Why it’s famous:
Considered one of the greatest foreign films of all time, this movie is artistic and hilariously written. It transports its audience to the strange and delightful world of Amélie, an eccentric but lovable character. Played by the brilliant Audrey Tautou, she perfectly captures the character’s melancholic yet adorably imaginative personality.
Famous lines:
Raymond Dufayel: You mean she would rather imagine herself relating to an absent person than build relationships with those around her?
The newsstand woman: A woman without love wilts like a flower without sun.
Amélie (to her father, who is not paying attention): I had two heart attacks, an abortion, did crack while I was pregnant. Other than that, I’m fine.
Why you haven’t seen it:
Your significant other tried to make you watch it, but the oddness of the storyline and the absence of high-speed car chases made you impatient, which made you start asking questions nonstop: Did I miss the first part of the movie? Why is her fish trying to commit suicide? Why is she so weird and quiet? Can we watch Fast & Furious 6?
Why it might be tough to get through:
At times this film can get artistically confusing and completely random. It’s also entirely in French, so if you can’t tolerate subtitles, you’ll end up watching it dubbed, which really takes away from the beauty of the movie as a whole.
Why you should see it anyway:
Amélie is without a doubt a masterpiece. Not only is the cinematography absolutely perfect, it’s also a very beautiful story, with characters we can all identify with on some level. It will leave you feeling absurdly happy, completely satisfied, and eating raspberries off your fingertips.
Fun Facts:
• With the exception of a brief phone call during which Amélie gives instructions to Nino — who in turn simply listens and never gets around to replying verbally — the two leads do not exchange a single line of dialogue during the course of the entire film.
• Whenever this film was shot on location, director Jean-Pierre Jeunet and the crew would clean the area of debris, grime, trash and graffiti, so that the film would match the fantasy he wished to project in the movie.
• Jeunet originally started collecting the stories and memories that make up the story in 1974.
