Amelie

Amelie is a French film from 2001 that stars Audrey Tautoe as the lead character, Amelie Poulain.  Amelie is a lonely child who didn't get any attention from her father.  He was a physician and would examine her each month.  She so loved this attention (because her never paid any attention to her otherwise), that her heart would pound rapidly, causing him to mistakenly diagnose her with a heart ailment which prevented her from attending school and playing with other children.  Her mother was a nervous wreck and was accidentally killed by a woman trying to commit suicide, while Amelie was a young girl.

We see Amelie quickly grow to womanhood and see her life become changed on the same day that Lady Di is killed in a car accident in Paris.  On that day, Amelie discovers a tiny box in her apartment, hidden by a former occupant in the 1950's.  She secretly returns the box to him and is elated at his reaction and decides to dedicate much of her time to helping others around her, very reluctant to attend to her own (obvious) needs.

As in some of the past films we've watched, there is an inner-conflict present within the main character.  The symbolism present throughout, which the film returns to quite often is the Renoir painting being done by her neighbor, Raymond Dufayel - The Boating Party.  Dufayel has been painting it every year for nearly twenty years and has struggled to figure out what one of the characters is thinking.  Through the movie we see comparison references between the character in the painting and Amelie.

Amelie does end up helping all those around her, and in the end finally finds love, thanks to the encouragement of Dufayel.

I never in a million years thought I would be watching a French film with subtitles at 1:00 AM, but I did - and I liked it!

The subtitles could easily have been distracting, but I managed to follow things just fine.  The film itself seemed so imaginative.  The photography was very interesting.  I liked the use of colors and shadows and really thought the close-up shots of Amelie at various times throughout the film made the film feel.

Going back to the symbolism a little more, I think you could rightfully compare the man in the boat from Good Will Hunting to the woman on the boat from the Renoir painting as essential elements of the story.

One of the funnier parts of the movie has to do with the travels of the garden gnome, belonging to Amelie's father.  In her attempt to help him get through his depression, she encourages him to travel by kidnapping the garden gnome and sending it on trips with her airline flight attendant friend who takes snapshots of the travels and send pictures back to Amelie's father. 

Another funny spot in the movie (maybe I'm a little morbid) came at the time she discovered the little tin box in her apartment.  Amelie had her television on and was watching the news about Lady Di being killed, when she accidentally bumped a tile along her floorboard which revealed the secret box that had been hiding for years.  She turned off the news to concentrate on her new discovery.  I was sort of assuming that the death of Diana was going to have something to do with the movie - and there are a few references later - but to have her turn off the TV at this point completely ended any idea I had of where the plot was taking me.  Well done.

Again, this was a very good film and another that I hadn't watched before.  The casting of characters were all very fascinating - and a lot of fun!