Jean-Pierre Jeunet's "AMELIE"

It's weird. I get that with certian movies, sometimes. When you're almost heartbroken it's not going to go on forever. Only a few movies can have that effect on me. There's one movie besides this one, I can name off the top of my head--but I'm not going to tell everyone. Just you.

I'm giving this thread a major "The French just do it better" *Bump*. Since no one has posted in here in several years it seems to me now is as good as time as any to shed some more light on this terrific film. So please review this whole thread and then run, don't walk and get this fantastic film.

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We are both the source of the problem and the solution, yet we do not see ourselves in this light...

Yup. You won't get much argument here. I review this one in my thread, as well. Great, great stuff. I am due to watch it again soon....

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Yeah that's where I found this thread actually you had the link posted at the bottom of you're review. Good on ya! Here is Sedai's wonderful review as well...

I absolutely adore Amélie... and so need to pop it into the DVD again... very soon....

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Ultimate feel good movie this one. Its like sugar and strawberrys wrapped in a blanket of clouds with ranbow ribbons inside your belly. Yes.

A Very Long Engagement also by Jeunet is one of my favourite films. Equally as beautiful, wonderful, yet heart breaking. Gosh i love em' both.

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I love A Very Long Engagement too... Have you seen Tautou in He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not? It's not a Jeunet and is very different from either of the others mentioned, but it's also a favorite of mine....

I think I might get sugar-poisoning if I tried to watch it again, but there's no denying this is a brilliant, wonderfully-made film. When this came out I think I was on Thanksgiving or Winter break from college. I took my sister (then in 5th or 6th grade) to see it, we loved it.

This film was brilliant. I'd like to see more from this director...

Well put.

I think Delicatessen is still his best, but yeah I make a point of watching anything he touches.

I haven't seen this one yet. I'll check it out this weekend.

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If God had wanted me otherwise, He would have created me otherwise.

Johann von Goethe

Okay, saw this gem and loved it. Sweet, but not toothache sweet. I loved the characters, the photography, and the color. The relationship with Amelie and Mr. Dufayel was understated and quiet and I liked it very much. I was touched when Nino comes into Amelie's apartment, and they have their introduction without any dialogue. Beautiful.

The one thing I want to say about Amelie, and yes, I think it's wonderful, is that if you don't understand French, you'll have to watch the beginning three or four times to even understand what's going on. That's how fast the editing, narration and dialogue are moving.

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This reminds me, I still haven't seen A Very Long Engagement. I'll have to do that.

Delicatessen is awesome though. I think it's the only one of his that I've seen twice.

Check out the book A Very Long Engagement by Sébastien Japrisot too, it's lovely

, Well, I say there chap. What are you waiting for? How was that? Was that even remotely British? Anyway, You may like A Very Long Engagement, I've heard and read a lot of folks saying that A Very Long Engagement is the same movie as Amelie. And obviously I think that's a bunch of Horse puckey, otherwise I think he just would of called it Amelie 2. Sure it has the same actress in it, (weird huh?) but it's not the same movie at all. If Jeunet has done a more traditional "love" story than this is probably you're cup of tea. However there is still a lot of those little things in it that make a Jeunet film a Jeunet film. Dig?

A Very Long Engagement the same movie as Amelie? Silly people, whatever were they watching? Amelie is a whimsical, magical film. Engagement was based on a book about a seriously determined woman who loved a man and wouldn't let him go no matter how long it took to find him. More than that, the Mathilde of the book was made to be in a Jeunet film, she's quirky and brave already on the page. The film's a very good adaptation of quite a tortuously plotted, but excellent book.

This is a thread I started back in November of 2001 (!!!) after I first saw Amélie theatrically. It made the cut on the first MoFo Top 100 List in 2010, placing at #34. Tastes change, MoFo membership and voters change, and over time the vibrance of a film can fade even among fans. It did not make the cut for the list that is just about to wrap up.

I still had it on my ballot and it remains a seminal film for me. Jeunet has never reached this level since. I thought A Very Long Engagement was very good, darker than Amélie in many respects but still full of wonder and his gifts for humor and visuals were well employed. Micmacs is a fun little flick for what it is, but feels like a step backward. The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet feels too contrived, like Jeunet trying desperately to make a Jeunet movie. He finally has another film coming, Big Bug, and from the few descriptions I have read it sounds more akin to Delicatessen. But we shall see.

Anyway I wanted to resurrect this thread for anyone who still loves Amélie and for anybody who may be getting around to watching it for the first time.

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"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra

The main thing I took away from watching Amélie was a fear of walking past a building and being crushed to death by someone trying to kill themselves by jumping off said building.

But seriously, it is just one of those films where I watched it and liked it well enough but simply have not thought about one way or another in years (death-by-jumper paranoia notwithstanding). I probably owe it another viewing to see if it really sticks, but it does seem like the kind of film that is custom-built to instantly charm a viewer.

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Iro's Top 100 Movies v3.0

Someone needs to use this as their sig...