Amelie

Full Title: Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amelie Poulain
Country: France
Language: French with English subtitles
Date Released: 2001
Academy Award Nominations: 5
Director: Jean Pierre-Jeunet (Delicatessen and A Very Long Engagement)
Actors: Mattieu Kazovitz and Audrey Tatou (A Very Long Engagement, Pretty Little Hands, The Da Vinci Code)

Amelie is one-of-a-kind film that tugs at your heart while it makes you laugh. From the very first scene down to the last, Amelie promises to be a different kind of a foreign language film. The French, as you know, are very famous for their depressing and shocking films. This one will really make you laugh and without you noticing it, draw a few rivulets of tears from you.

It has a fantastic plot and very surprising twist and ending. Audrey Tatou is a rare gem with her dead-pan, in-your-face humor and believable acting finesse. Editing and musical score
together with the special effects will sweep you off your feet while the story will rock to wakefulness as it is fast-paced (unlike most French films, by the way), unconventional and masterful.

At the core of the story was the simple wish of the young woman Amelie to do something good to humanity (at all cost) and the sacrifices she was ready to face to make people realize that after all the misery and drudgery there is in the world, it is still, basically a beautiful life. Now compare this film to Gaspar Noe's nihilistic film In the Bowels of France, I Stand Alone and you know what I mean.

And to top it all, in this film, it's a happy ending. What more can you ask for?

out of five