Justify your dislike of Amelie

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'cause my love for it increases the more I think about it, and I can't help but think that anyone that doesn't feel the same way must secretly be a heartless, soulless automaton (no I don't actually think that).
I laughed throughout, not smirky knowing chuckles but helpless giggles and huge exhalations I might even tentatively call guffaws. And (and don't think that this is a common occurance because, um, it's not) I cried. Yes, actually did, when she guides the blind man down the street, giving him eyes, leaving him bathed in joy (see? you see the stupid phrases the movie makes me use?).
And I also want to bring up that debate between people that watch movies as if they're just plays put to film (fuck David Mamet by the way), and people for whom the visuals of movies are most important while plot can be fucked for all they care (and although it's prob. obvious which camp I feel like I belong to, I don't really think that's the right way to think about things, just my favorite way); and how maybe Jeunet's movies might appeal more to the latter, focusing as they do on the mechanics of immediate situation.

― Dan I., Tuesday, 26 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I liked it and I'm a big fan of Jeunet's work, especially Delicatteseen. That said, Amelie could be accused of being overly sweet or bordering on sentimentality in parts. I even thought it dragged a bit about 2/3's through. Still, I loved it i.e. I am a sucker.

― bnw, Tuesday, 26 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

It goes on a bit, and you can't really hang an entire film on an attractive indie-ish woman staring doe eyed into the camera.

― DV, Tuesday, 26 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

you can't really hang an entire film on an attractive indie-ish woman staring doe eyed into the camera

i haven't seen the film yet, but from this description it sounds like the BEST FILM EVAH! i wish all films were hung on the above premise. then i would never leave the cinema

― gareth, Tuesday, 26 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

all films made in france ARE hung on the above premise (except the ones where bare butt = instead of eyes)

― mark s, Tuesday, 26 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

i thought the Amelie-finds-love-and-becomes-happy ending was a bit fatuous. skimming stones and random acts of kindness sounds like a pretty kickass life to me!

did anyone else nearly pee themselves with glee and annoy their fellow theatre-goers spotting the wee references to Truffaut et al? ...just me then? righto.

― petra jane, Tuesday, 26 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

My theory about Amelie is that it didn't appeal to me becuase I am too romantic and sentimental. When people enthuse about it, they do so in such a way that suggests they don't often think about things in the 'Amelie way', that it was a breath of fresh air etc. But for me it was like "what's new?". I felt a similar way about 'American Beauty'. It was like it was aimed at people who had never watched/experienced 'stop the world I want to get off' feelings or thought about the beauty in everyday things.

When a film is close to home I have higher standards than otherwise.

― N., Tuesday, 26 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

At some points I thought I was going to lose my patience with the drawn-out conclsuion, but the more it was prolonged the more it served to underline the persistence of the photo-collector (Nino?), therefore making him worthy of l'amour de la renarde mentioned upthread. I liked the gospel singer with the Gibson SG.

― Damian, Tuesday, 26 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The bit where she's baking and daydreaming so hard and turns around almost expecting to see him, but it's the cat.

I *know* that emotion, for that bit alone ...

― Anna, Tuesday, 26 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Yes, me too, but it was portrayed much more affectingly in the Wedding Present's I'm Not Always So Stupid. And in Brookside, when Sheila Grant was greaving for Damon.

― N., Tuesday, 26 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

N. that song is sooo on the money it almost hurts.

― chris, Tuesday, 26 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I know.

Sometimes I get that way about people I'm not in love with too. It's odd - I go through phases of thinking I see a particular person every time I walk down the street. Sometimes people I knew years ago and don't even like very much.

― N., Tuesday, 26 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

[what a horrible spelling of grieving I just invented]

― N., Tuesday, 26 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

All I thought at first was 'oh'.

A certain kind of light, or a chord change or whatever it is that creates an atmosphere, it's all it really takes to bring a particular person (loved or not) back.

― Anna, Tuesday, 26 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

you can't really hang an entire film on an attractive indie-ish woman staring doe eyed into the camera
[...]

all films made in france ARE hung on the above premise (except the ones where bare butt = instead of eyes)

Doe bare butt? Mark S. proves by SCIENCE that 50% of French films are bestiality porn.

