Amelie - DVD Review

MOVIE
VIDEO
AUDIO
EXTRAS
OVERALL

Two Discs
2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
French 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround
English Closed Captions
English Subtitles
Spanish Subtitles
French/English Audio Commentary
3 Making-Of Featurettes
Cast and Crew Interviews
Screen Tests
Still Gallery
Filmographies
Theatrical Trailers
TV Spots
Run Time: 119 Minutes
Foldout Cardboard Case

MOVIE
Rated R for Sexuality and brief nudity
And so it was long after I'd completed my top ten movies of 2001 list that I was confronted with two stunning films, worthy of the very top of the list, long after the year ended. The films were Hedwig and the Angry Inch (which shall be covered in another review) and the bizarrely abbreviated title Amelie, translated from the French The Fabulous Destiny of Amelie Poulain. So, it wasn't until late May of 2002, after the Oscars had come and gone, that my associate Tecnodrome and I were finally able to see this incredible film.
Okay, constant readers (or archivists) will note that I've long had an unnatural obsession with Julia Roberts leading to every time I review a Julia Roberts movie, waxing poetic about a life I'd never live, leaving Palatine, heading to Hollywood and marrying Julia, this obsession much to Fiancée Willow Rosenberg's chagrin. Two factors have intercepted this dream recently (aside from the fact that, one, I am engaged, and two, the odds of Julia Roberts going along with this dream is incredibly unlikely) the factors are as follows, one, Julia Roberts has recently married, and two, Audrey Tautou has eclipsed the lovely Julia as a new obsession.
Now, before I go on and on about this, let me give you a bit of info about the film. Amelie Poulain (Audrey Tautou), after finding a small tin box containing toys that presumably belongs to a former inhabitant of her apartment, decides to find the owner, thus becoming a permanent do-gooder. She proceeds to concentrate on making everybody's lives better while neglecting her own and getting more and more depressed about it. She falls in love with a stranger named Nino (Mathieu Kassovitz) and plays an elaborate bait and switch game with him instead of actually speak to him and grow a relationship. She cultivates a friendship with a man with brittle glass-like bones played by Samuel L. Jackson and becomes a super-hero fighting-- Wait. Let me back up. She cultivates a friendship with Raymond Dufayel (Serge Merlin), a man with brittle glass-like bones who paints the same Renoir painting over and over every year in an attempt to "get the looks right."
Meanwhile, back at The Two Windmills, the Diner that Amelie works at, love is in bloom thanks to Amelie's hand. Down the street at the grocery, the abusive and brash owner, Colignon (Urbain Cancelier) verbally berates his slow assistant Lucien (Jamel Debbouze) leading little Amelie to exact a calculated and hilarious revenge on Colignon that I won't go into here. Amelie consistently helps those who she envisions as being the trod upon masses, but gives little time to herself except when she sits alone at night watching imaginary newsreels about her life of sacrifice and giving and lonely death, sobbing her adorable eyes out. Oh, but it IS a comedy.

VIDEO QUALITY

The Video image is beautiful, and don't panic and readjust the color on your TV set. The movie was processed at 2K resolution (and for the confused, as I was too, this means the entire film was photographed digitally and color timed, the same technique was used in O Brother Where Art Thou?) and given a green cast. There are a few moments where I could see some pixelization and a strange graying of blacks, notably towards the end when Amelie bends to pick up the note slid under her door. Those of you with 16x9 displays will have to make due with the subtitles on the picture, we losers who still have 4:3 get the subtitles below the beautifully used 2.35:1 aspect ratio of the film. Watching on this DVD makes me cry, noting that not only did the Academy deprive this film of the Best Foreign Film Oscar, but they didn't even give it Best Cinematography, which it clearly deserves.

AUDIO QUALITY
The Audio on the DVD is all encompassing, surrounding you with unusual sounds, enveloping you with a beautiful score. It is a bit uneven, however, with dialogue ranging from terribly loud to unintelligibly quiet. Now, I know what you're saying, Windom, the movie's in French! You could watch it with the sound off and understand the dialogue via subtitles anyway! True! But if I'm allowed to jump back with my newfound obsession for a moment. 75% of this obsession is due to listening to the lovely Audrey talk. That voice, combined with the faces she makes. . .heavenly. So, back to Audio Quality. The sound is crisp and rich, although one wonders what happened to the DTS track available on almost all foreign releases. But Dolby Digital 5.1 does the job just fine, and I can't detract from the Audio Quality rating simply because a specific track I would've liked isn't there.

