17/04/26

Filmhouse, Edinburgh

With decent new releases a bit thin on the ground, it seems a propitious time for the re-release of Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s 2001 masterpiece, Amélie, in a stunning 4K restoration. This gorgeous, swooning tale of love and intrigue is unlike any other film I’ve seen. Whimsical, wildly inventive and built around an astonishing lead performance by Audrey Tautou, it exudes charm and wonder in equal measure. It’s every bit as good as I remember and has me leaving like I’m walking on air.

When we first meet Amélie, she’s just being born – and the film speedily takes us into her childhood. She’s a complex creature, who, after the early death of her mother, longs for affection from her distant but well-meaning father, Raphael (Rufus). But the loss of his wife has plunged him into despair and he retreats into a world of his own, unable to give his daughter the affection she craves. Soon Amélie has grown to womanhood. She’s still looking for the love she’s missed out on and is now determined to create opportunities for others who may be in need of that precious commodity. She works as a waitress in a bar in Paris and it’s here that she quietly goes about the business of making magic (and sometimes mayhem) for the various people she encounters, building stories around them and quietly seeking ways to introduce some much-needed romance into their lives.

Her antics are closely observed by her elderly neighbour, Raymond (Serge Merlin), a man with brittle-bone disease, who has devoted his life to reproducing a famous painting, Renoir’s Luncheon of the Boating Party. It’s a task he re-attempts every year, obsessed with getting it right. And what is it about one female character in the picture that so intrigues him?

Co-written by Jeunet and Guillaume Laurant, beautifully filmed by Bruni Delbonnel, this is an object lesson in how to create memorable screen imagery – there are countless iconic shots here that wouldn’t look out of place on the walls of an art gallery. The story is wonderfully labyrinthine and the complex machinations that Amélie goes to in her quest to help friends and neighbours are delightfully offbeat. The protracted ‘will they, won’t they’ courtship she engineers with Nino (Matthew Kassovitz) could so easily be unbearably cute, but somehow Jeunet manages to inject everything with a Gallic edginess that keeps it all on track. Furthermore, not all of Amélie’s elaborate schemes go quite to plan.

Be warned. Watching Amélie comes with the distinct danger of falling hopelessly in love with it. If you didn’t see it first time around, then here’s your chance to catch one of the most original movies ever made. Miss it and weep.

5 stars

Philip Caveney