I don’t know anyone personally that doesn’t like the movie, Amelie. Saying so, I know, is a big neon invitation for everyone to chime in and say how much they hate its whimsy and sticky-sweetness, but I’m going to say it anyway. Because I think that liking Amelie says a lot about the person who likes it; that they are romantic and willing to suspend disbelief and cynicism for two hours of richness, love, and exuberance.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying you are an assh*le if you don’t like Amelie; some people have called it racist for idealizing Paris and leaving out ethnic minorities. Others have just found it too saccharine and boring.

Personally, I think it does a movie a disservice to take it too literally. Almost every film ever made is idealized, and it’s that idealized, dreamlike quality that makes Amelie so beautiful and singular.

If you haven’t seen it, Amelie is a French film that came out in 2001 and was directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, who also did Delicatessen, A Very Long Engagement, and City of Lost Children. Amelie (the beautiful Audrey Tautou) is a waitress in Montmartre who does a good deed and feels so good about it that she starts doing good deeds all over Paris. Along the way, she meets a man named Nino and falls in love. Read More »