Amélie
Encyclopedia
Amélie is a 2001 romantic comedy
film directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet
. Written by Jeunet with Guillaume Laurant, the film is a whimsical depiction of contemporary Parisian life, set in Montmartre
. It tells the story of a shy waitress, played by Audrey Tautou
, who decides to change the lives of those around her for the better, while struggling with her own isolation. The film was an International co-production
between companies in France
and Germany
.
Amélie won Best Film at the European Film Awards; it won four César Award
s (including Best Film
and Best Director
), two BAFTA Awards
(including Best Original Screenplay), and was nominated for five Academy Awards.
Amélie Poulain (Audrey Tautou
) is a young woman who had grown up isolated from other children. After the death of her mother and her father's subsequent withdrawal, she developed an unusually active imagination to ward away the feelings of loneliness. Now at the age of twenty-three, Amélie is a waitress at Café des 2 Moulins, a small café in Montmartre
that is staffed and frequented by a collection of eccentrics. Having spurned romantic relationships following a few disappointing efforts, she finds contentment in simple pleasures and letting her imagination roam free.
On 31 August 1997, Amélie, shocked upon hearing the news of Princess Diana's death
on television, drops a bottle cap that knocks into a bathroom wall tile and loosens it. Behind the tile, she finds an old metal box of childhood memorabilia hidden by a boy who lived in her apartment decades earlier. Fascinated by this find, she resolves to track down the now adult man who placed it there and return it to him, making a promise to herself in the process: if she finds him and it makes him happy, she will devote her life to help bring happiness to others.
Amélie meets her reclusive
neighbour, Raymond Dufayel (Serge Merlin), a painter who continually repaints Luncheon of the Boating Party
by Pierre-Auguste Renoir
. He is known as 'the Glass Man' because of his brittle bone
condition. With the help of him and others, she tracks down the former occupant and places the box in a phone booth, ringing the number as he passes to lure him there. Upon opening the box, the man, moved to tears, has an epiphany
as long-forgotten childhood memories come flooding back. He then finds his way into the same bar as Amelie and vows to reconcile with his estranged family. On seeing the positive effect she had on him, she resolves from that moment on to do good in the lives of others.
Amélie becomes a secret matchmaker
and guardian angel
, executing complex but hidden schemes that impact the lives of those around her with subtle, arm's-length manipulation, leading to several sub-plots and episodes. She escorts a blind man to the Metro station, giving him a rich description of the street scenes he passes. She persuades her father to follow his dream of touring the world by stealing his garden gnome and having a stewardess friend send pictures of it posing with landmarks from all over the world. She kindles a romance between a middle-aged co-worker and one of the customers in the bar. She convinces the unhappy concierge of her building that the husband who abandoned her had in fact sent her a final reconciliatory love letter just before his accidental death years before. She supports Lucien, a child-like young man who works for Mr. Collignon, the bullying neighbourhood greengrocer; by playing practical joke
s on Collignon, whose confidence she undermines until he questions his own sanity.
However, while she is looking after others, Mr. Dufayel is observing her, and begins a conversation with her about his painting when she comes to visit him one day. Although he has copied the same famous painting dozens of times, he has never quite captured the excluded look of the girl drinking a glass of water. They often discuss the meaning of this character, and although it is never explicitly stated, for Dufayel, she comes to represent Amélie and her lonely life. Through their discussions, Amélie is forced to examine her own life and her attraction to a quirky young man who strangely collects the discarded photographs from passport photo booths. When she accidentally bumps into him a second time and realizes she is smitten, she is fortunate to be on the scene to pick up his photo album when he drops it in the street. She discovers his name is Nino Quincampoix, and she plays a cat and mouse game with him around Paris before eventually anonymously returning his treasured album. However, after finally attempting to orchestrate a proper meeting, she is too shy to approach him, and almost loses hope when she misinterprets a conversation with one of the cafe's patrons. It takes Raymond Dufayel's insightful friendship to give her the courage to overcome her shyness and finally meet with Nino, resulting in a night spent together and the beginnings of a relationship.
, Jeunet
explains that he originally wrote the role of Amélie for the English actress Emily Watson
; in the original draft, Amélie's father was an Englishman living in London. However, Watson's French was not strong, and when she became unavailable to shoot the film, owing to a conflict with the filming of Gosford Park
, Jeunet rewrote the screenplay for a French actress. Audrey Tautou
was the first actress he auditioned having seen her on the poster for Venus Beauty Institute
.
The filmmakers made use of computer-generated imagery
and a digital intermediate
. The studio scenes were filmed in the Coloneum Studio in Cologne
(Germany). The film shares many of the themes in the plot with second half of the 1994 film Chungking Express
.
