélie." It's a powerful feeling of being present that reduces power itself, as well as the likes of the current fad of anal-retentive devotion to share portfolios, to just another pathetic illusion. Buddhism would call this momentary connection a first step on the path to enlightenment, and that, for me, is the ultimate message of "Amélie": Come out of your protective cocoon to embrace The Other and you will be free. "Amélie" is not without flaws. Jeunet could have tightened it up in the last hour, for starters. Detractors have listed others: ** • "Its frozen heart is most engaged when its heroine takes sadistic revenge on an unpleasant character." Los Angeles Times But those who loved it have heaped it with praise: • "I can't believe it. I usually get off on violence and hardcore, but I was the guy with the handkerchief in the middle of the cinema." We're still waiting for the most perfect film ever made, but when it comes, I'm sure it will deal with some of the themes in this delightful "anti-depressant". Harold Hark P.S. There is another rumour going around. That Hollywood intends to remake "Amélie" with Julia Roberts. Run for your lives! ** All uncredited quotes were taken from viewer comments in the "Amélie" pages of the International Movie Database. |