― Dan Perry, Tuesday, 26 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

bit of a half formed theory here,but when i initially saw amelie,i loved it,and was very surprised when i realised that the critical reception was not nearly as ecstatic as i had anticipated...it was regarded as saccharine,sentimental,etc..now in retrospect it clearly was all these things,but that didn't stop me loving it at the time (and i'm dying to see it again)..so what i'm wondering is,do all these critics who raise these issues actually initially think that,when they see the film,or do they just think they should?basically,is this an equivalent of the people who would never admit they like pop music,because while certain songs obviously affect them when they hear them,they feel they should denounce them as over-produced rubbish,commercial shite,etc? now obviously nick's objection to the film is entirely different,but in general do people who regard amelie as sentimental only say it because it easier than saying it moves them,ie have the same motivations as people who only admit to liking "cool" music? just an idea,and a fairly poorly expressed one at that,i might try to clarify it if i'm online later... cheers, robin

― robin, Tuesday, 26 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Stole its "Amelie dissolves into a gasp of water" style tricks from Ally McBeal. Unforgivable.

― powertonevolume, Tuesday, 26 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Robin is on the money. People who crow about hating "Amelie" are just terrified of being unhip. "Amelie" is saccharine and middlebrow, but then so what? So are "The Wizard of Oz" and "Casablanca". "Amelie" doesn't pretend to be anything deeper than sweet. Part of what made it enjoyable was that it didn't put up any defenses against cynicism, so puppy-kickers can get their kicks with it.

― fritz, Tuesday, 26 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I would like to lend moral support to Fritz and Robin and say they are right on. I can see how someone might dislike it, but often it seems that slagging it is a way of appearing cynically hip. And its one of the best movies ever about being an outsider.

― Ryan, Tuesday, 26 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

(FYI, I will no longer be popping in on this thread because of my cringeworthy comment above.)

― Dan Perry, Tuesday, 26 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I don't justify my dislike of anything. Whatevah, I do what I want! I put Jabba the Hut into Episode 4!

― Nicole, Tuesday, 26 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Nicole = George Lucas = world trembles.

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 26 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Saying that people who detract from Amelie are afraid of being unhip = easy way of devaluing all of the above negative comments?

― powertonevolume, Wednesday, 27 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Darth Vader removes his helmet. Luke gasps. "Jigglypuff!"

The Death Star blows up the Rebel Base. Leia to Han, as the flames mount: "I hate you." Han: "I know."

― mark s, Wednesday, 27 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

eh?

― Alan Trewartha, Wednesday, 27 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Explain yourself.

― N., Wednesday, 27 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Saying that people who detract from Amelie are afraid of being unhip = easy way of devaluing all of the above negative comments?

yes, sure. but no less of a superficial analusis than most of the criticism I've seen.

Saying that it unforgivably resembles Ally McBeal = easy way to devalue the film by associating it with an uncool tv show?

― fritz, Wednesday, 27 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

But is it not a valid criticism when Amelie in fact does copy many of the devices (people turning into a puddle of water, etc.)used on Ally McBeal? If I wanted to associate Amelie with an unhip television show just for the hell of it, I'd talk about how it was like the West Wing.

― Nicole, Wednesday, 27 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Yeh sure that was part of the device, but also what Nicole done said.

― powertonevolume, Wednesday, 27 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Isn't the whole turning-into-puddles surrealism borrowed more from Fellini's 'cinema as escape' style rather than Ally McBeal? Maybe people hate it because it is so popular and they want to disassociate themselves from mediocrity. I know some people on here don't like it because it reminds them of indie-twee sniffling types, but I don't think Jeunet was purposely thinking 'lets create this delightful doe-eyed softie for Belle and Sebastian fans!' but just a shy, sweet person. Anyways, I liked it. Especially when she walks with the blind man.

― Evangeline, Wednesday, 27 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Sorry, that particular criticism - the "it's just the French Ally McBeal" guilt-by-association - just seems really reductive to me. First of all, it presumes that the director was "ripping off" Ally McBeal, when his earlier films "Delicatessen" and "City of Lost Children" included similar visual jokes and tricks. And even with the superficial stylistic similarities to Ally McBeal, does the film use these devices in the same way and to the same effect? I don't think it does. It's like saying "That Alien, it's just a ripoff of Star Wars what with all the space ships and everything".

But as I said before, "Amelie" is completely vulnerable to been-there done-that hipsterism. It's easy enough to crack it open and sneer at its component parts - doe-eyed girl, sweet old man, fairytale Paris, etc. etc. I did feel like I had to set aside my own ingrained cynicism and skepticism in order to enjoy it. I thought that was valuable, others might not.