, and French-speaking western Switzerland in April 2001, with subsequent screenings at various film festival
s followed by releases around the world. It received limited releases in North America, the UK and Australasia
later in 2001.
Cannes Film Festival
selector Gilles Jacob described Amélie as "uninteresting", and therefore it was not screened at the festival, although the version he viewed was an early cut without music. The absence of Amélie at the festival caused something of a controversy because of the warm welcome by the French media and audience in contrast with the reaction of the selector.
gave Amélie five stars and called it "one of the year’s best, with crossover potential along the lines of Cyrano De Bergerac and Il Postino
. Given its quirky heart, it might well surpass them all."
Paul Tatara from CNN Reviewer praised Amélies playful nature. In her review she said, "Its whimsical, free-ranging nature is often enchanting; the first hour, in particular, is brimming with amiable, sardonic laughs."
The film was attacked by critic Serge Kaganski of Les Inrockuptibles
for an unrealistic and picturesque vision of a bygone French society with few ethnic minorities. If the director was trying to create an idyllic vision of a perfect Paris, Kaganski argued, he removed nearly all black people. Jeunet dismissed the criticism by pointing out that the photo collection contains pictures of people from numerous ethnic backgrounds, and that Jamel Debbouze
, who plays Lucien, is of Moroccan descent.
The film was a critical and box office success, gaining wide play internationally as well. It was nominated for five Academy Awards:
In 2001 it won several awards at the European Film Awards, including the Best Film award. It also won the People's Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival
and the Crystal Globe
Award at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival
. In 2002, in France, it won the César Award
for Best Film
, Best Director
, Best Music and Best Production Design
. It was also awarded the French Syndicate of Cinema Critics
's Prix Mélies (Best French Film) in the same year.
The film was selected by The New York Times
as one of "The Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made." The film placed #2 in Empire Magazine
s "The 100 Best Films of World Cinema". Entertainment Weekly
named the film poster one of the best on its list of the top 25 film posters in the past 25 years. It also named Amélie setting up a wild goose chase for her beloved Nino all through Paris as #9 on its list of top 25 Romantic Gestures. In 2010, an online public poll by the American Cinematographer
– the house journal of the American Society of Cinematographers
– named Amélie the best shot film of the decade.
.
. However, in the original French version, her husband runs off to the Pampas.
In the Region 1 English subtitled DVD when Amélie orders Nino to look at 'page 51' of his scrapbook, the subtitle erroneously reads 'Page St.', likely due to the OCR
process for conversion. This mistake does not appear on U.S. television sets programmed to display closed captioning
.
In the Region 1 English subtitles, Amélie says "But I hate it in old movies, when drivers don't watch the road"; but the French dialogue in fact means "But I hate it in old American films when the drivers don't watch the road." This distinction, however, remains in the Region 2 English subtitling.
At the end of the film, the narrator explains "...in Villette Park, Félix Lerbier learns there are more links in his brain than atoms in the universe," while in the French there is the word "possible" links in the brain. The idea of 'possible' links is important not only for the scientific truth of the statement, but also for the underlying philosophy of the movie; that is, Amélie's fabulous destiny and that of the people she influences in the film is not predetermined but consists of a set of possibilities that are finally subject to her will.
, a "quirky fairy tale," ABC
sought an Amélie feel, with the same chords of "whimsy and spirit and magic." Pushing Daisies director Bryan Fuller
said Amélie is his favorite film. "All the things I love are represented in that movie," he said. "It's a movie that will make me cry based on kindness as opposed to sadness." Because of this, The New York Times
review of Pushing Daisies reported "the 'Amélie' influence on 'Pushing Daisies' is everywhere".
In the 2009 film Bunny and the Bull
, the scenes set in the real world of Stephen's flat have the same red green and gold feel of Amelies interiors.
A species of frog was named Cochranella
amelie. The scientist who named it said: "this new species of Glass frog
is for Amélie, protagonist of the extraordinary movie "Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain"; a film where little details play an important role in the achievement of joie de vivre; like the important role that Glassfrogs and all amphibians and reptiles play in the health of our planet". The species was described in the scientific journal Zootaxa http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/ in an article entitled "An enigmatic new species of Glassfrog (Amphibia: Anura: Centrolenidae) from the Amazonian Andean slopes of Ecuador" http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2007f/z01485p041f.pdf.
The film has no overall worldwide distributor, but Blu-ray discs have been released in Canada and Australia. The first release occurred in Canada in September 2008 by TVA Films. This version did not contain any English subtitles and received criticisms regarding picture quality. In November 2009, an Australian release occurred. This time the version contained English subtitles and features no region coding.
