Saturday, March 31, 2007

Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain

I have seen the movie that changes everything!
It's precious, sweet, exciting and inspirational. I am in love.


On September 3rd 1973, at 6:28pm and 32 seconds, a bluebottle fly capable of 14,670 wing beats a minute landed on Rue St Vincent, Montmartre. At the same moment, on a restaurant terrace nearby, the wind magically made two glasses dance unseen on a tablecloth. Meanwhile, in a 5th-floor flat, 28 Avenue Trudaine, Paris 9, returning from his best friend's funeral, Eugène Colère erased his name from his address book. At the same moment, a sperm with one X chromosome, belonging to Raphaël Poulain, made a dash for an egg in his wife Amandine. Nine months later, Amélie Poulain was born.

Amélie: It's better to help people than garden gnomes.

Amélie: [whispering in theater] I like to look for things no one else catches. I hate the way drivers never look at the road in old American movies.

Narrator: Amélie still seeks solitude. She amuses herself with silly questions about the world below, such as "How many people are having an orgasm right now?" [scenes of various orgasms taking place]
Amélie: Fifteen.


Narrator: For Bretodeau, that little box brought back a lot of memories -
Federico Bahamontes winning the '59 Tour de France, and of course, the
tragic day when he won all the marbles at playtime
Bretodeau, The Box Man: Life's funny. To a kid, time always drags.
Suddenly you're fifty. All that's left of your childhood... fits in a rusty little box.

Raymond Dufayel aka Glass Man: So, my little Amélie, you don't have bones of glass.
You can take life's knocks. If you let this chance pass, eventually, your heart will
become as dry and brittle as my skeleton. So, go get him, for Pete's sake!


The Newsstand Woman: A woman without love wilts like a flower without sun.


Amélie is looking for love, and perhaps for the meaning of life in general. We see her grow up in an original if slightly dysfunctional family. Now a waitress in central Paris, Monmartre, she interacts curiously with her neighbors and customers, as well as a mysterious Photomaton-image collector and one of his even more mysterious photo subjects. Little by little, Amélie realizes that the way to happiness (and yet more subtle humor) requires her to take her own initiative and reach out to others.

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