Day 34 - 02/03/2019

  With mixed prior experiences as a director, Jean-Pierre Jeunet takes on Amélie as both writer and director, years after the release of Alien's fourth movie. It has a new take on the subtleties of a simple movie, not only by telling a basic story with great usage of colors, camera action and acting, mainly Audrey Tautou, but also by being a lighthearted experience on the simple fact it limits its ambition. However, it does backfire at times, as watching Amélie can become a combination of emptiness and moments of joy. 

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  Amélie (Audrey Tautou) is a woman with the soul of a child. She went through various hardships through her childhood and finds a new objective to life after encountering a rusty old box, containing belongings of a person she never met before. Her desire to return it to the original owner unravels a series of events, giving her the realization that she finds happiness by making others happy as well.. 

 

  In a way, the basic plot and characters is the identity of the film. It makes Amélie a nuanced and mysterious person behind her iconic face and perverse look, most definitely being the strongest plot device that brings people together. The way the colors are used exceptionally, as specific palettes, gives the proper tone to every scene without the need of a single word or gesture, even culminating in easy perceptions of flashbacks and current events without being blatantly obvious. Lastly, the screenplay takes on a butterfly effect attribute, bringing the sequence of events of all scenes comprehensible and soothing. 

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  Consequently, bringing a simple premise has its drawbacks. By being a woman with simple motivations and surrounded by simple people, Amélie becomes the only character that the audience cares about, as all others are disposable towards the plot. She ends up being quite dull in terms development, and in general, is just a person that happens to be at a specific place for a sequence of events that is yet to come. It makes it so that none of her desires or emotions seem honest and turns the experience, despite enjoyable, completely forgettable. 

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  Jean-Pierre Jeunet definitely stepped up from his previous work, having the great improvement that this time he actually  managed to give an identity to his work. As an overall overrated film, Amélie brings an overall good experience but certainly not memorable, well-deserving 7.3 out of 10 stones.