Romantic Comedy
Romantic Comedy can refer to* Romantic Comedy , a 1979 play written by Bernard Slade* Romantic Comedy , a 1983 film adapted from the play and starring Dudley Moore and Mary Steenburgen...
film directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Jean-Pierre Jeunet
-Life and career:Jean-Pierre Jeunet was born in Roanne, Loire, France. He bought his first camera at the age of 17 and made short films while studying animation at Cinémation Studios. He befriended Marc Caro, a designer and comic book artist who became his longtime collaborator and...
. Written by Jeunet with Guillaume Laurant, the film is a whimsical depiction of contemporary Parisian life, set in Montmartre
Montmartre
Montmartre is a hill which is 130 metres high, giving its name to the surrounding district, in the north of Paris in the 18th arrondissement, a part of the Right Bank. Montmartre is primarily known for the white-domed Basilica of the Sacré Cœur on its summit and as a nightclub district...
. It tells the story of a shy waitress, played by Audrey Tautou
Audrey Tautou
Audrey Justine Tautou is a French model and film actress, best known for playing the title character in the award-winning 2001 film Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain, Sophie Neveu in the 2006 thriller The Da Vinci Code, Irène in Priceless and Coco Chanel in Coco avant Chanel...
, who decides to change the lives of those around her for the better, while struggling with her own isolation. The film was an International co-production
International co-production
An international co-production is a production where two or more different production companies are working together, for example in a film production...
between companies in France
Cinema of France
The Cinema of France comprises the art of film and creative movies made within the nation of France or by French filmmakers abroad.France is the birthplace of cinema and was responsible for many of its early significant contributions. Several important cinematic movements, including the Nouvelle...
and Germany
Cinema of Germany
Cinema in Germany can be traced back to the late 19th century. German cinema has made major technical and artistic contributions to film.Unlike any other national cinemas, which developed in the context of relatively continuous and stable political systems, Germany witnesses major changes to its...
.
Amélie won Best Film at the European Film Awards; it won four César Award
César Award
The César Award is the national film award of France, first given out in 1975. The nominations are selected by the members of the Académie des arts et techniques du cinéma....
s (including Best Film
César Award for Best Film
The winners and nominees of the César Award for Best Film .-1970s:-1980s:-1990s:-2000s:-2010s:...
and Best Director
César Award for Best Director
This is the list of winners and nominees of the César Award for Best Director .-1970s:-1980s:-1990s:-2000s:-2010s:...
), two BAFTA Awards
55th British Academy Film Awards
The 55th British Film Awards , given by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts on 24 February 2002, honoured the best in film for 2001....
(including Best Original Screenplay), and was nominated for five Academy Awards.
Plot
Audrey Tautou
Audrey Justine Tautou is a French model and film actress, best known for playing the title character in the award-winning 2001 film Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain, Sophie Neveu in the 2006 thriller The Da Vinci Code, Irène in Priceless and Coco Chanel in Coco avant Chanel...
) is a young woman who had grown up isolated from other children. After the death of her mother and her father's subsequent withdrawal, she developed an unusually active imagination to ward away the feelings of loneliness. Now at the age of twenty-three, Amélie is a waitress at Café des 2 Moulins, a small café in Montmartre
Montmartre
Montmartre is a hill which is 130 metres high, giving its name to the surrounding district, in the north of Paris in the 18th arrondissement, a part of the Right Bank. Montmartre is primarily known for the white-domed Basilica of the Sacré Cœur on its summit and as a nightclub district...
that is staffed and frequented by a collection of eccentrics. Having spurned romantic relationships following a few disappointing efforts, she finds contentment in simple pleasures and letting her imagination roam free.
On 31 August 1997, Amélie, shocked upon hearing the news of Princess Diana's death
Death of Diana, Princess of Wales
On 31 August 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales, died as a result of injuries sustained in a car accident in the Pont de l'Alma road tunnel in Paris, France. Her companion, Dodi Fayed, and the driver of the Mercedes-Benz W140, Henri Paul, were pronounced dead at the scene of the accident. Fayed's...
on television, drops a bottle cap that knocks into a bathroom wall tile and loosens it. Behind the tile, she finds an old metal box of childhood memorabilia hidden by a boy who lived in her apartment decades earlier. Fascinated by this find, she resolves to track down the now adult man who placed it there and return it to him, making a promise to herself in the process: if she finds him and it makes him happy, she will devote her life to help bring happiness to others.
