Life in its complexity is an amazing journey. But sometimes life can be seen and told in the simplest of way. Yesterday I saw a French movie Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain (The Fabulous Destiny of Amélie Poulain), or Amélie which portrays life through the eyes of a girl Amélie Poulain. The language was difficult to understand although I have some knowledge on French language but the subtitles made it easier for me to grasp the essence of this beautiful movie.
Amélie is the story of a girl who grows in a well protected family where his life evolved around her strict mother and her doctor father and a not so friendly neighborhood. The classic side of this movie is the fact that the photography and the humor used to depict the realities of life is amazingly powerful. Her father had his mistaken belief that she suffers from a heart disease (a mistake in fact resulting from the increase in her heartbeat caused by the rare thrill of physical contact by her father, who only ever touched her during medical check-ups). Her mother (who is as equally neurotic as her father) dies when she is young, victim of a freak accident involving a suicide from a Quebecan who threw herself off the top of a cathedral and landed on Amélie's mother.After her mothers death Amélie grows up and goes out to work in a pub and the story encircles her life, her aspiration and her dreams. The Two Windmills, run by a former circus performer and staffed / frequented by a gang of eccentrics. By age 22, life for Amélie is simple; having spurned romantic relationships following a few failed efforts, she has devoted herself to simple pleasures, such as cracking crème brûlées with a teaspoon, going for walks in the Paris sunshine, skipping stones across the water surface, trying to guess how many people in Paris are having an orgasm at one moment ("Fifteen!", as she tells the camera), and letting her imagination roam free.
Life was as mundane as ever for Amélie till he chanced to hit upon a hidden treasure (On the day when Lady Diana dies) of little boy inside their house. He goes in search of a boy promising to herself that if she managed to find her she would continue her selfless good deeds for the humanity. She managed to find the boy who is now a man in late 60’s and managed to give him back his childhood treasure, the happiness in him made her feel like an guardian angel. As her practice from the childhood she goes on to make life easier for the people around her, punishing the guilty and helping the ones that need help. Till one day she met her childhood acquaintance and falls for him. She tries to keep her feelings and identity hidden from the man yet succeeds in making him understand her feelings. The images of the painter which actually tries to depict her state of mind is really fascinating. He was like her own conscience that kept her edging for more out of life. Her life was lonely as ever although she tried to fill up others lives with happiness, may be that’s why the painter couldn’t get the expression of the little girl who happened to be Amélie in his drawing. The story ends in a wonderful way with Amélie meeting her love destiny and solving most of the problems that she got hold of along the way like the mystery man in the photo album and so on..
This movies has a rich use of colors and imagery. The most important factor is the simple way of story telling. The touching part of this movie is the way at which the life of contemporary French society is depicted. Every character in the movie should be applauded for bringing their characters to life.
The cast of the movie is given below
Audrey Tautou....Amélie Poulain
Mathieu Kassovitz....Nino Quincampoix
Rufus.... Raphaël Poulain
Lorella Cravotta....Amandine Poulain
Serge Merlin....Raymond Dufayel
Jamel Debbouze....Lucien
Clotilde Mollet....Gina
Claire Maurier....Suzanne
Isabelle Nanty....Georgette
Dominique Pinon....Joseph
Artus de Penguern....Hipolito
Yolande Moreau....Madeleine Wallace
Urbain Cancelier....Collignon
Maurice Bénichou....Dominique Bretodeau
Michel Robin....Mr. Collignon
The movie is really great and is worth watching. May be its my first movie in French language but the movie is good enough to draw my attention towards French Cinema. Hopefully I will be able to see more of such movies in the days to come.
Amélie is the story of a girl who grows in a well protected family where his life evolved around her strict mother and her doctor father and a not so friendly neighborhood. The classic side of this movie is the fact that the photography and the humor used to depict the realities of life is amazingly powerful. Her father had his mistaken belief that she suffers from a heart disease (a mistake in fact resulting from the increase in her heartbeat caused by the rare thrill of physical contact by her father, who only ever touched her during medical check-ups). Her mother (who is as equally neurotic as her father) dies when she is young, victim of a freak accident involving a suicide from a Quebecan who threw herself off the top of a cathedral and landed on Amélie's mother.After her mothers death Amélie grows up and goes out to work in a pub and the story encircles her life, her aspiration and her dreams. The Two Windmills, run by a former circus performer and staffed / frequented by a gang of eccentrics. By age 22, life for Amélie is simple; having spurned romantic relationships following a few failed efforts, she has devoted herself to simple pleasures, such as cracking crème brûlées with a teaspoon, going for walks in the Paris sunshine, skipping stones across the water surface, trying to guess how many people in Paris are having an orgasm at one moment ("Fifteen!", as she tells the camera), and letting her imagination roam free.
Life was as mundane as ever for Amélie till he chanced to hit upon a hidden treasure (On the day when Lady Diana dies) of little boy inside their house. He goes in search of a boy promising to herself that if she managed to find her she would continue her selfless good deeds for the humanity. She managed to find the boy who is now a man in late 60’s and managed to give him back his childhood treasure, the happiness in him made her feel like an guardian angel. As her practice from the childhood she goes on to make life easier for the people around her, punishing the guilty and helping the ones that need help. Till one day she met her childhood acquaintance and falls for him. She tries to keep her feelings and identity hidden from the man yet succeeds in making him understand her feelings. The images of the painter which actually tries to depict her state of mind is really fascinating. He was like her own conscience that kept her edging for more out of life. Her life was lonely as ever although she tried to fill up others lives with happiness, may be that’s why the painter couldn’t get the expression of the little girl who happened to be Amélie in his drawing. The story ends in a wonderful way with Amélie meeting her love destiny and solving most of the problems that she got hold of along the way like the mystery man in the photo album and so on..
This movies has a rich use of colors and imagery. The most important factor is the simple way of story telling. The touching part of this movie is the way at which the life of contemporary French society is depicted. Every character in the movie should be applauded for bringing their characters to life.
The cast of the movie is given below
Audrey Tautou....Amélie Poulain
Mathieu Kassovitz....Nino Quincampoix
Rufus.... Raphaël Poulain
Lorella Cravotta....Amandine Poulain
Serge Merlin....Raymond Dufayel
Jamel Debbouze....Lucien
Clotilde Mollet....Gina
Claire Maurier....Suzanne
Isabelle Nanty....Georgette
Dominique Pinon....Joseph
Artus de Penguern....Hipolito
Yolande Moreau....Madeleine Wallace
Urbain Cancelier....Collignon
Maurice Bénichou....Dominique Bretodeau
Michel Robin....Mr. Collignon
The movie is really great and is worth watching. May be its my first movie in French language but the movie is good enough to draw my attention towards French Cinema. Hopefully I will be able to see more of such movies in the days to come.
3 comments:
Hello random blogger!
I loved Amelie too... it had a very whimsical and joyous feeling to it =)
Hi Julia.Yea my blogs are random.I write what i feel and think and thoughts are often random.And hence my blog is named "I wandered Lonely as a Cloud".
Amelie was really a good movie.
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