― fritz, Wednesday, 27 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

i hate amelie because it is so like martial law

― mark s, Wednesday, 27 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Mark, please what were you on about up there? About a screen or so back. It... intrigues me.

― Alan Trewartha, Wednesday, 27 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Do not answer him.

― N., Wednesday, 27 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

oh alan i hate to explain joeks as their feeblitude largens grately:

< joke > i was being nicole being george lucas < /joke >

― mark s, Wednesday, 27 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

n you are not the boss of me >:P

― mark s, Wednesday, 27 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Riiiiight. I'm now paying attention to Nicole. (If that's her idea of SW films, I'm with her)

Don't disparage joke explanations -- they always, ALWAYS (no exceptions) make jokes FUNNIER. In fact, the more you explain, the funnier it gets. This is true.

― Alan Trewartha, Wednesday, 27 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I LOVE LOVE LOVE Ally McBeal. Or at least the bits that Amelie is like. In fact the reason I love Amelie is becuz it is my favourite aspects of Ally McBeal distilled.

― Graham, Wednesday, 27 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I LOVE LOVE LOVE Ally McBeal.

Creepy.

― Dan Perry, Wednesday, 27 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Very creepy indeed. I drew the McBeal connection as well when I saw the film, though I doubt it was intentional. I sure hope not!

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 27 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I AM NOT CREEPY.

Gah, stop being afraid of being called unhip.

― Graham, Wednesday, 27 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Yeah but Nicole wasn't being George Lucas exactly!

― Andy K, Wednesday, 27 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Andy K pats the cute Ewok. It bites off his hand, and later he finds he got a parasitic rash on the stump.

― mark s, Wednesday, 27 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

First of all, it presumes that the director was "ripping off" Ally McBeal

No, not at all - but both use similar devices. I didn't say either Jeunet or David Whathisface were the creators of the style.

But I would argue both are trying for a similar effect: that the audience finds the romantic foibles of the wan waifstress heroine charming and adorable.

I just didn't happen to be charmed.

― Nicole, Wednesday, 27 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

i'm w/ robin and fritz...

amelie is like a stick of fairy floss... there is not much substance to it, but it is pretty and pink and sweet and reminds you of being a kid.

― minna, Wednesday, 27 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Well, this is kind of what I was talking about. Although it was sweet and reminded me of being a kid, the movie affected me anyway far more than any mere pixie stick of a movie; which is why I asked if maybe there is a depth in Amelie that is encoded differently than in many movies (that is, more visual than verbal and plot content; and I'm not talking just about the turning-into-a-glass-of-water thing, there's clearly a heavier than normal emphasis on cinematography).

― Dan I., Wednesday, 27 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

two years pass...

It's the American Beauty/Ghost World/Lost In Translation/Eternal Sunshine (I haven't seen the latter two) of crossover foreign films - 'indie' instead of indie. I can't believe that anyone who loves it has also seen the infinitely superior (but smaller) When the Cat's Away.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Saturday, 28 August 2004 19:15 (twenty-one years ago)

or auberge espagnole!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Saturday, 28 August 2004 19:26 (twenty-one years ago)

Does Eternal Sunshine belong in that list? It didn't seem so indie, just quirky.

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Saturday, 28 August 2004 19:29 (twenty-one years ago)

N. so-OTM-it-hurts in his first post.

― jed_ (jed), Saturday, 28 August 2004 19:31 (twenty-one years ago)

I've already justified my dislike of Amelie, but I'd do it all over again.

― Leon Czolgosz (Nicole), Saturday, 28 August 2004 19:32 (twenty-one years ago)

I saw the movie at the worst possible time in my life, in a delayed reaction to my getting dumped back in 2001. I locked into myself completely, barely talked to any friends there that evening, and was practically dripping acid afterwards. While I remember some bits being funny enough, I really don't have any wish to revisit it.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 28 August 2004 20:03 (twenty-one years ago)

it's a shitty movie anyway

― s1ocki (slutsky), Saturday, 28 August 2004 20:24 (twenty-one years ago)

I hate the way she cracks her creme brulee. I especially hate the way she holds her spoon. Piss off, Amelie, you gamine fantasy of middle aged men.

― the music mole (colin s barrow), Saturday, 28 August 2004 21:39 (twenty-one years ago)

auberge espagnole was really wierd. it was like some after school special produced by the EU, but strung over the plot of a porno.

i've never seen amelie and i don't really want to.

― g--ff (gcannon), Saturday, 28 August 2004 22:47 (twenty-one years ago)

I just couldn't really get into it.