Amélie meets her reclusive
Recluse
A recluse is a person who lives in voluntary seclusion from the public and society, often close to nature. The word is from the Latin recludere, which means "shut up" or "sequester." There are many potential reasons for becoming a recluse: a personal philosophy that rejects consumer society; a...
neighbour, Raymond Dufayel (Serge Merlin), a painter who continually repaints Luncheon of the Boating Party
Luncheon of the Boating Party
Luncheon of the Boating Party is a painting by French impressionist Pierre-Auguste Renoir. It was purchased from the artist by the dealer-patron Paul Durand-Ruel and bought in 1923 from his son by Duncan Phillips. It is currently housed in The Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C....
by Pierre-Auguste Renoir
Pierre-Auguste Renoir
Pierre-Auguste Renoir was a French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty, and especially feminine sensuality, it has been said that "Renoir is the final representative of a tradition which runs directly from Rubens to...
. He is known as 'the Glass Man' because of his brittle bone
Osteogenesis imperfecta
Osteogenesis imperfecta is a genetic bone disorder. People with OI are born with defective connective tissue, or without the ability to make it, usually because of a deficiency of Type-I collagen...
condition. With the help of him and others, she tracks down the former occupant and places the box in a phone booth, ringing the number as he passes to lure him there. Upon opening the box, the man, moved to tears, has an epiphany
Epiphany (feeling)
An epiphany is the sudden realization or comprehension of the essence or meaning of something...
as long-forgotten childhood memories come flooding back. He then finds his way into the same bar as Amelie and vows to reconcile with his estranged family. On seeing the positive effect she had on him, she resolves from that moment on to do good in the lives of others.
Amélie becomes a secret matchmaker
Matchmaking
Matchmaking is any process of matching two people for the purpose of marriage or a sporting contest.-Practice:In some cultures, the role of the matchmaker was and is quite professionalized...
and guardian angel
Guardian angel
A guardian angel is an angel assigned to protect and guide a particular person or group. Belief in guardian angels can be traced throughout all antiquity...
, executing complex but hidden schemes that impact the lives of those around her with subtle, arm's-length manipulation, leading to several sub-plots and episodes. She escorts a blind man to the Metro station, giving him a rich description of the street scenes he passes. She persuades her father to follow his dream of touring the world by stealing his garden gnome and having a stewardess friend send pictures of it posing with landmarks from all over the world. She kindles a romance between a middle-aged co-worker and one of the customers in the bar. She convinces the unhappy concierge of her building that the husband who abandoned her had in fact sent her a final reconciliatory love letter just before his accidental death years before. She supports Lucien, a child-like young man who works for Mr. Collignon, the bullying neighbourhood greengrocer; by playing practical joke
Practical joke
A practical joke is a mischievous trick played on someone, typically causing the victim to experience embarrassment, indignity, or discomfort. Practical jokes differ from confidence tricks in that the victim finds out, or is let in on the joke, rather than being fooled into handing over money or...
s on Collignon, whose confidence she undermines until he questions his own sanity.
However, while she is looking after others, Mr. Dufayel is observing her, and begins a conversation with her about his painting when she comes to visit him one day. Although he has copied the same famous painting dozens of times, he has never quite captured the excluded look of the girl drinking a glass of water. They often discuss the meaning of this character, and although it is never explicitly stated, for Dufayel, she comes to represent Amélie and her lonely life. Through their discussions, Amélie is forced to examine her own life and her attraction to a quirky young man who strangely collects the discarded photographs from passport photo booths. When she accidentally bumps into him a second time and realizes she is smitten, she is fortunate to be on the scene to pick up his photo album when he drops it in the street. She discovers his name is Nino Quincampoix, and she plays a cat and mouse game with him around Paris before eventually anonymously returning his treasured album. However, after finally attempting to orchestrate a proper meeting, she is too shy to approach him, and almost loses hope when she misinterprets a conversation with one of the cafe's patrons. It takes Raymond Dufayel's insightful friendship to give her the courage to overcome her shyness and finally meet with Nino, resulting in a night spent together and the beginnings of a relationship.
Cast
- André DussollierAndré DussollierAndré Dussollier is a French actor.-Filmography:* 1970 : Ils, directed by Jean-Daniel Simon* 1972 : Les Chemins de pierre, directed by Joseph Drimal...
as Narrator - Audrey TautouAudrey TautouAudrey Justine Tautou is a French model and film actress, best known for playing the title character in the award-winning 2001 film Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain, Sophie Neveu in the 2006 thriller The Da Vinci Code, Irène in Priceless and Coco Chanel in Coco avant Chanel...
as Amélie Poulain- Flora Guiet as young Amélie
- Mathieu KassovitzMathieu KassovitzMathieu Kassovitz is a French director, screenwriter, producer and actor, best known for his Cannes-winning drama La Haine. Kassovitz is also the founder of MNP Entreprise, a film production company....
as Nino Quincampoix- Amaury Babault as young Nino
- RufusRufus (actor)Rufus is the stage name of Italo-French actor Jacques Narcy. He is also called Zio Vittorio...
