My Favorite Movies: Amélie

The Oscar's were tonight so it's fitting that I finish up my "Favorite Things" series with my final film.I will continue discussing more favorites in the next coming months.

 

Super quirky and super heartwarming. That's how I would describe the French film Amélie which stars Audrey Tautou (from the Da Vinci Code) as the title character. I have a secret love for foreign film movies and this is at the top of my list (with Maria, Full of Grace, Y Tu Mamá También and Pan's Labyrinth rounding out the rest). 

Most of the story is told through the narrator, which gives it a very interesting feel as he also gives voice to some of Amélie's inner thoughts. The story revolves around a young, eccentric girl that  uses her imagination as a way to deal with loneliness (as her parents kept her from being around other children-they thought she had a heart defect). Later, she decides to strike it out on her own and becomes a waitress. On the day that Princess Diana dies, she discovers a metal box (hidden under the floor that was after she dropped perfume on the floor in shock) and from there goes on a quest to bringing happiness to other people.

The visuals are beautiful and the music is very fitting (and French) that you don't even notice the subtitles (other than to read them). Amélie is a very quirky character and most of the other people in her life have their oddities about them but that's what makes this story so genuine. One of the more charming things seen in the movie is when she helps her father (who is an extreme agoraphobic) "explore" the world by having a flight attendant friend takes his beloved garden gnome with her on her travels and take pictures for him.

In the end I feel that Amélie recognizes that she can help herself be happy, just like she strives to make other people happy as well. And that she doesn't have to settle for loneliness because there was someone out there just as eccentric as she is.

FanGirl Rating: 5/5 A truly unique and quirky film with a memorable characters and situations. This is a movie that doesn't take itself too seriously but it still has a lot of heart, which I can definitely appreciate. It's a a film based in (relative) realism that everyone could learn something from.