― sundar subramanian (sundar), Sunday, 29 August 2004 01:26 (twenty-one years ago)

It's just Chocolat for the chocolat-covered espresso beans set.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Sunday, 29 August 2004 05:54 (twenty-one years ago)

love me if you dare.

― cºzen (Cozen), Sunday, 29 August 2004 13:14 (twenty-one years ago)

haha "the chocolat-covered espresso beans set"?! there's a whole set?

― mark p (Mark P), Sunday, 29 August 2004 13:16 (twenty-one years ago)

didn't the soundtrack make an impression?

Yann Tiersen

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Sunday, 29 August 2004 13:34 (twenty-one years ago)

love me if you dare, very bleak.

― g--ff (gcannon), Sunday, 29 August 2004 15:04 (twenty-one years ago)

It's twee as fuck. I hated it.

Nice score, mind.

― Wooden (Wooden), Sunday, 29 August 2004 17:05 (twenty-one years ago)

one year passes...

Ever wanted to punch Amelie in the neck? - 25

Ladies, if that describes you, there's a dude in Seattle who might be your fit.

― ((((((DOPplur)))n)))u))))tttt (donut), Monday, 5 June 2006 05:38 (twenty years ago)

I've recently concluded that the only women worth dating are those who would uppercut Amelie in the throat were they to somehow encounter the character in reality.

I'd think a quick, straight on jab would be much more effective.

And by the way, my fiance fits this description, and it's certainly one of the reasons we're getting married.

― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Monday, 5 June 2006 05:43 (twenty years ago)

Yet you put a personal ad in Seattle? Shame, Abbadabba!

― ((((((DOPplur)))n)))u))))tttt (donut), Monday, 5 June 2006 05:45 (twenty years ago)

I'm in love. And moving to Seattle.

― scout (scout), Monday, 5 June 2006 05:49 (twenty years ago)

Oh what the fuck; I started this thread!? I don't even really like Amelie that much. Oh 2002

― Dan I. (Dan I.), Monday, 5 June 2006 06:09 (twenty years ago)

Best Jeunet is Alien: Resurrection. That might be the only one of his I rate anymore!

― Dan I. (Dan I.), Monday, 5 June 2006 06:12 (twenty years ago)

In response to the OP, no fisting / gaping anal of Mme. A. T.

― loggy out reg no google (ex machina), Monday, 5 June 2006 07:00 (twenty years ago)

That post doesn't quite get it: you wouldn't meet a person like Amélie in real life, because it's a fantasy. It's not supposed to be about real people. I thought the Amélie backlash would be over by now. Yes, it was much overhyped back then, and yes, it's not a perfect film, but it is a sweet, funny, beautifully shot and scored movie. And apparently it seems to work as a perfect litmus test on whether you're twee or not.

Personally I think Alien: Resurrection is Jeunet's worst film. His best is probably Delicatessen.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Monday, 5 June 2006 08:33 (twenty years ago)

She looks like Mr Bean. Nuff said.

― Pete (Pete), Monday, 5 June 2006 09:27 (twenty years ago)

I had to flee Amelie after the first five minutes because of the cute factor, but so many people whose opinions I (sort of) trust love this movie, perhaps I'll give it another chance.
I'll get back to you when I do. If the Interweb still exists.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Monday, 5 June 2006 11:45 (twenty years ago)

I prefer Clueless.

― Sundar (sundar), Thursday, 8 June 2006 19:05 (twenty years ago)

She looks like Mr Bean. Nuff said.

dude, i DONT want the drugs you are on. ;-)

― Nathalie (stevie nixed), Thursday, 8 June 2006 19:35 (twenty years ago)

she got big ass eyes (possibly CGI)

― jinx hijinks (sanskrit), Thursday, 8 June 2006 20:12 (twenty years ago)

Before the ad expires:

I've recently concluded that the only women worth dating are those who would uppercut Amelie in the throat were they to somehow encounter the character in reality.

If this is you, please include a brief justification in your reply.

"Pic 4 pic"

― ((((((DOPplur)))n)))u))))tttt (donut), Thursday, 8 June 2006 21:53 (twenty years ago)

seven months pass...

hey, this was better than i remembered. best in show - andré dussollier as le récitant.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 04:03 (nineteen years ago)

this movie fucking sucks

― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 04:11 (nineteen years ago)

I'm still a sucker.