as Raphaël Poulain - Serge Merlin as Raymond Dufayel
- Lorella Cravotta as Amandine Poulain
- Clotilde Mollet as Gina
- Claire Maurier as Suzanne
- Isabelle NantyIsabelle NantyIsabelle Nanty is a French actress and film director.see http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0353243/. She played the part of Georgette in the 2001 French film Amélie and Isabelle in La Belle Histoire...
as Georgette - Dominique PinonDominique PinonDominique Pinon is a French actor whose most famous roles have been in the films of Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Jean-Jacques Beineix. In the theatre, he has appeared in the plays of Gildas Bourdet, Jorge Lavelli and Valère Novarina...
as Joseph - Artus de Penguern as Hipolito
- Yolande MoreauYolande MoreauYolande Moreau is a Belgian comedienne, actress and film director.-Biography:She has won two César Awards for Best Actress, in 2005 for When the Sea Rises and in 2009 for Séraphine....
as Madeleine Wallace - Urbain Cancelier as Collignon
- Jamel DebbouzeJamel DebbouzeJamel Debbouze is an actor, comedian and producer of Moroccan descent.-Biography:Debbouze is the oldest of five brothers. He was born in Paris, France, but his family moved to Morocco the following year...
as Lucien - Maurice BénichouMaurice BénichouMaurice Bénichou is a French actor. His best known roles include three collaborations with director Michael Haneke , and a part in Jean-Pierre Jeunet's Amélie...
as Dominique Bretodeau- Kevin Fernandes as young Dominique
- Michel RobinMichel RobinMichel Robin is a French film actor and comedian. He has appeared in 120 films since 1966.-Selected filmography:* The Invitation * Les Guichets du Louvre * L'important c'est d'aimer...
as Mr. Collignon - Andrée Damant as Mrs Collidick
- Claude PerronClaude PerronClaude Perron is a French actress. She performed Eva in the 2001 film Amélie, and Marion in the 1996 film Bernie.-External links:...
as Eva, Nino's colleague - Armelle Lesniak as Philomène, air hostess
- Ticky HolgadoTicky HolgadoTicky Holgado , pseudonym of Joseph Holgado, was a French actor and a frequent collaborator with Jean-Pierre Jeunet....
as Man in photo
Production
In his DVD commentaryAudio commentary
On disc-based video formats, an audio commentary is an additional audio track consisting of a lecture or comments by one or more speakers, that plays in real time with video...
, Jeunet
Jean-Pierre Jeunet
-Life and career:Jean-Pierre Jeunet was born in Roanne, Loire, France. He bought his first camera at the age of 17 and made short films while studying animation at Cinémation Studios. He befriended Marc Caro, a designer and comic book artist who became his longtime collaborator and...
explains that he originally wrote the role of Amélie for the English actress Emily Watson
Emily Watson
Emily Watson is an English actress. She gave an acclaimed debut film performance in Lars von Trier's Breaking the Waves.- Early life :...
; in the original draft, Amélie's father was an Englishman living in London. However, Watson's French was not strong, and when she became unavailable to shoot the film, owing to a conflict with the filming of Gosford Park
Gosford Park
Gosford Park is a 2001 British-American mystery comedy-drama film directed by Robert Altman and written by Julian Fellowes. The film stars an ensemble cast, which includes Helen Mirren, Maggie Smith, Eileen Atkins, Alan Bates, and Michael Gambon...
, Jeunet rewrote the screenplay for a French actress. Audrey Tautou
Audrey Tautou
Audrey Justine Tautou is a French model and film actress, best known for playing the title character in the award-winning 2001 film Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain, Sophie Neveu in the 2006 thriller The Da Vinci Code, Irène in Priceless and Coco Chanel in Coco avant Chanel...
was the first actress he auditioned having seen her on the poster for Venus Beauty Institute
Venus Beauty Institute
Venus Beauty Institute is a 1999 French movie, telling the story of three employees of a beauty parlor in search of love and happiness.The film is directed by Tonie Marshall...
.
The filmmakers made use of computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...
and a digital intermediate
Digital intermediate
Digital intermediate is a motion picture finishing process which classically involves digitizing a motion picture and manipulating the color and other image characteristics. It often replaces or augments the photochemical timing process and is usually the final creative adjustment to a movie...
. The studio scenes were filmed in the Coloneum Studio in Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
(Germany). The film shares many of the themes in the plot with second half of the 1994 film Chungking Express
Chungking Express
Chungking Express is a 1994 Hong Kong film written and directed by Wong Kar-wai. The film consists of two stories told in sequence, each about a lovesick Hong Kong policeman mulling over his relationship with a woman...
.
