AMELIE (Le fabuleux destin d'Amelie Poulain)
Reviewed by Harvey Karten Miramax Films Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet Writer: Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Guillaume Laurant Cast: Audrey Tautou, Mathieu Kassovitz, Rufus, Yolande Moreau, Artus de Penguern, Urbain Cancelier, Dominique Pinon, Maurice Benichou, Claude Perron, Michael Robin
There may be quite a few reasons that some people turn out to be Mother Theresa types, or at least do-gooders who think more of the happiness of others than they do of their own felicity. Jean- Pierre Jeunet, who directs Amelie from his own script which is co- written by Guillaume Laurant, posits one theory that I think we call agree with. People who are outsiders, those who never seem to be accepted by others and who are therefore shy and introverted, may identify with those who share that condition, or at least that's the condition of the title character of Jeunet's latest movie.
Jeunet, who is nothing if not a stylist, is responsible for such independent fare as "Delicatessen" (about a landlord who dices human beings into cutlets for non-vegetarian tenants) and, four years later, "The City of Lost Children" (about a scientist unable to dream who invades the dreams of children). Unfortunately "Amelie" is in no way as meaty as the former work or provocative as the latter. While the Jeunet style is present in virtually every scene--the sumptuous visuals and painstaking invention--"Amelie" centers on a character who soon becomes irritating and the picture itself if afflicted with so many film-school excess that it overstays its welcome long before its absurdly long two-hour tenure. Jeunet could be on the downward spiral that began with his clumsy, illogical "Alient Resurrection" which wasted Sigourney Weaver in the starring role.
The central figure of Amelie (Audrey Tautou), who affects an Audrey Hepburn demeanor, is thought by her father (Rufus) to have a weak heart, a diagnosis that could have been made even in the U.S. today by the typical HMO physician. The faulty reading on the stethoscope is caused by her excitement at being touched by her father as a little girl in this once-a-month examination ritual: her dad is undemonstrative and denies his daughter the kind of normal contact on which every little girl thrives. Her neurotic mother, who has educated her at home, commits suicide. Amelie becomes an unhappy loner indeed, giving her a particular sympathy for those who, in her eyes, share her torment. Those people include an artist who paints the same Renoir "Luncheon of the Boating Party" over and over, the son of a greengrocer who is verbally abused by his dad who publicly denouncing him as retarded (simply because he treats every eggplant with love), and a handsome man, Nino Quicampoix (Mathieu Kassovitz) who collects pictures from a Coney-Island style photo booth.
She does her best to serve as matchmaker for a chap who hangs out daily at a cafe, a man who has been rejected and sits around spying on his lost love. She helps a blind man across the street, describing in detail what activities are in progress.
Audrey Tautou is, I suppose, ideally cast for what comes across as a fable, filled with magic realism. Her eyes focus like those of Kliban's cats, her hair is short, giving her a perky look, and Bruno Delbonnel's camera lets us see the eccentric Parisians as Amelie herself perceives them. "Amelie" is filled to the brim with too many people and therefore too many stories, to be embraced by a single motion picture. The result is a hodgepodge which depends too much on techique, on style over substance, to make for an engrossing comedy.
Not Rated. Running time: 120 minutes. (C) 2001 by Harvey Karten, film_critic@compuserve.com
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