Photo from Imdb
Plot Summary
Paris 1997,
More than 20 years ago, Amelie Poulain was born in a family of Raphael-a doctor and Amandine-a schoolteacher. When Amelie was six, her father said that she had a serious heart defect when in fact, Amelie’s heart beat faster due to nervousness from her father’s rare contact. He declared Amelie to be too delicate for school, so she was taught at home by her mother. One day, her mother was accidentally killed by a suicidal tourist falling from the roof of Notre Dame. Her father became deeply depressed giving even less care for Amelie. Amelie had to amuse herself with her simple life since her romantic relationships were often disappointing.
On August 31, 1997, as she was watching a news report of Princess Diana’s death, chance led Amelie to discover a small box behind a wall in her bathroom. It contained photos, toys, and stuff from decades before. Amelie decided to find the box’s owner to return it, and if he was touched by the gesture, she would dedicate her life to such acts of kindness. After several talks with the elderly living in the apartment building, she found out a name of the box’s owner. The problem was that there were many similar names around the city, but she eventually found the exact owner and secretly returned him the box. The owner was brought to tears by his childhood memories. Amelie’s act also inspired him to visit his estranged daughter and finally met his grandson.
Amelie then decided to encourage her aging and unhappy father to travel for the first time. She stole his beloved garden gnome and gave it to her stewardess friend, who took pictures of it in famous foreign locations at her flight stops. Amelie anonymously sent the pictures to her father, hoping to inspire him.
One day, at the train station, Amelie encountered Nino, an eccentric young man whose hobby was reconstructing torn-up pictures found underneath photo booths. Nino accidentally dropped one of his photo albums when chasing a mysterious man through the station, and Amelie had a chance to look through it. The man Nino was chasing appeared many times throughout the album, and Nino wanted to discover his identity. So did Amelie. It appeared that Nino himself had an isolating childhood, like Amelie, and the two grew up only a few miles apart, longing for friends but never meeting. Amelie decided to have a plan for returning the album, but was more interested in meeting Nino.
In the meantime, Amelie also set up a love relationship between her co-worker at the coffee shop and a regular but annoyed customer. She helped a woman in her apartment building overcome an obsession that her husband didn’t love her. She taught a lesson for a shop’s owner who always harassed his retard employee. Amelie had regular visits with Raymond Dufayel, who had been recreating the same painting for 20 years. He encouraged Amelie to pursuit for her own happiness.
After leaving behind her shyness, Amelie finally met Nino and they began a relationship. Some time later, they were still happy together. The final scenes showed that all of the characters in the movie found their own happiness, implying that life’s beautiful and miraculous.
Fact: Jacques Chirac, as President of France, publicly stated that watching “Amelie” was the single most enjoyable experience of his life.
What’s in it for me?
First off, the story seems overly optimistic, but that optimism doesn’t overtake the story and make the story unlikely to happen in real life. Instead, it makes me feel life’s beautiful no matter what, and we all need optimism to live our lives. I believe that the film is supposed to convey the idea that there is someone out there for everyone. Even if someone feels weird and out of touch with everyone else around them, there is someone out there for them somewhere. In the movie, for example, Amélie gives random act of happiness to the people around her which rewards her the happy ending: meeting a guy of her dream. This story gives hope for us, it brings the idea that a nice, happy person who brings positivity to everybody might be exist in this “crazy” world.
Parents’ role in the development of a child is also mentioned in the beginning of the film. As a child, Amelie is longing for loving touch from her father who is too engrossed with his own work and only touches her when doing her checkup. Love from her mother is also in short supply as the mother is shown to be a strict character. After her mother passes away, her father gets even worse in terms expressing his care and concern towards Amelie. As a result, she forms a world of her own and invents her own games to keep herself occupied. This can explain for Amelie’s introverted nature. I’m not saying that introverts are not good. What I’m thinking is Amelie wants love as everyone else, but since she’s shy and silent and a dreamer, it’s difficult for her to fall for someone. It may be a big disadvantage for introverts.
In my mind, Paris truly is a city for love instead of the fact that this city has been a target for terrorist attack due to tensions surrounding France’s immigrant Muslim communities. I’m wondering if all of us were like happy-giving Amelie, the world would be much much better.
Who’s in the movie?
Director:
Jean-Pierre Jeunet. He was nominated Oscar for Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen with this movie. Jeunet won BAFTA Film Award for Best Screenplay – Original with this movie.
Stars:
Audrey Tautou as Amelie. She was nominated BAFTA Film Award for Best Leading Actress with this movie and Coco avant Chanel (2009). She’s also known for The Davinci Code (2006), A Very Long Engagement (2004), L’auberge espagnole (2004)
Ratings
People who like this movie should watch
Life is beautiful (1997)
Midnight in Paris (2011)
Frances Ha (2012)
Submarine (2010)
Moonrise Kingdom (2012)
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