Release
The film was released in France, BelgiumBelgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
, and French-speaking western Switzerland in April 2001, with subsequent screenings at various film festival
Film festival
A film festival is an organised, extended presentation of films in one or more movie theaters or screening venues, usually in a single locality. More and more often film festivals show part of their films to the public by adding outdoor movie screenings...
s followed by releases around the world. It received limited releases in North America, the UK and Australasia
Australasia
Australasia is a region of Oceania comprising Australia, New Zealand, the island of New Guinea, and neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term was coined by Charles de Brosses in Histoire des navigations aux terres australes...
later in 2001.
Cannes Film Festival
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...
selector Gilles Jacob described Amélie as "uninteresting", and therefore it was not screened at the festival, although the version he viewed was an early cut without music. The absence of Amélie at the festival caused something of a controversy because of the warm welcome by the French media and audience in contrast with the reaction of the selector.
Critical response
Alan Morrison from Empire OnlineEmpire Online
Livermore Investment Group is an investment company established by Arnon Katz and Noam Lanir traded on the London Stock Exchange under the symbol . Formerly known as Empire Online, the company was created in 2002...
gave Amélie five stars and called it "one of the year’s best, with crossover potential along the lines of Cyrano De Bergerac and Il Postino
Il Postino
Il Postino is a 1994 Italian film directed by Michael Radford. The film was originally released in the U.S. as The Postman, a straight translation of the Italian title...
. Given its quirky heart, it might well surpass them all."
Paul Tatara from CNN Reviewer praised Amélies playful nature. In her review she said, "Its whimsical, free-ranging nature is often enchanting; the first hour, in particular, is brimming with amiable, sardonic laughs."
The film was attacked by critic Serge Kaganski of Les Inrockuptibles
Les Inrockuptibles
Les Inrockuptibles is a French cultural magazine. Started as a monthly magazine in 1986, it became weekly in 1995. The name is a play on "Les Incorruptibles", the French title of the American television series The Untouchables...
for an unrealistic and picturesque vision of a bygone French society with few ethnic minorities. If the director was trying to create an idyllic vision of a perfect Paris, Kaganski argued, he removed nearly all black people. Jeunet dismissed the criticism by pointing out that the photo collection contains pictures of people from numerous ethnic backgrounds, and that Jamel Debbouze
Jamel Debbouze
Jamel Debbouze is an actor, comedian and producer of Moroccan descent.-Biography:Debbouze is the oldest of five brothers. He was born in Paris, France, but his family moved to Morocco the following year...
, who plays Lucien, is of Moroccan descent.
Awards and honors
The film was a critical and box office success, gaining wide play internationally as well. It was nominated for five Academy Awards:
- Best Art DirectionAcademy Award for Best Art DirectionThe Academy Awards are the oldest awards ceremony for achievements in motion pictures. The Academy Award for Best Art Direction recognizes achievement in art direction on a film. The films below are listed with their production year, so the Oscar 2000 for best art direction went to a film from 1999...
- Aline BonettoAline BonettoAline Bonetto is a French production designer and set decorator, best known for her work with Jean-Pierre Jeunet on films such as Amélie, A Very Long Engagement, and Micmacs à tire-larigot, among others...
(art director), Marie-Laure VallaMarie-Laure VallaMarie-Laure Valla is a French set dresser and set decorator. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Art Direction for her work in Amélie .-External links:...
(set decorator) (lost to Moulin Rouge!Moulin Rouge!Moulin Rouge! is a 2001 romantic jukebox musical film directed, produced, and co-written by Baz Luhrmann. Following the Red Curtain Cinema principles, the film is based on the Orphean myth, La Traviata, and La Bohème...
) - Best CinematographyAcademy Award for Best CinematographyThe Academy Award for Best Cinematography is an Academy Award awarded each year to a cinematographer for work in one particular motion picture.-History:...
- Bruno DelbonnelBruno DelbonnelBruno Delbonnel is a French cinematographer.Delbonnel was born in Nancy, Meurthe-et-Moselle, France and graduated in 1978 from the ESEC ....
(lost to The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring) - Best Foreign Language FilmAcademy Award for Best Foreign Language FilmThe Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film is one of the Academy Awards of Merit, popularly known as the Oscars, handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...
- France (lost to No Man's LandNo Man's Land (2001 film)No Man's Land is a 2001 tragic war drama that is set in the midst of the Bosnian war. The film is a parable and marked the debut of Bosnian writer and director Danis Tanović...
) - Best Original Screenplay - Guillaume Laurant, Jean-Pierre JeunetJean-Pierre Jeunet-Life and career:Jean-Pierre Jeunet was born in Roanne, Loire, France. He bought his first camera at the age of 17 and made short films while studying animation at Cinémation Studios. He befriended Marc Caro, a designer and comic book artist who became his longtime collaborator and...
