Amazon.com: Perhaps the most charming movie of all time, Amélie 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 café; 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. --Bret Fetzer
Product Description: Quiet and reserved, Amelie Poulin spends her days as a waitress at a Paris cafe and entertains herself by playing kindhearted practical jokes on her neighbors, finding love in the meantime. Genre: Foreign Film - French Rating: R Release Date: 14-JAN-2003 Media Type: DVD
a stinker like the streets of paris What could be more irritating than a shy busy body who's idea of happiness is manipulating peoples interaction with each other. God help us if Amelie was a male, any number of stalking laws may be seen as violated. If you want want you French movie experience to be all quaint streets, homely cafes, street markets and bagettes then enjoy all the cliches this fantasy has to offer. My jaded memory of Paris is still the smell of dog poop on the streets and $6 coffees (and that was in the 80's).
Feel good movie Amelie is unlike most French movies which I have seen. It is uplifting and lighthearted. Amelie is a like a fair godmother doing good for those around her.
great movie I really enjoyed and continue to enjoy this movie. It a same that American movies can't seem to be able to tell a story without a whole lot of sex or nudity. This has very little and its not the whole premise of the movie. I find that this movie is like the older American movies where the longing and searching are sexier than the actual act of sex. I am not going to go into detail about the movie because I feel you have to see it to enjoy it. Take a chance and watch this great movie.
Gamin de Paris - Audrey Hepburn re-incarnated Here is a film which relies on a star in a way which has not been seen for decades. I am reminded of Audrey Hepburn in the fifties and Louise Brooks in the twenties. It proves that often, nothing changes!
"Amelie" is an enchanting piece of porcelain which relies almost completely on the gamin charms and range of expressions of its star Audrey Tatou. Tatou does not give an acting performance in the conventional sense, but the director Jean Pierre Jeunet subjects her to endless closeups smiling at the camera and the story relies on her ability to seduce us into her fantasy world. Fortunately, she succeeds. While at times the complicated web of stories become convoluted and overlong, an invaluable and droll commentary keeps things in check. For 2 hours we are transported into Amelie's world. There are endless visual tricks alomg the way, some enchanting, others pretentious but this is the ultimate feel good film and all plot points, however hard to follow, are neatly tied up.
The copy I have is a special edition with some good extras including a commentary from the director in heavily accented English, an interview with him and a few members of the cast who barely get a word and some cute bits like auditions and a series of stills, behind the scenes and otherwise.
The Special Edition DVD package is OK value.
Great French movie also enjoyable to Americans Even though I'm a French teacher, I'm not big on French film. It is always really weird and certain to have very unnecessary and random nudity in it. However, I love this movie and have seen it many times. It has a cute and creative plot, and shows a lot of neat things about Paris and French culture. It's great for a French class, provided you fastforward through the one or 2 places of typical French nudity. Luckily, in this movie that is not too hard to do.
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