Amelie

This is a weird case of review for the fact that I didn't really like the movie, but I will acknowledge that it was good film.  Sounds kind of stupid, but it's not different than not liking Tom Brady, although I know that he is very good.  It just wasn't my kind of film.  That being said, now we can delve into the movie.

Every character in the movie (for the most part) can represent a personality or emotion.  Amelie, for the first half of the movie, was selflessness.  She was out to help everybody else and make their lives better.  When Collignon was being so mean to her other friend who worked at the produce stand, she took it into her own hands by making him feel as if he were going insane, as well as publicly humiliating him so he knew what it felt like.  Collignon, himself represents grumpiness.  He was never happy and couldn't allow anybody around him to be happy either.  His helper represents our dreamy side.  He always had his head off in the clouds, and could get a giggle out of a funeral.  The man in the shop that Amelie worked at represented jealousy.  He was going from woman to woman, seemingly comfortable until he started obsessing over them and making verbal notes every ten seconds, until he pushed them away completely.  The woman whom Amelie hooked this man up with (Georgette, I believe) represents the characteristic of longing.  She was always longing for something good to come along.  Amelie was of course lying when she said this to the man earlier, but in a sense it was true, because she was so excited when Amelie simply told her that this man liked her.  Then as soon as Georgette and the man start seeing each other, she is longing to get out of the relationship because he is a nutcase.

The lighting in this movie was very bright and dramatic.  Everything that happened and the tone of the movie was completely dependent upon the lighting and color.  With the events and the sneaking around, this could have almost been a thriller, given it had different lighting, color, and also music.  The way the movie had been presented, however, was with a very upbeat tone.  Jeunet did a great job putting this together in that he took a movie which could fit many categories, and made it in a solid movie that pulled at a person's proverbial heart strings.  The audience becomes completely engrossed with Amelie and is rooting for her so much, that towards the end of the movie when Nino comes into the shop and she wimps out, you want to smack her and say "COME ON THIS IS YOUR SHOT AT HAPPINESS!!"  Any movie that causes you to root for the main character that much, to the point that you get upset, that makes for a good film.  The fact that this wasn't my particular genre of choice does not change the fact that it was a great story, and very well edited, directed, and acted out.  The main point in the film that i caught a point of view that was a little different was when Amelie first looked out through her window at her neighbor who was painting.  It showed both her head and him, so it was almost as if the audience were peering down with her.  When she had Nino climb to the top of the hill, just to distance him so she could put the album in his saddlebag, they showed her from the great distance, allowing the viewers to get tense because we knew that he wouldn't be able to make it back down there in time.

Amelie was a weird gal.  She probably didn't have more than twenty lines throughout the entire film, but she was still the main character.  She'd probably rock the roll of Helen Keller.  Too far?  My bad.  She kept the movie going with all of her glances at the camera.  That always made the viewer feel that much more connected to her cute and bubbly character.  I would say that the main theme and feeling of the film was that spiritual and personal development takes place along a long span of time, and helping others is a very important step in acquiring these things.  It was very obvious that Amelie was much more focused on helping others than she was with helping herself, until towards the end of the film where she started to help herself along little by little.  Nino was apparently on the path to spiritual and personal development as well, or else he wouldn't have put so much effort into being with the girl that practically cold-shouldered him after telling him where to meet her.  He was at first interested in what she looked like, as he was asking his co-worker, but it became evident that he was very much attracted to her personality as well.