Amelie

Theatrical Release Date: 2001 11 02 (USA - Limited) / 2001 11 16 (USA)

UPC: 065935837787

Studio: Ais

MPAA Rating: NR   Contains:[Brief Nudity, Adult Humor, Sexual Situations, Watch With Your Teen]

Summary: One woman decides to change the world by changing the lives of the people she knows in this charming and romantic comic fantasy from director Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Amelie (Audrey Tautou) is a young woman who had a decidedly unusual childhood; misdiagnosed with an unusual heart condition, Amelie didn't attend school with other children, but spent most of her time in her room, where she developed a keen imagination and an active fantasy life. Her mother Amandine (Lorella Cravotta) died in a freak accident when Amelie was eight, and her father Raphael (Rufus) had limited contact with her, since his presence seemed to throw her heart into high gear. Despite all this, Amelie has grown into a healthy and beautiful young woman who works in a cafe and has a whimsical, romantic nature. When Princess Diana dies in a car wreck in the summer of 1997, Amelie is reminded that life can be fleeting and she decides it's time for her to intervene in the lives of those around her, hoping to bring a bit of happiness to her neighbors and the regulars at the cafe. Amelie starts by bringing together two lonely people -- Georgette (Isabelle Nanty), a tobacconist with a severe case of hypochondria, and Joseph (Dominique Pinon), an especially ill-tempered customer. When Amelie finds a box of old toys in her apartment, she returns them to their former owner, Mr. Bretodeau (Maurice Benichou), sending him on a reverie of childhood. Amelie befriends Dufayel (Serge Merlin), an elderly artist living nearby whose bones are so brittle, thanks to a rare disease, that everything in his flat must be padded for his protection. And Amelie decides someone has to step into the life of Nino (Mathieu Kassovitz), a lonely adult video store clerk and part-time carnival spook-show ghost who collects pictures left behind at photo booths around Paris. Le Fabuleux Destin D'Amelie Poulain received unusually enthusiastic advance reviews prior to its French premiere in the spring of 2001, and was well received at a special free screening at that year's Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Category: Romance

Awards: Best European Film – European Film Academy Best European Director – European Film Academy Best European Actress – European Film Academy Best European Cinematographer – European Film Academy Best Foreign Language Film – Broadcast Film Critics Association Best Foreign Language Film – null Best Picture – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Director – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Original Screenplay – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Original Screenplay – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Actress – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Film Music – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Foreign Language Film – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Foreign Language Film – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Cinematography – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Production Design – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Editing – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Picture – French Academy of Cinema Best Director – French Academy of Cinema Best Actress – French Academy of Cinema Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion – French Academy of Cinema Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion – French Academy of Cinema Best Supporting Actress – French Academy of Cinema Best Screenplay – French Academy of Cinema Best Screenplay – French Academy of Cinema Best Original Music – French Academy of Cinema Best Cinematography – French Academy of Cinema Best Art Direction – French Academy of Cinema Best Sound – French Academy of Cinema Best Sound – French Academy of Cinema Best Sound – French Academy of Cinema Best Editor – French Academy of Cinema Best Costume Design – French Academy of Cinema Best Foreign Film – Broadcast Film Critics Association Best Art Direction – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Art Direction – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Cinematography – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Foreign Language Film – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Original Screenplay – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Original Screenplay – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Sound – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Sound – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Sound – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Foreign Film – National Board of Review Best Foreign Film – Independent Spirit Awards Best Picture [Runner-up] – Toronto Film Critics Association Best Director [Runner-up] – Toronto Film Critics Association Best Foreign Film – Chicago Film Critics Association Most Promising Performer – Chicago Film Critics Association Best Cinematography – American Society of Cinematographers Film Presented – Telluride Film Festival Best Supporting Actor – French Academy of Cinema Best Foreign Language Film – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Supporting Actor – French Academy of Cinema

Features: Audio commentaries with Jean-Pierre Jeunet (English and French)
The look of Amelie
Fantasies of Audrey Tautou
Screen tests
Q&A with director Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Q&A with director and cast
Storyboard comparison
An intimate chat with director Jean-Pierre Jeunet
"Home Movies" inside the making of Amelie
Trailer and TV spots

