Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain

Audrey Tautou as Amelie Poulain

Juan Ortiz

COMM 4302-01

Amelie

Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet

Producers: Jean-Marc Deschamps

      Claudie Ossard

Writers: Jean-Pierre Jeunet (scenario)

  Guillaume Laurant (dialogue)

Narrator: André Dussollier

Staring: Audrey Tautou

  Mathieu Kassovitz

Cinematography: Bruno Delbonnel

Music by: Yann Tiersen

Editing: Jeffery Schneid

Box Office: $173,921,954

Accolades: European Film Awards (Best Film)

        Cesar Awards (Best Film,Best Director, Best Music, Best Production Design)

Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain, a french film, is a movie about a “quirky” girl who sees the world differently than the rest.  The movie is about a girl who has always been isolated from others, ever since childhood.  The movie begins with a list.  A list of every character in Amelie’s life when she was a child and list of their likes and dislikes a very unusual way to start a film, but it was funny. It goes on to show why she was alone as a child and how the death of her mother affected her.  The movie quickly moves foward to when Amelie is in her twenties, living alone and wroking as a waitress.  Audrey Tautou of a quirky, whimsical girl was so enuine, you believed her because of her look and her posture.  The movie was almost like a breathe of fresh air, to see exactly how an imagination can make life better.  Amelie tries to better the lives of those around her while not dealing with her unsuccesful personal life. 

A movie like this focused more on the acting then on anything else.  But first, the camera angles used in the film were not alot.  Most of the film was done in a middle shot form.  Most of the close ups were done mostly on Amelie’s face when she comes up with an idea or is thinking. Most of the wide shots were done in the train station, and some other wide shots were used while she was running following the motorcycle guy. 

The film was very “tight” when it came to actors.  There wasn’t a big cast nor big elaborate settings beside the train station. Extras, according to Lous Giannetti author of Understanding Movies, “provide a sense of a crowd” and “often function as landscape or set rather than characters” Not alot of extras were used in the film only extras were used were in Amelie’s job, the restaurant, the train station was where most of the extras were used. 

During the time of the movies release, 2001, America was going through a hard time. Months before the movie’s release in December the United States suffered the worst terrorist attack in American soil in history, and the movie served as a good refresh for the American public.  It was a very good comedy, and although it had a limited release the American public opented to it warmly.  It even increased tourist trips to France. 

Cafe des 2 Moulins, the cafe where Amelie worked.
And has become a popular tourist attraction.

“After years of battling American "cultural imperialism" and its advance guard of Hollywood movies, France's filmmakers have staged a coup: French films in 2001 claimed 41% of the nation's ticket sales, up from 28.5% in 2000,” thanks to Amelie French films have become more popular (Crumley, 2002).  And I can see why. The scenery in Amelie is beautiful. It makes one want to go to France and see the beautiful scenery for one’s self. Not only has Amelie had a profound effect on French films in America but also tourism in France after the movie has increased since the movie’s release.  “And the real-life places that she frequented have profited from her magic, creating a cult of Amélie, particularly among foreign tourists who seek to follow in her footsteps.” (Sciolino, 2003) Tourist have gone to France to see the places where Amelie worked or traveled or even the grocery store she went to.  People want to follow Amelie. 

“Forget the plot, the real delight is the army of oddballs that rotate around the gamine Miss Tautou,” says Neil Smith about Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain.  The movie does not have a solid plot, but the odd characters and storylines make up for it.  The way the movie just rolls on with no clear disctinction of where it’s actually going is fun, like a roller coaster.  The movie isn’t touching, it doesn’t seem to have a deep message the movie is just fun! Although the movie is confusing at first and you don’t really know what is the purpose of the movie or why she does the things she does, or why she goes on adventures that don’t seem necessary but this movie is “guaranteed to put a smile on your face” (Smith, 2001). 

For being my first french film, I enjoyed it.  At first I thought that the movie was pointless and I would not like it, but I actually got into the movie.  I always wondered why she involved herself in silly situations but that is how Amelie is.  The way her mind works is bery unusual, she sees the world differently.  While others see the world as a business venture, she sees it as a roller coaster, she seed the world fun.  She may be in her twenties and be mature but her mindset is still like a little kid.  She is looking for fun and to be accepted.  The movie takes you around France with Amelie and her adventures. The move is fun, and whimsicle and just a great watch. 

