First , let me get a perspective on why I am writing this.I have never ever reviewed a movie by writing about it and I dont plan to either. But I am compelled to write this piece for just one simple reason.
This movie about a girl called Amelie Poulain touched my life in a strange way and I want to tell you about it.
It was a dull boring weekend spent cooped up at my swanky but totally overwhelming apartment in Raleigh USA. I was new to the country , I was new to the lifestyle and sadly I was also new to the idea of sharing my space with 3 other Indian(read dollar to rupee calculating) flatmates. So that roughly translates to spending the weekends at home because we did not have the transportation or the inclination to go out and be ’’cool’’ and ’’hip’’.
So deperate situations called for desperate measures.I am not a BIG fan of Indian movies - no offence to Bollywood fans but I just dont get the whole melodrama thing.
As an alternative solution I got myself a subscription to a movie download website called movielink.com (which by the way is good , people who are in similar situations should try it) . Browsing through the catalog I chanced upon ’’AMELIE’’ I hate to admit this but I had no clue about its Oscar nomination status or even of the fact that it was a very popular movie. I read the synopsis of the movie and on a whim I clicked on the ’’buy’’ button , little did I realise I had hit on the ’’get a new perspective on life’’ button.
So movie starts , its in French with english subtitles which I immediately like for two reasons. One- french when spoken by the french sounds really sexy and two-If you cant get the conversation you can always read it below(sometimes I wish every english film had subtitles).
Audrey Tatou grabs my attention from frame1. The actor portrays Amelie with such panache that you even forget she is acting. But she is not the star of Amelie. The star of Amelie is the way a simple story is told. Simply put the story tells you that if you do good things to others good things will happen to you , that everyone gets. But if you add a bit of humour , deft narration and complex characterisation you have a winner and Amelie manages to achieve that.
Watching Amelie skipping stones or wondering how many women in paris were having an orgasm at that very moment or breaking creme brulee with a spoon made me laugh. I laughed because those things were not intended to be funny but they made me aware of that fact that every one of us adults have a child in us and sometimes we try too hard to supress that kid.I wanted to be ’’amelie’’ . I wanted to break my creme brulee and enjoy that moment!.
The other thing that touched me was Amelie doing all these good things to people she did not even know. Like finding the hidden box of memories and returning it to its owner after all those years.Recording tapes of strange humourous things and sending them to the old painter recluse downstairs to make his life more interesting.Getting back at the grocer for being mean to his assistant.Playing cupid with the hypochondriac and the insecure customer.Sending a letter supposedly from the deceased philandering husband to the lovelorn housekeeper.Faking the Gnome and his travel escapades to get her father to travel as well (this was hilarious). Watching all these things made me think that we are so wrapped up in ourselves that we forget that doing good to other people can bring us so much of happiness. I wanted to do my good turn and bring some goodwill and cheer !.
Finally the way Amelie gets the love of her life. She sees him and know instinctively that he is the one for her and she believes in that . I loved the way she planned her meeting with him.They were meant for each other.Life is so fast paced and mechanical that we forget that we too might have a soulmate out there.Sometimes our paths do cross but we dont realise it or do much about it. Watching Amelie made me want to find my soulmate .It made me beleive in that wonderful thing called ’’LOVE’’.
Go watch Amelie and get a smile free !!