This movie is not quirky in a way which feels overly quirky or in a way that just feels pretentious, this is quirky but it's just lovely. Amélie is of course the French film that was very well received when it first appeared in the early 2000's and not just from the audiences of France, no Amélie seemed to take the hearts of people from around the world and managed or still manages it should be said to capture the hearts of many who view it. Although some claim this to be a masterpiece I don't think it is quite at that calibre, nevertheless it is still a great movie and one that is highly recommendable, even to those who wouldn't think they would like it.
The story centres around well Amélie of course, Amélie Poulain is just a seemingly normal woman working in a Parisian café and lives by herself, but of course we as the viewer get to see what she is truly like. She is not weird really but she is definitely odd, but Amélie is awesome in this film because she is extremely hard to really dislike or the performance of the lady playing her, Audrey Tautou. The plot see's Amélie do a lot of things actually, she becomes a friend of sorts with a fragile old man, tries to find a young man who caught her eye and messes with her dad, sounds like a very random plot and to be fair, it is.
The pacing of the film is frantic and speedy, the lines sometimes come out extremely fast and all credit to the cast for really getting the dialogue out in a way which in funny and entertaining. Jean-Pierre Jeunet directs the movie and really tells quite a little story at the helm, he makes this super strange but really entertaining and although the decision to colour the movie in terms of lenses is quite a peculiar choice, it actually pretty much works in the end. Guillaume Laurant who thought up the story alongside Jeunet then also writes the film and gives Jeunet a great little script to work with, the movie moves along without stopping for too long and that I feel really makes this keep going until the very end.
I mentioned Tautou as Amélie and she is very good in the role, she very much makes you feel for the character and she is fun to be around as well. Serge Merlin as the frail man Amélie befriends is good and works well at the beginning of the story because most other characters take a little while to get used to with the random stuff they say and do. Mathieu Kassovitz as Nino Quincampoix is pretty good too, when he is in the film the story is usually at quite a fast part and so Kassovitz does a good job of keeping the pace going so that the movie really does flow very nicely indeed.
I feel Amélie demands a second watch, I watched this the first time and felt it was pretty basic, but on the second watch I truly opened my eyes and saw this for the great film it is. I couldn't recommend this more to those who haven't already seen it, it's fun, oddly thrilling and just generally very different indeed. So Amélie, a film that showcases how quirky can be done so well but also shows just how good French cinema can be, oh and this movie is stunning to look at by the way.
The story centres around well Amélie of course, Amélie Poulain is just a seemingly normal woman working in a Parisian café and lives by herself, but of course we as the viewer get to see what she is truly like. She is not weird really but she is definitely odd, but Amélie is awesome in this film because she is extremely hard to really dislike or the performance of the lady playing her, Audrey Tautou. The plot see's Amélie do a lot of things actually, she becomes a friend of sorts with a fragile old man, tries to find a young man who caught her eye and messes with her dad, sounds like a very random plot and to be fair, it is.
The pacing of the film is frantic and speedy, the lines sometimes come out extremely fast and all credit to the cast for really getting the dialogue out in a way which in funny and entertaining. Jean-Pierre Jeunet directs the movie and really tells quite a little story at the helm, he makes this super strange but really entertaining and although the decision to colour the movie in terms of lenses is quite a peculiar choice, it actually pretty much works in the end. Guillaume Laurant who thought up the story alongside Jeunet then also writes the film and gives Jeunet a great little script to work with, the movie moves along without stopping for too long and that I feel really makes this keep going until the very end.
I mentioned Tautou as Amélie and she is very good in the role, she very much makes you feel for the character and she is fun to be around as well. Serge Merlin as the frail man Amélie befriends is good and works well at the beginning of the story because most other characters take a little while to get used to with the random stuff they say and do. Mathieu Kassovitz as Nino Quincampoix is pretty good too, when he is in the film the story is usually at quite a fast part and so Kassovitz does a good job of keeping the pace going so that the movie really does flow very nicely indeed.
I feel Amélie demands a second watch, I watched this the first time and felt it was pretty basic, but on the second watch I truly opened my eyes and saw this for the great film it is. I couldn't recommend this more to those who haven't already seen it, it's fun, oddly thrilling and just generally very different indeed. So Amélie, a film that showcases how quirky can be done so well but also shows just how good French cinema can be, oh and this movie is stunning to look at by the way.