DVD Review - Amelie (2001)

 

 Amelie Poulain is a young woman who endeavours to bring a little happiness to the lives of those living around her. Despite a rather stunted childhood, she uses many ingenious methods to help the quirky and eccentric people she loves.  These include her father, a glum recluse, who has never offered Amelie any warmth or love. As a result, Amelie has grown up wrapped in her own dreams by way of escaping her lonely life. However, Amelie’s vocation in helping others draws her out of herself and she finds what she believes to be her purpose.

Unlike many feel good films, Amelie is not the perfect heroine. She’s clever and childlike and a little bit out of step, but you love her for it. The film has a typically French sense of style and subtly, with a recurring theme of nostalgia. Throughout the film we are reminded of those things we loved as children, and forgot as we grew up.

The film is shot in saturated colour with a ‘hyper real’ atmosphere in every shot. The sound track is utterly beautiful, echoing the film’s whimsical and sweet nature. The Montmartre portrayed is picture-postcard like, if not completely realistic. And that is quite in tune with the films suspension from reality.

By Erin Bradshaw

Amelie is shelved in the DVD ZONE under 'Foreign Language, French' 791.430944 A