EXTRAS
Let's start off this look at a substantial amount of extras with the audio commentary that's existence was, bizarrely, left of the packaging. It's available in both French and English and, after a psychotic three minutes after I accidentally selected the French option, tried to change it without exiting the movie, getting that little (You can't do that! DVD symbol, jumping back to the menu and getting myself a drink, I was treated to a delightful little commentary by director Jean-Pierre (I was only following orders on Alien: Resurrection!) Jeunet. He begins the commentary in his thick but intelligible accent by warning us that he's going to shatter all the magic about the film. Instead he gives us small insights such as the music being played by the blind man in the subway station is his homage to the ballroom music in The Shining and the fact that due to Amelie's popularity, the property value in Montmartre has increased drastically.
Now, if you'll flip over to Disc Two with me. A collection of outtakes called Fantasies of Audrey Tautou is mostly made up of giggles and broken takes, but little Audrey does her best to be absolutely completely adorable here, only deepening my love for her. (2:06) The Look of Amelie is a short featurette that delves into the color timing of the film along with the cinematography. Worth a look if you're into that kind of thing like any good film student should be. (12:45) Next up are three oddly chosen screen tests, first of Audrey Tautou standing around for a while and then half improvising the scene where Amelie calls the sex shop, adorable. (1:56) Then Urbain Cancelier who plays Colignon the grocer in the film delivers nearly the exact same performance he did in the movie. (0:36) Finally we have a LONG improved performance by Yolande Moreau, Amelie's landlord. (3:49) Of the three, Audrey's is definitely worth watching if only to see her in braids, so is Cancelier's, but the last one. . .eh. A quick Storyboard Comparison section left me wanting so much more, all we get is a storyboard to screen comparison of the scene where Amelie travels through the haunted house. Since the documentaries repeatedly show that Jeunet storyboarded only THE ENTIRE FILM, couldn't we get a more extravagant scene? Oh well. (0:55) Then, a Q&A with Jeunet in English, presumably for a college audience. This is lengthy and covers so many aspects of the filmmaking process, more filling out the commentary than repeating it. (24:34)
The Q&A with Jeunet, Audrey, Mathieu Kassovitz and Jamel Debbouze, once again with a college audience. This Q&A reveals little, but it's fun to see the cast interacting with each other and with Jeunet in such a free and fun way. (5:54)
The best extra feature on the DVD, though, is the Intimate Chat with Jean-Pierre Jeunet in which he, in French, speaks to the camera taking us through the entire process of making the film. He lets us in on some really cool tidbits such as the problem finding a title, (one of the original suggestions inexplicably being The Goose-Pimple Adventure) re-writing the movie in English for Emily Watson who then dropped out and testing the film with test screenings, an idea he got from working on Alien: Resurrection, only in France, you don't have to listen to the test screening audience.
A Home Movies section offers some fun stuff, video footage of Audrey before and after the Amelie haircut, then with several different styles, footage of taking the photo stand pictures, miscellaneous footage from the shooting, but the best part and the reason to watch this is footage of Jeunet choosing the couples for the orgasm sequence and then filming it. (12:43) A collection of Trailers and TV spots contains a wealth of worthless American TV spots, an okay American Theatrical Trailer, a FANTASTIC French Theatrical trailer (does anyone know the piece of music played between the two Amelie tracks? Email me!) and five French TV spots based around the likes and dislikes theme of the movie, proving that foreign trailers are better than ours. Rounding out the extras are a few still collections including behind the scenes photos, a few alternate poster concepts (thankfully they stuck with the one they did, although the one with the diner in the background is cool, but I think they used that one anyway) some storyboards and a short section of various Polaroids from the Garden Gnome's travels. If you haven't seen the movie, see it, 'cuz I'm not going to say more.

CLOSING THOUGHTS
Amelie is a truly magical film-going experience that everybody should see. Don't be afraid of the subtitles and you'll be in for a real treat. This DVD is a love letter to those who have found the film so far. It's worth any price, but at under twenty dollars most places, it's definitely worth picking up, even if you haven't seen it. Despite its lack of DTS track, I happily give this two disc set the The Windom Earle Happy Cookie of Excellence. Must Own!