Amelie

Format: Blu-ray

Release Date: 07/20/2010

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Cinemascope

Audio: DHMA null, DD5.1 Dolby Digital 5.1

Runtime: 122 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) French

Subtitles: English

Rebecca Flint Marx

Directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, previously best-known for his collaborations with Marc Caro in Delicatessen and The City of Lost Children, Am?lie exhibits the same brand of wicked humor and off-kilter humanism seen in those earlier films. Its plot revolves around its eponymous heroine (played by Audrey Tautou, channeling equal parts Audrey Hepburn and Olive Oyl), a wistful, lonely dreamer driven by her desire to help others. The product of an unhappy childhood -- mom was squashed by the suicide leap of a tourist from Quebec, dad was emotionally distant -- Am?lie also craves love. In particular, she craves the love of Nino (director Mathieu Kassovitz), an equally wistful and completely adorable janitor/porn shop cashier she meets at a train station photo booth. Plot, however, tends to take back seat to style, which Jeunet layers on with the subtlety and glee of a drag queen who has just been given lipstick and a mascara wand. Through his eyes, Paris is less a city than an ongoing festival, resplendent with verdant vegetable stands, eccentric old artists, charming caf?s, bubbling canals, endless blue skies, and -- as one sequence hilariously illustrates -- numerous couples who have no trouble attaining simultaneous orgasm. This vision raised the ire of a few French critics, who accused Jeunet of portraying Paris as little more than a close cousin to Euro Disney (where is Montmartre's graffiti? Where is its racial diversity?), peopled solely with the kind of cuddly if curmudgeonly characters found more typically in Tin Tin cartoons and Robert Doiseneau photographs. But such criticism misses the point. In Am?lie, as in Delicatessen and The City of Lost Children, Jeunet has made a pure fantasy; its reality is that of a parallel universe, where perverse humor co-exists comfortably with genuine, if somewhat manic compassion. Whether he shows Am?lie taking innocent pleasure in cracking the surface of a cr?me brul?e or one of her co-workers engaging in a round of (literally) earth-shaking sex in a caf? bathroom, Jeunet portrays his characters with both loving self-indulgence and a keen appreciation for the absurd; he's aiming for light-hearted comedy, not kitchen sink realism. It is Jeunet's ability to temper his self-indulgence with absurdity that prevents Am?lie from drowning in saccharine sentimentality. It is a "feel good" film, no doubt, but not the sort that people offer apologies for liking. Jeunet's energy, wit, and visual ingenuity are infectious. Even if we know that Montmartre is really strewn with trash and that Paris is often rainy and cold, it is hard not to be seduced by both Jeunet's vision of kind hearts, earthy humor, and fortuitous happenstance. Am?lie was nothing less than a cinematic phenomenon in France, where it took in 40 million dollars, won an endorsement from President Jacques Chirac, and brought a new wave of tourists to Paris' Montmartre district, where its story is set. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Claudie Ossard  Producer 
Jean-Pierre Jeunet  Director 
Jean-Pierre Jeunet  Screenwriter 
Guillaume Laurant  Screenwriter 
Yann Tiersen  Composer (Music Score) 
Antoine Simkine  Executive Producer 
Arne Meerkamp Van Embden  Producer 
Audrey Tautou  Actor 
Mathieu Kassovitz  Actor 
Rufus  Actor 
Yolande Moreau  Actor 
Artus de Penguern  Actor 
Urbain Cancelier  Actor 
Dominique Pinon  Actor 
Maurice Bénichou  Actor 
Claude Perron  Actor 
Isabelle Nanty  Actor 
Claire Maurier  Actor 
Serge Merlin  Actor 
Clotilde Mollet  Actor 
Jamel Debbouze  Actor 
André Dussollier  Actor 
Michel Robin  Actor 
Lorella Cravotta  Actor 
Flora Guiet  Actor 
Amaury Babault  Actor 
Armelle  Actor 
Jean Darie  Actor 
Ticky Holgado  Actor 
Andrée Damant  Actor 
Marc Amyot  Actor 
Dominique Bettenfeld  Actor 
Frankye Pain  Actor 
Eugene Berthier  Actor 
Marion Pressburger  Actor 
Charles-Roger Bour  Actor 
Luc Palun  Actor 
Fabienne Chaudat  Actor 
Jacques Viala  Actor 
Fabien Behar  Actor 
Jonathan Joss  Actor 
Jean-Pierre Becker  Actor 
Thierry Gibault  Actor 
Franois Bercovici  Actor 
Guillaume Viry  Actor 
Valérie Zarrouk  Actor 
Marie-Laure Descoureaux  Actor 
Sophie Tellier  Actor 
Gérald Weingand  Actor 
Francois Viaur  Actor 
Paule Dare  Actor 
Myriam Labbe  Actor 
Robert Gendreu  Actor 
Julianna Kovacs  Actor 
Mady Malroux  Actor 
Monette Malroux  Actor 
Valériane De Villeneuve  Actor 
Isis Peyrade  Actor 
Raymonde Heudeline  Actor 
Christiane Bopp  Actor 
Thierry Arfeuilleres  Actor 
Jerry Lucas  Actor 
Patrick Paroux  Actor 
Francois Aubineau  Actor 
Philippe Beautier  Actor 
Régis Iacono  Actor 
Franck-Olivier Bonnet  Actor 
Alain Floret  Actor 
Jean-Pol Brissard  Actor 
Jacques Thebault  Actor 
Frederic Mitterrand  Actor 

Country: France,Germany