Amélie - Analyse the trajectory of the female protagonist and the way in which the film encourages the viewer to assess what happens to her.

Jeunet’s movie Amélie was an international success that divided France. Many were choked by ‘the film’s whitewashing of Paris’ (Dudley), the very noticeable use of CGI, the ‘ tricks and stereotypes’, the fact that the film was filled with ‘hackneyed images of eternal “Frenchness”’ (Film Comment), and its ‘culturally unifying tone and obsolete iconography’ (Inrockuptibles). Nonetheless, Amélie was a box-office success in many countries. One might wonder how come a film that was rejected for the Cannes Festival and so many critics could have achieved such popularity within the audiences. Amélie’s main theme is simplicity. It tells the story of a little girl that grows into a young lady, who is looking for happiness enjoying life’s simplest treasures, like ducks and drakes. This simplicity and happiness are what Jean-Pierre Jeunet aims to show the audiences. How does he proceed? How does he show Amélie to us? Why does she decide to meddle in people’s lives and make them happy? What transformation does she undergo? In order to answer these questions we will look at Amélie trajectory, and the way in which the film encourages the viewer to assess what happens to her, starting with her childhood, the reason behind her quest, her quest itself.

The film starts by introducing us to Amélie. We are told about a series of random facts and then Amélie’s conception:

‘On September 3, 1973 6:28 pm and 32 sec. A blue fly of the Calliphorides species, whose wings can flutter 14670 times per minute landed in Saint-Vincent Street, Montmartre.

At the exact same second, outside a restaurant, the wind was sweeping in under a tablecloth,