|
Review
|
Very lively, playful, and imaginative story about a waif,
Amalie, living in Paris, who decides to be a force for good
in the world, and begins with those around her. We learn
that her mother was a harsh disciplinarian who prevented
Amelie from having friends, and her was an unaffectionate
but likable doctor (who never hugged his daughter). Amalie
kidnaps her father's gnome and sends it on a 'round the
world excursion. She nudges a lonely clerk into a
relationship with a jealous former lover of a waitress she
works with. She takes revenge on a cruel grocer. Most of
all, she flashes those beautiful eyes and charms her way
through various misadventures.
What is it with the strain of "chaos theory" on film in
recent European films? From Kieslowsky's "Red" to "Run Lola
Run", European directors seem recently enamoured with the
idea that the tiniest little variation in events can have
enormous consequences. In Amelie, it is when she drops a
bottle stopper after hearing that Princess Diana has died.
It dislodges a tile which reveals a little box with several
keepsakes in it. She decides to track down the owner, which
leads her into her other misadventures.
As in other recent European films, the style is
free-wheeling and inventive. Photographs talk, and we
sometimes see what Amelie is thinking. And, as in the same
director's earlier "Delicatessen", there is a scene in which
a couple's vigorous sex causes ripples throughout a
building.
Not everything works out. The jealous man remains jealous.
But her father embarks on his own journey, and she starts a
relationship with a young man who collects rejected photos
from photobooths.
Very likeable, witty, and wry. Doesn't insult your
intelligence or smoothery you in phoney emotions. Crisp and
charming.
|
