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Amelie DVD

klb_72's Review

I like to look for things no one else catches.

"Amelie" is a wonderful film that will touch you, make you giggle, and make you glad you are alive. Unlike a cheezy romantic comedy where you are supposed to feel angst for the characters, this film makes you love the characters and root for them in their quirky, unexpected habits and tastes. It is, admittedly, a story with very little external conflict, but it tells a lovely story in a cinematic and warm way. None of the characters are perfect, but all of them are perfectly human.

Reviews of this movie seem to use words like "charming," "magical," and "quirky;" you will see why when you watch Amelie dip her fingers into a huge barrel of lentils just to enjoy the sensation in her fingers.

The film centres around a young girl who has been somewhat of a fish out of water her whole life, but has retained a sense of wonder and of enjoyment of little things in the world around her. Amelie works through her insecurities during visits with her father and especially with a very insightful and caring neighbour, the "glass man," who cannot go outside because his bones are so brittle they break at the slightest contact. Through her "good deeds," taken on after a chance discovery, she learns how to create love in the world around her, and that love can touch her, herself.

I love my formulaic romantic comedies, but this has none of the painful "I know what's coming next" of the typical Meg Ryan film. Instead, "Amelie" constantly throws curves at you to make you laugh and experience the joy of being alive. Please watch this film (and don't let the rating throw you off -- the "orgasm" scene is literally about five seconds long) and laugh with Amelie as she gets revenge, plots romance, sets wrongs aright, and strives for her own happiness. I can't tell you enough good about this film.

Note #1: You will like it if you liked films like "Jeffrey" or "Notting Hill" with quirky love stories. You will *not* like this film if you want to see: Things blowing up, Drug addictions, A "Shocker Twist" somewhere in the plot, or Extremely Challenging Philosophies On Life. That's not to say the film isn't intelligent; it just challenges you in a different way.

Note #2: Some of the people in this film look like REAL PEOPLE. If you prefer everyone in your films to look like Cameron Diaz, this is not recommended for you.

Note #3: If you don't speak French and you have vision problems, you might want to be careful with this DVD as the subtitles are quite faint and often set against bright colours.

Amazon.com Editorial Review

Perhaps the most charming movie of all time, Amelie is certainly one of the top 10. The title character (the bashful and impish Audrey Tautou) is a single waitress who decides to help other lonely people fix their lives. Her widowed father yearns to travel but won't, so to inspire the old man she sends his garden gnome on a tour of the world; with whispered gossip, she brings together two cranky regulars at her cafe; she reverses the doorknobs and reprograms the speed dial of a grocer who's mean to his assistant. Gradually she realizes her own life needs fixing, and a chance meeting leads to her most elaborate stratagem of all. This is a deeply wonderful movie, an illuminating mix of magic and pragmatism. Fans of the director's previous films (Delicatessen, The City of Lost Children) will not be disappointed; newcomers will be delighted.