(lost to Gosford ParkGosford ParkGosford Park is a 2001 British-American mystery comedy-drama film directed by Robert Altman and written by Julian Fellowes. The film stars an ensemble cast, which includes Helen Mirren, Maggie Smith, Eileen Atkins, Alan Bates, and Michael Gambon...
) - Best Sound - Vincent ArnardiVincent ArnardiVincent Arnardi is a French sound engineer. He was nominated for an Academy Award in the category Best Sound for the film Amélie. He has worked on over 200 films since 1978.-External links:...
, Guillaume LericheGuillaume LericheGuillaume Leriche is a French sound engineer. He was nominated for an Academy Award in the category Best Sound for the film Amélie. He has worked on over 70 films since 2000.-External links:...
, Jean UmanskyJean UmanskyJean Umansky is a French sound engineer. He was nominated for an Academy Award in the category Best Sound for the film Amélie. He has worked on over 50 films since 1980.-External links:...
(lost to Black Hawk Down)
In 2001 it won several awards at the European Film Awards, including the Best Film award. It also won the People's Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival
Toronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival is a publicly-attended film festival held each September in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 2010, 339 films from 59 countries were screened at 32 screens in downtown Toronto venues...
and the Crystal Globe
Crystal Globe
Crystal Globe is the main award at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, first given in the city of Karlovy Vary of the Czech Republic, in 1948.In the international competition of films, IFFKV presents the following awards:...
Award at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival
Karlovy Vary International Film Festival
The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival is a film festival held annually in July in Karlovy Vary , Czech Republic. The Karlovy Vary Festival gained worldwide recognition over the past years and has become one of Europe's major film events....
. In 2002, in France, it won the César Award
César Award
The César Award is the national film award of France, first given out in 1975. The nominations are selected by the members of the Académie des arts et techniques du cinéma....
for Best Film
César Award for Best Film
The winners and nominees of the César Award for Best Film .-1970s:-1980s:-1990s:-2000s:-2010s:...
, Best Director
César Award for Best Director
This is the list of winners and nominees of the César Award for Best Director .-1970s:-1980s:-1990s:-2000s:-2010s:...
, Best Music and Best Production Design
César Award for Best Production Design
This is the list of winners and nominees of the César Award for Best Production Design .-Winners and nominees:*1976: Pierre Guffroy: Que la fête commence*1977: Alexandre Trauner: Monsieur Klein...
. It was also awarded the French Syndicate of Cinema Critics
French Syndicate of Cinema Critics
The French Syndicate of Cinema Critics has awarded 4 prizes - the Prix Méliès annually since 1946 to the best French film of the year. The Prix Léon Moussinac, awarded to the Best Foreign Film category was added in 1967...
's Prix Mélies (Best French Film) in the same year.
The film was selected by The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
as one of "The Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made." The film placed #2 in Empire Magazine
Empire (magazine)
Empire is a British film magazine published monthly by Bauer Consumer Media. From the first issue in July 1989, the magazine was edited by Barry McIlheney and published by Emap. Bauer purchased Emap Consumer Media in early 2008...
s "The 100 Best Films of World Cinema". Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
named the film poster one of the best on its list of the top 25 film posters in the past 25 years. It also named Amélie setting up a wild goose chase for her beloved Nino all through Paris as #9 on its list of top 25 Romantic Gestures. In 2010, an online public poll by the American Cinematographer
American Cinematographer
American Cinematographer is a monthly magazine published by the American Society of Cinematographers.American Cinematographer focuses on the art and craft of cinematography, going behind the scenes on domestic and international productions of all shapes and sizes...
– the house journal of the American Society of Cinematographers
American Society of Cinematographers
The American Society of Cinematographers is an educational, cultural, and professional organization. It is not a labor union, and it is not a guild. Membership is by invitation and is extended only to directors of photography and special effects experts with distinguished credits in the film...
– named Amélie the best shot film of the decade.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack to Amélie was composed by Yann TiersenYann Tiersen
Yann Tiersen is a musician from France. His musical career is split between studio albums, collaborations and film soundtracks with a distinctive sound that is always involved...
.
Translation differences
In the English subtitled version, the concierge, Madeleine Wallace, is renamed Madeleine Wells in order to maintain a joke in the screenplay: in the original French, she mentions that she is destined to cry because her name is Madeleine, and goes on to refer to the French expression "pleurer comme une Madeleine" (a reference to the tears cried by Mary Magdalen). Her surname, Wallace, is compared with the Wallace fountains of Paris, continuing the crying theme. The English version retains the mention of Mary Magdalen but alters the joke with the surname, as the phrase "to well up" means to cry. In the English subtitled version, the concierge, Madeleine Wallace, remarks that her husband ran off to PanamaPanama
Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...
