Amelie Deconstruction
inhabit a world filled with others, and interactions with them unavoidably and continually shape our lives. These interactions are vital to our health and well-being” (Matter 2010, 1).
The French film Amélie is a romantic comedy from 2001 directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Amélie is a highly engaging quirky film which tells the story of Amélie, a waitress in a Parisian café who sees it as her mission in life to right wrongs and improve the lives of others. Set in present day Montmartre, Paris this film sets the stage for a film about love and adventure. The film follows her journey from her initially sheltered, solitary life from birth to childhood; with her overlooking, unusual parents’ home schooling her, raising her in a world devoid of physical contact. The film has been created in a highly optimistic, unique, dreamy, child like fashion through energetic camera work, bright lighting and the creative use of colour in both the built environment and costume. The built environment in particular is highly influential to the narrative and the messages conveyed throughout the film. The storyline of Amélie primarily communicates the academic theory of ‘social interaction’. The built environment can foster or impede social interactions and throughout the journey this film shows how the built environment can cleverly articulate both. For Amélie, by interacting with other people and interacting in their lives’ she makes a difference to theirs, and through this finds her own happiness through social interaction with Nino. Through the use of cliché, nostalgic postcard perfect imagery Amélie has successfully created a quintessentially, stereotypical depiction of Parisian life almost like a fairytale. In creating an unrealistic Paris however the director has selectively erased modern day cultural and societal trends in many cases in order to depict everyone’s ideal Paris.
Although a contemporary film set in current modern society, the film Amélie raises many questions
The French film Amélie is a romantic comedy from 2001 directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Amélie is a highly engaging quirky film which tells the story of Amélie, a waitress in a Parisian café who sees it as her mission in life to right wrongs and improve the lives of others. Set in present day Montmartre, Paris this film sets the stage for a film about love and adventure. The film follows her journey from her initially sheltered, solitary life from birth to childhood; with her overlooking, unusual parents’ home schooling her, raising her in a world devoid of physical contact. The film has been created in a highly optimistic, unique, dreamy, child like fashion through energetic camera work, bright lighting and the creative use of colour in both the built environment and costume. The built environment in particular is highly influential to the narrative and the messages conveyed throughout the film. The storyline of Amélie primarily communicates the academic theory of ‘social interaction’. The built environment can foster or impede social interactions and throughout the journey this film shows how the built environment can cleverly articulate both. For Amélie, by interacting with other people and interacting in their lives’ she makes a difference to theirs, and through this finds her own happiness through social interaction with Nino. Through the use of cliché, nostalgic postcard perfect imagery Amélie has successfully created a quintessentially, stereotypical depiction of Parisian life almost like a fairytale. In creating an unrealistic Paris however the director has selectively erased modern day cultural and societal trends in many cases in order to depict everyone’s ideal Paris.
Although a contemporary film set in current modern society, the film Amélie raises many questions