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Amélie 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) | 1 more credit »
Popularity
1,094 ( 128)
Top Rated Movies #115 | Nominated for 5 Oscars. Another 59 wins & 69 nominations. See more awards »

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Cast

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

Plot Summary | Plot Synopsis

Taglines:

One person can change your life forever. See more »

Genres:

Comedy | Romance

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for sexual content | See all certifications »

Parents Guide:

View content advisory »
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Did You Know?

Trivia

The funeral in the imaginary black-and-white documentary that Amélie watches on TV is composed of footage from a 1923 Pathe Journal newsreel segment about the death of actress Sarah Bernhardt. See more »

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. See more »

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 titles, Amélie as a child is shown doing various things. These activities illustrate the titles being shown at the same time. See more »

Connections

Referenced in Elysaviews: WINEning About Movies: Pilot (2020) See more »

Soundtracks

Rose du Sud
Written by Johann Strauss
Arranged by Roger Wootton (as R. Wootton)
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User Reviews

 
A hilarious, warm movie in a world all its own.
19 December 2001 | by alastair_mSee all my reviews

Not a lot of movies create their own sort of universe. Some that come to mind include "The Wizard of Oz", "American Beauty" and "Vertigo." These movies are so distinct and original that they seem to have created there own spot in the universe, untouchable by anything else. You can add "le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain" to that list.

Here is a film so original, so funny, and so warm that it left me with smiling for hours and the people on the sidewalk thinking I was crazy. Yes it is heart warming, but not in the phony Wal-Mart commercial sense; but in the sense of how good you feel when laughing with a dear, dear friend.

The film tells the story of French waitress Amélie (Audrey Tautou.) She is in her early twenties, lead a gloomy childhood and is missing something in her life until hearing of the Death of Princess Diana causes her to drop the cap of a bottle which rolls along the floor and dislodges a tile on her bathroom wall. What she finds behind that tile leads her to the decision that she is going to do what she can to make the people around her happier by whatever means possible.

Amélie goes about this with great success. One particularly wonderful scene shows Amélie helping a blind man across the street and rapidly describing what's happening around them to give him a picture of the world he doesn't get to see. This is only one in a mountain of selfless deeds she does to make people happy.

As she continues enriching the lives around her, Amélie becomes challenged with the fact that if she only helps others anonymously, she may live her life alone and without the happiness she brings others.

Amélie's conflict is what rounds out the picture and makes it complete. The movie is deep and takes Amélie's inner struggle seriously, but it's never heavy. Brilliantly hilarious, "Amélie" has a wonderfully funny script and is brought to life in visual splendor by director Jean-Pierre Jeunet ("Alien: Resurrection", of all things) and has at its center Audrey Tatou giving one of the warmest, most sincere and funniest performances you'll see this year.

I can't tell you how much I love this movie. Just thinking about it gives me goose bumps and I can't wait to see it again. SEE IT IN THE THEATRE IF YOU CAN! This may be the year's best picture and is not to be missed.


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Frequently Asked Questions

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Details

Country:

France | Germany

Language:

French | Russian | English

Release Date:

8 February 2002 (USA) See more »

Also Known As:

Amélie See more »

Filming Locations:

France See more »

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Box Office

Budget:

$10,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$136,470, 4 November 2001

Gross USA:

$33,225,499

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$173,924,742
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Company Credits

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Technical Specs

Runtime:

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1
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