. However, in the original French version, her husband runs off to the Pampas.
In the Region 1 English subtitled DVD when Amélie orders Nino to look at 'page 51' of his scrapbook, the subtitle erroneously reads 'Page St.', likely due to the OCR
Optical character recognition
Optical character recognition, usually abbreviated to OCR, is the mechanical or electronic translation of scanned images of handwritten, typewritten or printed text into machine-encoded text. It is widely used to convert books and documents into electronic files, to computerize a record-keeping...
process for conversion. This mistake does not appear on U.S. television sets programmed to display closed captioning
Closed captioning
Closed captioning is the process of displaying text on a television, video screen or other visual display to provide additional or interpretive information to individuals who wish to access it...
.
In the Region 1 English subtitles, Amélie says "But I hate it in old movies, when drivers don't watch the road"; but the French dialogue in fact means "But I hate it in old American films when the drivers don't watch the road." This distinction, however, remains in the Region 2 English subtitling.
At the end of the film, the narrator explains "...in Villette Park, Félix Lerbier learns there are more links in his brain than atoms in the universe," while in the French there is the word "possible" links in the brain. The idea of 'possible' links is important not only for the scientific truth of the statement, but also for the underlying philosophy of the movie; that is, Amélie's fabulous destiny and that of the people she influences in the film is not predetermined but consists of a set of possibilities that are finally subject to her will.
Influence
For the 2007 television show Pushing DaisiesPushing Daisies
Pushing Daisies is an American comedy-drama television series created by Bryan Fuller that aired on ABC from October 3, 2007 to June 13, 2009. The series stars Lee Pace as Ned, a pie-maker with the ability to bring dead things back to life with his touch, an ability that comes with stipulations...
, a "quirky fairy tale," ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
sought an Amélie feel, with the same chords of "whimsy and spirit and magic." Pushing Daisies director Bryan Fuller
Bryan Fuller
Bryan Fuller is an American screenwriter and television producer.Fuller graduated from Clarkston High School in Clarkston, Washington in 1987...
said Amélie is his favorite film. "All the things I love are represented in that movie," he said. "It's a movie that will make me cry based on kindness as opposed to sadness." Because of this, The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
review of Pushing Daisies reported "the 'Amélie' influence on 'Pushing Daisies' is everywhere".
In the 2009 film Bunny and the Bull
Bunny and the Bull
Bunny and the Bull is a 2009 British comedy film from writer-director Paul King. It stars Edward Hogg and Simon Farnaby in a surreal recreation of a road trip...
, the scenes set in the real world of Stephen's flat have the same red green and gold feel of Amelies interiors.
A species of frog was named Cochranella
Cochranella
Cochranella is a genus of glass frogs, characterized by lacking humeral spines in males, and having a lobed liver. About one-third of the species formerly placed in Cochranella were placed into the genus Nymphargus....
amelie. The scientist who named it said: "this new species of Glass frog
Glass frog
Glass frog is the common name for the frogs of the amphibian family Centrolenidae . While the general background coloration of most glass frogs is primarily lime green, the abdominal skin of some members of this family is transparent...
is for Amélie, protagonist of the extraordinary movie "Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain"; a film where little details play an important role in the achievement of joie de vivre; like the important role that Glassfrogs and all amphibians and reptiles play in the health of our planet". The species was described in the scientific journal Zootaxa http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/ in an article entitled "An enigmatic new species of Glassfrog (Amphibia: Anura: Centrolenidae) from the Amazonian Andean slopes of Ecuador" http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2007f/z01485p041f.pdf.
Blu-ray release
The UK distributor, Momentum Pictures, is due to release the Blu-ray on 17th October 2011.The film has no overall worldwide distributor, but Blu-ray discs have been released in Canada and Australia. The first release occurred in Canada in September 2008 by TVA Films. This version did not contain any English subtitles and received criticisms regarding picture quality. In November 2009, an Australian release occurred. This time the version contained English subtitles and features no region coding.
See also
- Cinema of FranceCinema of FranceThe Cinema of France comprises the art of film and creative movies made within the nation of France or by French filmmakers abroad.France is the birthplace of cinema and was responsible for many of its early significant contributions. Several important cinematic movements, including the Nouvelle...
- Cinema of GermanyCinema of GermanyCinema in Germany can be traced back to the late 19th century. German cinema has made major technical and artistic contributions to film.Unlike any other national cinemas, which developed in the context of relatively continuous and stable political systems, Germany witnesses major changes to its...
- List of French language films
- List of Russian language films