Amelie

 

2001 French film, rating on IMDB is above 8,which usually means its very good movie.


It is a story of a girl, a superhero with super powers who is on a mission to save humanity, except it isn't.
Actually, it is directed and played in a way to convince you that she possesses some powers, and how she is using her powers to save humanity. The reality is that Amelie is just a nice person, like most of us, trying to make life better for some of the people she knows.


It is very cleverly constructed as a story and beautifully directed as cinema, it does lack excitement and thrill, because it is about real life, which for the majority of us life is not that thrilling. Life is that daunting daily struggle to get by, the occasional minor excitements, and lots of unnecessary details which make it "our life" , and we, most often forget. 

Amelie does not have love or real experience of it, instead she gets ultimate pleasure from the little details in life: "dipping her hand in a sack of legumes, breaking the crust of the creme brulée with the tip of the spoon, skimming stones on the Canal of Saint Martin."


The movie shows various types of people in the world, all are receiving Amelie's help. Those people vary from the boring, the helpless, the adventurer, the pathetic, the artist and even the supernatural. In a true depiction of reality, some people will always fail, no matter how much you help, some don't need your help, some need a little bit of guidance to get on the right path, and some are actually helping you while  you think you are helping them.

In one of the stories running in the movie Amelie convinced Joseph that Georgete likes him, she also convinced Georgete that Joseph likes her, they both have weird personalities and living sad lives. I say convinced, it only took her a couple of sentences. They, with some small intervention from Amelie fall for each other. In a scene which implies that they are making love, you can see the place is trembling as if earth is being shaken by this strong, powerful, long awaited love. You would think that this love would be eternal, it will last forever and saves those poor lives, but quickly it falls apart, and they are both back to what they were, miserable.

Luncheon of the Boating Party, a painting by French impressionist Renior makes special appearance in the film. Among the many characters in the scene one girl Amelie feels she understands her expression, because the others are enjoying the party and this woman is longing for something/ someone who is not in the scene. What Amelie wanted all her life was not in her life, tell she realised that the party on the boat is not so bad, once you understand the people taking part.

Amelie, a good movie about a girl's quest to make the world a better place, one person at a time.