Amelie [Theater]. (2001).

Crumley, B. (2002, February 4). The french steals the show. Time Europe, 159(5), p. 63.

Smith, N. (2001, October 4). Amelie (2001). Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/ films/ 2001/09/19/amelie_2001_review.shtml

Sciolino, E. (2003, August 10). Cinematography meets geography in montmartre. 159,

CHECKLIST FOR PLAGIARISM

1. (     )  I have not handed in this assignment for any other class. 
2. (    )  If I reused any information from other papers I have written for other classes, I clearly explain that in the paper.
3. (    )  If I used any passages word for word, I put quotations around those words, or used indentation and citation within the text.
4. (     )  I have not padded the bibliography. I have used all sources cited in the bibliography in the text of the paper.
5. (     )  I have cited in the bibliography only the pages I personally read. 
6. (     )  I have used direct quotations only in cases where it could not be stated in another way. I cited the source within the paper and in the bibliography. 
7. (     )  I did not so over-use direct quotations that the paper lacks interpretation or originality.   
8. (      )  I checked yes on steps 1-7 and therefore have been fully transparent about the research and ideas used in my paper. 

Two days beforc paper is due-.nearf inal draft form---rcreadyo ur paper for the followingp oints: and examineit

l ' ( ) en introductoryP afgraphc learlyi ntroduces thes ubjectA. topics tatemenist evident

2' ( ) rrre nextt wo paragraphesa chh avea single margin or mainc laim.N otee achc laim in the n a3-4 wordp h119eIf. you can'ti den-tifttt . .iuirn,p ut margin'I ftwo or more a questionm arki n the claimse iirt undt enat o aivf;g;;;r a coherentth ought, questionm arki n them argin. put a

3' ( ) Thes ameth ingh olds-fotrh en extt wo parag.raphs 4' ( on theo pposites ideo fthe issue. ) Thef our paragraphasb ovea tl focuso n tt e isruea t hand;t hey irrelevantte nitory.I f do not wandero ffinto anyp aragrapwh "lg"..r, p"t

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5' ( qr..li"n marki n them argin. ) Thes ixthp aragr"pt*t "ighi tlie connictini.r"ini, rroi thef our paragraphs arrivesa t a conclusionw. tatrornee vidence abovea nd explained. i;-;;;;;;in.hg thano there videnceis Thee nsuingc oncrusionis crearrys tateda. ;;i; it. If you can,t find the

- 9oryIriog, put a questionm arki n the margin.

6' ( ) Thef inalparagraphre turnsto *rt"t was evidence statedin thef irst paragrapahn d,i n light ofthe presenteadn dw eigheda bovec, onvincin$yr rprrrur., thec onclusione xpected thep ositions tatemenItf. by thea ssignmenist to bertine.i.o,;urtiryings tatements for the

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musta ppeahr ersandf low-fromt hee xplanatlonli tr,, sixthp aragrapohf your

Next:

7' ( ) Is eachc laim in paragraphs2 -5 s:pport_ed supporreodn ry by evidence?A re therea ny nakedc laims byv ariationojf "I beriivr...';irrrq'piri.u igx i;t-h";ilin paragraph. u"ria,t r,.t

8' ( ) Is eachc laim backedu p by a reference? If a claim standsn akedo f supporting evidenceo r argumentp, ut a big X in tt

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rnurgin.

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consider any X appearing in the margin and fix those that need fixing.

Another thing:

9' ( ) Doest he paperd o more than simply but gloriouslyr estatet he question cases tudya ndc rosso ut all ? Examine the ideast hat appearin boththr.urc studya nd in your what remains-uncrossoeudt pap€r. is your analysisI.t shoull constituteth e majority paper.I f it doesn'ty, ou haven,t of your ione an analysis.

consider all question marks appearing in the margin and lix those that need fixing.

