"Amelie," a delectable French confection in the spirit of "Chocolat," is sure to please America's sweet tooth. Compared with this ooh-la-licious bonbon, last year's charmer is merely a Whitman's Sampler. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
Both movies deal in magical realism and center on women who meddle in other people's lives, and might have been hard to tell apart if it weren't for the visual dynamics and whimsical storytelling of "Amelie" director Jean-Pierre Jeunet.
Audrey Tautou stars in "Amelie."
(Miramax Zoe)
|
|
"Amelie" marks a departure in tone for Jeunet, whose films tend toward twisted fare like 1991's cannibalism comedy "Delicatessen," and 1995's macabre fairy tale "The City of Lost Children." This film is an endearing import but also has a darkly funny side. The latter comes into play in the quirky prologue that introduces Amelie Poulain, a clever pixie whose overprotective parents keep her isolated from other kids.
So Amelie grows into a lonesome child, becoming all the more withdrawn when her mother is smooshed by a suicide plummeting from a spire of Notre Dame. Afterward, her father ignores her, devoting himself to creating the ultimate creche for his wife's urn. Imagination becomes her only companion.
By the time we catch up with the grown-up Amelie (Audrey Tautou), a shy but mischievous waitress at a tiny cafe, she is still living in a world of her own. But her life takes a dramatic turn when she discovers a rusty box of childhood treasures that some child hid behind a bathroom tile decades earlier.
She seeks out the original owner, now in his fifties, and anonymously returns the cache. This random act of kindness brings tears to his eyes and inspires Amelie to go about improving other people's lives. Among them, that of her mopey father, who is still working on the shrine after all these years; a sour grocer who belittles his slow assistant; a fragile shut-in who copies Renoir's "Luncheon of the Boating Party" once every year; and a hypochondriac tobacconist itching for love. As she learns to shape the fates of others, Amelie realizes that she is just as capable of orchestrating her own dream. This hinges on gathering up the courage to approach the love of her life (Mathieu Kassovitz). While leading him through a series of cat-and-mouse games, she gradually forges the chutzpah to make her move.
It takes a little longer than it probably should, but that's a quibble considering the complexity of the plot, Jeunet's attention to detail – whether photographing a garden gnome, a smoldering Gitane or the cobblestones of Montmartre. All of Jeunet's work would have been for naught if the gamin Tautou weren't at the center of this delightful swirl.
"Amelie" is joie de vivre in a nougat.
AMELIE (R, 120 minutes) – is rated R for implied sexual content. At the Cineplex Odeon Dupont Circle in French with subtitles.
