Never Seen It #335: Amélie

Amélie has a strange feeling of absolute harmony. It's a perfect blog moment. A soft light, a scent in the air, the quiet murmur of the city, 500 movies she'd never seen before. A surge of love, an urge to help mankind overcomes her.

Amélie

2001

Jean-Pierre Jeunet

For this final entry into Film Club's "Already Seen It" mini-series, we coincidentally had two FC members choose the same movie that they've already seen. Allison and Brittany were both asked to give me a prompt or question or whatever, and their emails are below. I will also say that, in the week between asking them for their thoughts and sitting down to write this blog post, I hung out with Allison, who seemed a little concerned that I wouldn't like Amélie. I do! I like it! I also appreciated Allison teaching me how to correctly pronounce it (AH-muh-lee).

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Brittany

I guess my questions and prompts are: what did you think of the movie? This was made in 2001, and I  haven't watched it since probably 2007. Did anything seem unusual watching it in 2026, or is it "ageless"? What was your favorite part of the movie, and what was your least favorite part?

Thinking about this movie myself, one thing that always cracked me up was the "how many people in Paris are having orgasms this very second?" And it does the little orgasm montage and then she goes, "quinze." I also really loved the mystery of the photo booth and the scene where they ride on the moped together. I thought that was such a beautiful scene. It's been almost 20 years since I last watched this movie, and I always remember the moped scene.

Did any scenes stand out to you?

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Allison

Brittany, great taste! 

Joe: Did this movie make you feel whimsical, or inspired you to live a more whimsical life?

Talk about color! The film is so rich and saturated, I forgot how stunning some shots are. 

Thoughts on the narrator?

Does Amelie go too far in meddling with her neighbors? Things work out for most, but that stuff with the letter could have gone sideways. Sure, she psychologically terrorizes the grocer, but he kind of deserved it. Georgette, however, definitely gets shafted.

Finally, did this movie make you want to get baby bangs or is that just a universal girl experience?

If you liked this, absolutely watch A Very Long Engagement. You don't have to blog it, you could just enjoy it!

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Joe

My thoughts are disjointed, which usually happens for a movie I like. I liked Amélie a lot! Totally bought into the whimsy. I think I caught on to the aesthetic around the time that they showed all the garden plants with holes punched in them. The whimsy allows you to consider the film lighthearted and fun, while also giving plenty of room to take it seriously. When Amélie's mother dies, it's both tragic and sort of funny, right? Or did the whimsy mislead me?

The only thing I knew about this film before watching was the theatrical poster / DVD cover / image of Amélie smiling. The past 25 years of movie PR advertising may have warped my brain into thinking that this was going to be a horror film, based on that image. So that was the most relieving thing about this film-watching experience, learning that Amélie's smile was meant to be sincere, not ironic. Though I did see, in my surprisingly difficult hunt to find a free copy of this on the internet, a file called "Amélie cut as a horror movie," and I can't imagine that was too big of a stretch.

Because it requires a buy-in to this world. It requires you to buy into the idea that moped rides are charming, that Amélie has the best interest of her community at heart, that this is a sweet romantic film with no villain and no evil external forces and just exists as a nice little story. I buy in, and I agree with all of this, and I do think that Amélie was a great film for all the reasons that Allison and Brittany imply above.

I too loved the opening sequence that led up to the (famous?) orgasm bit. I especially liked how we got micro-vignettes from a bunch of characters we'll never see again, like when the narrator shot around the city to see what a bunch of people were doing at the exact same time. I love stories like this. How would I describe it? I guess it's just a symptom of having an omniscient narrator who isn't afraid to break the fourth wall. It's using the narrator as a device to flesh out the story with details that important, not to the plot, but thematically.

What is the theme, then? The purpose of this story? My interpretation is that it's the story of a woman who learns that it's easy to help others, but it's hard to help yourself. Or rather, not that this lesson is universally true (lots of bad people find it really easy to help only themselves), but that this lesson applies to this character, she finds, and it's the story of her figuring that out. Amélie's discovery that she likes helping people is discovered rather early on, but as we move through the movie, enough complications pile up (Georgette getting "shafted," as a great example, or drawing out her cat-and-mouse game with her crush for waaaay too long) that it starts to shake the whole foundation of that new discovery. Is helping people in spite of your own needs noble, or is it cowardly? The euphoric moped ride finds the answer somewhere in the middle.

And the answer is probably not the following, something said by the failed author: "Life is a long rehearsal for a show that never plays." That felt meaningful when he said it, but also bleak. Almost as if life doesn't actually matter. That's the opposite of what Amélie is trying to say, I think. I think the movie argues that life matters very much, that our choices are important. It's helpful to see Amélie make a bunch of right choices and a handful of wrong ones too. It's not easy to make the right choice. (Actually, now that I think about it, you could probably apply this lesson to the making of this film itself. The colors definitely popped, and I think that's a choice. The choice the attempt at making this a fun and whimsical and ultimately optimistic film. We'll ask the questions but have a lot of fun doing it!)

To answer Brittany's question, I think this is the way that makes the film ageless. There's a specific time and place to the setting, but it could be anywhere at any time, and it'd still be the same movie. The character has good intentions, and she discovers herself and her place in the world. It's a thrill to watch.

In the interest of answering every question: I have inquired with my barber and have scheduled an appointment to get baby bangs.

GRADE: 4 pukes out of 5

Thanks to Allison and Brittany for their help!

NEXT TIME: Film Club gets together on Zoom to talk about Winter's Bone, see you at 9 PM on Tuesday!