+

D.J.Ederp,h .D. Copyrigh@t 2 Ot2 deder@siue.edu

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i&-dYa*/Ch ec klist for E ditin g

checklistf or fditing Your sevenp anagraph-Anatyticpaalp er

Jwo days before paper is due-near linal draft form--reread your paper and examine it

for the following points:

l. ( ) An introductoryp aragraphc learly introducest he subject.A topic statementi s evident

within the paragraphT. he positiont akeni s clear.I f thep ositioni s unclearp, ut a question

mark in the margin.

2. ( ) The next two paragraphse achh avea single or main claim. Note eachc laim in the

margin n a3-4 word phrase. If you can't identift the claim, put a question mark in the

margin. Iftwo or more claims exist and tend to diverge from a coherent thought, put a

question mark in the margin.

3. ( ) The samet hing holds for the next two paragraphso n the opposites ideo f the issue.

4. ( ) rne four paragraphsa bovea ll focus on thelssie at hand;t irly do not wandero ffinto

irrelevant tenitory. If any paragraph wanders, put a question-r"ri. in the marlin.

5. ( ) The sixth paragraph weighs the conflicting claims from the nut p*ugt"pis above and

arrives at a conclusion.IlTty some evidence is-inore convincing than ltheievidence is

explained. The ensuing conclusion is clearly stated. Circle it. liyou can't find the

, conclusion, put a question mark in the margin.

6. ( ) The finalparagraphr eturnst o what was statedi n the first paragrapha nd, in light ofthe

evidencep resenteda nd weigheda bove,c onvincin$y rephraseit hJposition statement.t f

the conclusione xpectedb y the assignmentis to be.tinesiedj,u stifring statementsfo r the

variancem ust appearh erea nd flow from the explanationi n ihe sixthiaragraph of your

paper.

Consider all question marks appearing in the margin and fix those that need fixing.

Next:

7. ( ) Is eachc laim in paragraph2s -5 supportedb y evidence?A re therea ny nakedc laims

supportedo nly by variationso f "I believe..."?If so,p ut a big X in the marginb esidet hat

paragraph.

8. ( ) Is eachc laim backedu p by a referenceI?f a claims tandsn akedo f supporting

evidenceo r argumentp, ut a big X in the margin.

consider any X appearing in the margin and lix those that need fixing.

Another thing:

9'd( ) Doest hep aperd o moret hans imply but gloriouslyr estateth e question? Examine the

case study and cross out all ideas that uppeu. in boththe case study and in your paper.

What remainsu ncrossedo ut is your analysisI.t shouldc onstituteit re ma.loiityo iyou,

paper.I f it doesn'ty, ou haven'td onea n analysis.

 D,J.EderP, h.D, Copyrigh@t 2 0t2 deder@siue.edu

Rewrite as necessatTW. hen you've finished,l et it sit at least one night befored oing the

final step below.

Finalty:

Up to now, you'veb eenw orkingo n substancea ndt hinking.N ow, on the final morning over

breakfast on the day the paper is'due, check out the mechanics. Sweep your paper with a

spell checkera ndc omb it for the cornmonf atale rrorsi n the list below.I f you find sucha n

error, put a check in the box.

10.( ) A sentenclea ckse itheras ubjectorav erb;a sentencdeo esn ot beginwitha capital

lettero r endw ith a period (citationsi n parenthesegso aheado f periods,n ot behindt hem).

I l. ( ) A sentenceb eginsw ith a relativep ronoun sucha s Which, Who, That, Where,a nd

When.

12.( ) A pronoun lacksa clear antecedentt;h at is, a word such as it, he, she,o r they doesn ot

havea n obvious link to a noun (especiallyn oticeablei f a sentenceb eginsw ith ,t, he, she,

or tha.

13.( ) A pronouno r verb fails to agreew ith its antecedenitn number;t hat is, a singlep erson

or agency is refened to as they, or a plural subject is given a singular verb (such as,-

"memberso f the schoolb oard....givesth eir vote...").

14.( ) A sentencer uns-ono r usesa commat o splicei ndependenitd east ogether;t hat is,

complex ideasa re not split into two sentencesb ut are linked, often by a cornma,i nto an

overly long, wandering sentence.

The five check boxes in the list above should be empty. If not, Iix the erronr.

When you're done, hand in the paper and take in a day at the beach. You've done a good job!