― bnw (bnw), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 04:15 (nineteen years ago)

she got big ass eyes (possibly CGI)

-- jinx hijinks (mikeoptin...) (webmail), June 8th, 2006 4:12 PM. (sanskrit) (link

i do not remember writing this, but i will expound. i have never seen this shitrag of a movie, but i do remember possibly from the trailer and certainly the posters that Audrey Tatou or whoever she is had obscenely large photoshopped eyes.

i guess the viscerality of my reaction then stemmed from the two French girls i know in nyc who, when in an uncomfortable social situation, put on this cloying "i am so cute, so naive, so Freeaanch" act when in reality they are pretty intelligent and careerist.

― tony conrad schnitzler (sanskrit), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 04:25 (nineteen years ago)

once was enough. like a death cab song.

― mattp (fauxhemian), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 04:25 (nineteen years ago)

oh wait, i'm forgetting the most important reason why i am prejudiced towards this movie. i lived in Montmartre for a short spell in '97 then in '04 (i think) visited a friend living near there. was shocked to see all the the neighborhood's tourist traffic redoubled by all the Amelie walks and merchandising and such.

― tony conrad schnitzler (sanskrit), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 04:29 (nineteen years ago)

I hated this movie so much I fell asleep during it! at the theater! I've never done that before or since.

― horseshoe (horseshoe), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 04:49 (nineteen years ago)

-- tony conrad schnitzler (mikeoptin...), January 17th, 2007 4:29 AM. (sanskrit) (later)

it also completely misrepresents the abbesses neighbourhood's ethnic makeup in a pretty disingenuous way

― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 04:52 (nineteen years ago)

I prefer Clueless.

this is OTM! about many more movies than just Amelie, actually.

― horseshoe (horseshoe), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 04:57 (nineteen years ago)

Ha, yeah, I saw like fifteen minutes of this today and was reminded that it was far far less twee than popularly remembered/slagged as being: a lot of the humor seems to come from the characters wanting to stay in a world of twee and real life continually interrupting it?

― nabisco (nabisco), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 05:20 (nineteen years ago)

It's not a bad movie. It just may not be be the movie for the boy with alien silicone skin.

That said, it would take a VERY charming girl to make me me watch it again.

― kenan (kenan), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 05:26 (nineteen years ago)

Je vous emmerde tous

― M. White (Miguelito), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 05:35 (nineteen years ago)

"You're all in deep shit"?

My French is really rusty.

― kenan (kenan), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 05:49 (nineteen years ago)

"I am dipping you all in shit"?

This is a touch idiomatic, I'm thinking.

― kenan (kenan), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 05:52 (nineteen years ago)

Oh!

"You're all full of shit"!

― kenan (kenan), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 05:55 (nineteen years ago)

oh come on, this movie is fine, even though i'd rather see Alien: Resurrection or City of Lost Children. what about when the woman working at the porn store says, "are you shaved? fur pie doesn't sell" haha

negative points for all of its creepy fans, though. my ex-girlfriend saw it ELEVEN times in theatres. every time she got a haircut she'd be upset because it wasn't Amelie enough. she also pretended to speak french well, even though she once explained that louis malle's "le feu follet" literally translated to "the fire within."

― poortheatre (poortheatre), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 06:15 (nineteen years ago)

such an irritating film

― latebloomer aka freedom williams sr (latebloomer), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 06:45 (nineteen years ago)

my EX-girlfriend saw it eleven times in theatres.

fixed.

― kenan (kenan), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 06:51 (nineteen years ago)

true. my current girlfriend is actually french and she hadn't seen it-- only delicatessen. ====>http://www.sxc.hu/pic/m/d/dr/draganski/449142_key_to_my_heart_1.jpg

― poortheatre (poortheatre), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 07:08 (nineteen years ago)

On more than one occasion, a boy has told me I should get my hair cut like Amelie. That gives me the hump a bit.

― Mädchen (Madchen), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 11:01 (nineteen years ago)

nobody's ever told me i should get my hair cut like amelie :(

― ken c (ken c), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 11:36 (nineteen years ago)

I'm telling you now. DO IT.

― accentmonkey (accentmonkey), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 11:36 (nineteen years ago)

C/D: girls who dress up as amelie dressing up as zorro on halloween.

― i've dreamt of rubies! (Mandee), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 14:04 (nineteen years ago)

Tatou is hott and this film rocks. I am, however, a twee indie fux, so I guess I'm in the demographic.

― Johnney B English (stigoftdump), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 14:21 (nineteen years ago)

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