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Amélie from
Montmartre
review by Carrie Gorringe, 21 September
2001 26th
Toronto International Film Festival
Amélie from Montmartre
(a.k.a. Amélie or Le fabuleux destin de l'Amélie Poulin)
-- Jean-Pierre Jeunet, director of Delicatessen, moves 180
degrees in direction to create a delightful film about the
adventures of a ditzy, but well-meaning, girl (Audrey Toutou) who,
having been raised in an overwhelmingly dysfunctional home, is
fixated on one goal in life: to save others by performing good deeds
for them (Audrey Toutou's portrayal of the eponymous heroine is
punctuated by the kind of sparkle that used to be associated with
another Audrey --one with the last name of Hepburn). When she finds
a box behind her bathroom wall containing forty-year-old toys, she
is spurred to find its former owner. After meeting the box's former
owner, a quiet man with the ungainly name of Nino Quincampoix
(Mathieu Kassovitz, from Café au Lait, La Haďne,
etc.), she is forced to confront a long-suppressed dilemma: does she
have the courage to face a chance at being happy? More importantly,
has she "earned" the right to be happy? The first forty
minutes of the film that detail her dreadful upbringing with parents
who are emotionally disconnected and rigid are delivered with a
maniacal slap-stick detail not unlike the verbal equivalent of
undercranking a silent film. Then Amélie takes on a more
piquant and tenderly funny demeanor, as this philanthropic gamine
must determine what opportunities she will -- or can -- choose for
herself. Winner of this year's People's Choice Award, Amélie
is a gentle, witty examination of the choices that everyone must
eventually make.
Click on the titles below to read the reviews.
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Directed by:
Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Starring:
Audrey Tautou
Mathieu Kassovitz
Rufus
Yolande Moreau
Arthus de Penguern
Written
by:
Guillaume Laurant
Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Rated:
R - Restricted
Under 17 requires
accompanying
parent or adult
guardian.
FULL
CREDITS
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