Amelie 
(Le Fabuleux destin d' Amelie Poulain)


            I have a new crush and her name is Audrey Tautou.  She is the star of Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s brilliant film Amelie.  Her enormous brown eyes and puckered smile have brought me meaning to the French phrase “oo-la-la”.  It is especially interesting to know that Jeunet’s first choice for the role was my former crush Emily Watson. 
         In addition to my going ga-ga for the actress, I also went ga-ga for the story, direction, set design and photography which all wrapped up the most beautiful film of 2001.   I could only expect so much from one of my favorite filmmakers.  Jeunet has returned from his Hollywood failure “Alien: Resurrection”, and without pairing up with his original collaborator Marc Caro (with whom he co-directed the masterpieces Delicatessen and The City of Lost Children) has shown us that he can still bring magic to audiences around the world.  
       Amelie is very different from his earlier work, leaving behind the dark cinematography of Darius Khondji for a much brighter and more colorful palette.   This is more the fairy tales of Disney than Brothers Grimm.  For the first time, Jeunet also uses real locations rather than worlds constructed on sound stages, though he still manages to create a fantastic environment not found in the real streets of Paris.  He has created a Paris true only to his characters much like Wes Anderson has done with New York in The Royal Tenenbaums. 
           It was not surprising that I found Amelie to be the most romantic film since The Fisher King.  Jeunet’s imagination has often been compared to that of Terry Gilliam’s.  The structure here, though, reminds me more of Jaco van Dormael (Toto the Hero).   The story revolves around Amelie (Tautou), a waitress who finds pleasure in anonymous charity towards co-workers and customers, finding love in the process. 
         And as I said before, I too found love in the process.   Tautou is amazing as Amelie and I wonder if my crush is more on the character, but having seen no other roles she’s played, I cannot be sure.  For all I care, Audrey and Amelie are the same.   I couldn’t imagine anyone else in the part, not even Emily Watson.  I can barely even remember any other actors being in the film because my eyes were so drawn to her.  The one exception being Dominique Pinon who I have enjoyed in each of Jeunet’s pictures.  He is like a rubbery caricature of Jean Paul Belmondo (Breathless). 
           I will be going back again and again to see “Amelie”. It was such a joy watching the actress and director’s vision and I really hope that it will propell both her career as well as his so that I may have this much fun at the movies again someday.

Even Amelie, herself, loves the new film from Jean-Pierre Jeunet