Amelie Paper

AMELIE

1.      Amelie, 2001

Directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet

Written by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Guillaume Laurant

Starring Audrey Tautou and Mathieu kassovitz

Cinematography by Bruno Delbonnel

Distributed in America through Miramax Films

2.      Amelie is a French comedy film that tells the story of a young waitress in a café in paris. At a young age she was misdiagnosed with a heart condition and was home schooled isolating her from other children. She discovers a box of childhood memorabilia that belonged to a former resident and proceeds to track him down and return him his possessions.  After seeing how happy she made the man she proceeds to become a Good Samaritan and guardian angel for people in her life. Through a chance encounter Amelie meets a man as eccentric as she is and they play a game of cat and mouse chasing each other until they finally meet and begin a meaningful relationship.

3.      The way in which the film relates to my text is through the chapter on editing. Amelie contains many quick cuts which give the film a feeling of speed, energy and excitement. The editing complements the tone of the movie and the story in which Amelie is playful and almost childlike in imagination and creativity. The animation in the film also further shows the creative ends of the character bringing fantasies to live and exaggerating actions like her heart beat at first sight of her love.

4.      The film was released in 2001 and it has the feel of a timeless film. If it weren’t for select events like princess diana’s death which places the story as happening in 1997. The year 2001 saw many dramatic films being released but animated films and comedies were not as plentiful that year. Three  other major animated/ comedies were Shrek, monsters inc. and spirited away. American Pie 2 doesn’t count in this list because it’s not funny and funny is subjective I suppose but I am making the judgment call that that movie never existed in 2001 (in my mind). Most other major films were action, adventure, thriller and fantasy sci fi films. So I feel Amelie was an especially important film for the year just because it may have been the only intelligent comedy film out there for adults with just the right dash of romance to make it a date movie as well.

5.      The two articles I chose to write about were a review by Roger Ebert and an article called Amelie: A false dialogue with emancipation by Alina Haliliuc. In Roger Ebert’s review he talks heavily about the plot and history of the film in relation to the festivals it played at and how it was snubbed from the Cannes film festival official selection. He also talks about the director’s visuals inventiveness and the great shot ideas such as Amelie wondering how many women were having orgasms in Paris at the time, 15 if you were wondering. The second article by Alina Haliliuc talks about the influence the movie has had with both French and non French audiences. She also analyses the film using Freudian theory as well as using a feminist perspective.

6.      I feel that this film is a wonderfully inventive and creative comedy. Even for a French film which contains subtitles that distract the gaze momentarily away from subtle actions on the screen I felt that I didn’t miss a beat and could understand all their types of humor. The movie moves at a very fast pace but fails to lose the audience through the many twists and turns that follow the characters. The film really highlights an unusual bunch of characters and how they go about to achieve different degrees of happiness. The film has a wonderfully funny script and is brought to the screen in such a way that all the visual splendor of Amelie’s mind spill into every frame. Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet should get credit for creating a modern masterpiece and quite possible one of the best French films ever.

Bibliography

 Ebert, Roger. "Amelie :: Rogerebert.com :: Reviews." Rogerebert.com. 9 Nov. 2001. Web. 26 Apr. 2012. <http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20011109/REVIEWS/111090301>.

Haliliuc, Alin. “Amelie: A false dialogue with emancipation”. Conference paper- International Communication Association, 2005. New York, NY. P1-20,21p.

CHECKLIST FOR PLAGIARISM

1)      (    x )  I have not handed in this assignment for any other class.

2)       (  x  )  If I reused any information from other papers I have written for other classes, I clearly explain that in the paper.

3)       (  x  )  If I used any passages word for word, I put quotations around those words, or used indentation and citation within the text.

4)      (    x )  I have not padded the bibliography. I have used all sources cited in the bibliography in the text of the paper.

5)      (  x   )  I have cited in the bibliography only the pages I personally read.

6)      (  x   )  I have used direct quotations only in cases where it could not be stated in another way. I cited the source within the paper and in the bibliography.

7)      ( x    )  I did not so over-use direct quotations that the paper lacks interpretation or originality.  

8)      ( x     )  I checked yes on steps 1-7 and therefore have been fully transparent about the research and ideas used in my paper.

Name_____Matthew Larue_______________ Date___________4/25/12________________