Amélie (2001)

Amelie is an innocent and naive girl in Paris with her own sense of justice. She decides to help those around her and, along the way, discovers love.

Director:

Jean-Pierre Jeunet

Writers:

Guillaume Laurant (scenario), Jean-Pierre Jeunet (scenario)

Stars:

Audrey Tautou, Mathieu Kassovitz, Rufus

Top Rated Movies #76 | Nominated for 5 Oscars. Another 56 wins & 60 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Audrey Tautou	...	Amélie Poulain
Mathieu Kassovitz	...	Nino Quincampoix
Rufus	...	Raphaël Poulain
Lorella Cravotta	...	Amandine Poulain
Serge Merlin	...	Raymond Dufayel
Jamel Debbouze	...	Lucien
Clotilde Mollet	...	Gina
Claire Maurier	...	Madame Suzanne - la patronne du café
Isabelle Nanty	...	Georgette
Dominique Pinon	...	Joseph
Artus de Penguern	...	Hipolito
Yolande Moreau	...	Madeleine Wallace
Urbain Cancelier	...	Collignon
Maurice Bénichou	...	Dominique Bretodeau
Michel Robin	...	Mr. Collignon

Storyline

Amélie is a story about a girl named Amélie whose childhood was suppressed by her Father's mistaken concerns of a heart defect. With these concerns Amélie gets hardly any real life contact with other people. This leads Amélie to resort to her own fantastical world and dreams of love and beauty. She later on becomes a young woman and moves to the central part of Paris as a waitress. After finding a lost treasure belonging to the former occupant of her apartment, she decides to return it to him. After seeing his reaction and his new found perspective - she decides to devote her life to the people around her. Such as, her father who is obsessed with his garden-gnome, a failed writer, a hypochondriac, a man who stalks his ex girlfriends, the "ghost", a suppressed young soul, the love of her life and a man whose bones are as brittle as glass. But after consuming herself with these escapades - she finds out that she is disregarding her own life and damaging her quest for love. Amélie then ...

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Plot Keywords:

waitress | garden gnome | magical realism | cheerfulness | female protagonist | 

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Taglines:

One person can change your life forever.

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for sexual content

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

France Germany

Language:

French Russian

Release Date:

8 February 2002 (USA)

Also Known As:

Amélie

Filming Locations:

France

Box Office

Budget:

FRF 77,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$496,031 (France) (10 August 2001)

Gross:

$33,201,661 (USA) (28 June 2002)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Claudie Ossard Productions, Union Générale Cinématographique (UGC), Victoires Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

122 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Black and White Color (Duboicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The part of Amélie was written specifically for Emily Watson. She wanted the part but had to decline because she didn't speak French and had already agreed to be in Gosford Park (2001).

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Goofs

The treasure box Amélie finds in her bathroom contains a "Mini Quartett", a children's card game produced in Germany in the 1970s. Mr. Bretodeau could not have collected this in the 1950s.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Narrator: On September 3rd 1973, at 6:28pm and 32 seconds, a bluebottle fly capable of 14,670 wing beats a minute landed on Rue St Vincent, Montmartre. At the same moment, on a restaurant terrace nearby, the wind magically made two glasses dance unseen on a tablecloth. Meanwhile, in a 5th-floor flat, 28 Avenue Trudaine, Paris 9, returning from his best friend's funeral, Eugène Colère erased his name from his address book. At the same moment, a sperm with one X chromosome, belonging to ...

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Crazy Credits

In the opening credits, the girl playing Amélie as a child is shown doing various things. If you give a careful look at these activities, you'll find they illustrate the credits shown at the same time.

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Connections

Featured in The 74th Annual Academy Awards (2002)

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Soundtracks

The Child
by Alex Gopher

User Reviews

What is left to say about this glorious joy ride?

I had heard superlative comments on this film and it does not disappoint.

Paris is the backdrop and what a Paris, A Paris of La Boheme and the Merry Widow. Audrey is brilliant in the role of Amelie, projecting a true joie de vivre.

The film is full of surprises in both plot and characters. I left the theatre feeling lighter. It is truly one of a kind, eccentric, unusual and uplifting. I will not say more on it as it would spoil the fun.

I gave it a 10 out of 10 for something so completely out of the ordinary and so very unhollywood.