French Cinematic Treat Lures American Audiences

Author: Kate Prouty

The French film industry struggles, and too often fails, to get applause from Hollywood critics and their loyal American audiences. Imported films seldom make it into popular theaters and are even less frequently validated by good reviews or by high attendance rates in the offbeat theaters where they are shown.

Nonetheless, every once in a while a French film creates enough buzz at home to inspire Americans, even if only temporarily, to reconsider the potential of foreign films. The film released in France as "Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain" ("The Fabulous Adventure of Amélie Poulain") and known to Americans simply as "Amélie" does just that and more.

Written by Guillaume Laurent and Jean-Pierre Jeunet, "Amélie" is the story of a young waitress (Audrey Tautou) in a Paris café and her quest to improve the fragmented lives of those around her. The barrage of oddballs in this film all suffer from some ailment, including acute hypochondria and extreme jealousy that makes one of the film's characters loiter in the café recording an ex-girlfriend's alleged conspiracies. While aiding others, however, Amélie suffers from the tragic inability to face the realities of her own lonely life.

The majority of the film portrays Amélie as a recluse due to her odd and isolating childhood, a sketch of which opens the story. Convinced that she suffers from heart trouble, Amélie's father keeps her under tight reins and has her home schooled by her mother. Amélie invents imaginary friends, and her only real pal, a goldfish, makes regular attempts to leave her by committing suicide. Tragically alone, Amélie is forced to find interesting ways to amuse herself.

Even as an adult, Amélie leads her life more as a cautious observer than as an active participant. Isolated in her Montmartre apartment, she looks out over the city and wonders things like how many people in Paris are having orgasms at just that second. In response, director Jeunet shows 15 climaxing couples.

Amélie's life continues in this way until everything abruptly changes when she discovers the box of a little boy's treasures hidden behind a loose tile in her bathroom. She decides to return this box to its rightful owner, thus beginning her mission to improving the quality of life for others. This is the "fabulous adventure" of Amélie Poulain of which the French title boasts.

After a positive reaction for returning the box, Amélie begins to interrupt both friends' and strangers' otherwise dismal daily routines. She spontaneously grasps the hand of a blind man and hurries him down the block excitedly whispering to him all the inconsequential details of the street. Using a gnome lawn ornament, she relieves the seclusion of her widower father. You have to see these interactions in order to fully understand and appreciate the delightfully unexpected ways in which Amélie makes her mark on the lives of other people.

The story unwinds in a broken episodic way. The cuts between scenes are quick and untraditional, giving the tale a fractured and imaginative quality. In this way, "Amélie" presents not only the picture of one woman's life but a widened scope of many. The film speaks to the fragility of life and thus to the necessity of taking risks to confront the mysteries that perhaps hold the answers to life's questions. In addition, the artistic way in which this film is presented celebrates the all-too-often ignored vibrancy of life. The streets of Paris are unrealistically shiny and bright, the way they might look in an idealized memory. Isolated and perhaps mundane incidents, like the wind making glasses on a tabletop dance, that nobody sees are at last realized as beautiful. Inaccurate and fantastic as the presentation and ideas of this film may be, "Amélie" at least dares to forego the traditional and honor the idiosyncratic. "Amélie," ending in happiness more reminiscent of the Hollywood film tradition than that of France, shows us just how interesting and amusing life can be.

"Amélie" can still be seen at the Ethan Allen Cinema on North Avenue in Burlington, which boasts ticket prices of $2 (call 802-863-6040 for showtimes).