2023 Blind Spot Series: La Haine

 

(Winner of the Best Director Prize at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival)

Written, directed, and co-edited by Mathieu Kassovitz, La Haine (Hatred) is the story of three different men in a Parisian suburb who spend an entire day waiting for news about a friend of theirs following a riot as they cope with their surroundings and differences. The film is a study of three men who deal with the assault of their friend as they cope with their own poor existence as they’re all from immigrant families as it play into the fallacies of France’s idea of liberty, equality, and fraternity. Starring Vincent Cassel, Hubert Kounde, Said Taghmaoui, Karim Belkhadra, Edouard Montoute, and Francois Levantal. La Haine is a gripping and evocative film from Mathieu Kassovitz.

Following the aftermath of a riot in a nearby suburban area of Paris, the film follows a day in the life of three young men who walk around their poor town and eventually into Paris as they await news about a friend of theirs who had been beaten severely by a police officer leading to all sorts of chaos. It is a film that explores three men living in these poor suburbs with one of them wanting revenge while the other two ponder on what to do as it all plays into this air of uncertainty in their lives. Mathieu Kassovitz’s screenplay is largely straightforward as it is told in the span of nearly 20 hours in the lives of these three young men who are all from different backgrounds and such yet they’re all born in France. The Jewish Vinz (Vincent Cassel), the Afro-French Hubert (Hubert Kounde), and the North African Muslim Said (Said Taghmaoui) are all from the same poor area with immigrant families as they ponder the status of their friend Abdel (Abdel Ahmed Ghili) with Vinz wanting revenge on the police as he had found a .44 Magnum revolver that a cop had lost during the riot.

Throughout the course of the film, these three men deal with the surroundings they’re in as they get into clashes with cops, gangs, and such while Vinz carrying a gun doesn’t help matters as Hubert is dealing with the fact that his gym had been burned in the riots halting his growing boxing career as Said is often in the middle being the mediator between the two. Even in the film’s second half where they go to Paris to hide from the police following another raid as they deal with this clash of social classes including a stop at an art gallery. It adds to the chaos with Vinz wanting revenge towards the police while Hubert doesn’t believe all cops are bad despite a moment later in the film where he and Said are humiliated by plainclothes cops during an interrogation.

Kassovitz’s direction does have elements of style in its overall presentation as it is shot on black-and-white film stock and on location in Paris and the suburban area of Chanteloup-les-Vignes. It adds to this sense of realism to the film but also this atmosphere where it is tense as the film opens with a montage of news reports of riots in France as it relates to the poor and their battles with the police. It then shifts to Said as he walks around the neighborhood where Kassovitz uses a lot of wide and medium shots to play into the locations including some unique compositions that play into the sense of alienation that the protagonists. There are also some close-ups that Kassovitz creates as it play into the sense of fear and anger that these characters go into including some of the confrontations such as the scene where the three men try to visit Abdel only to be stopped by the police where Vinz makes some threats with Hubert trying to defuse things and Said trying to sneak into the room.

Kassovitz also plays into this air of social differences as it plays into this fallacies of France’s own ideals of liberty, equality, and fraternity as these three men are shackled by their environments while they live in a world where they don’t have much and are often hounded by the police. There are also moments of violence whether through beatings and other physical confrontations yet there is also this element of danger due to the gun that Vinz is carrying. Even in its third act where they try to return home and leave Paris while they get into a confrontation with a gang as it reveal some revelations about these three men and who they are. It also plays into the idea of hate as it is the thing that drives these men whether it is towards the police, society, or racist gangs as it adds to this sense of disenfranchise that they feel as well as a lack of future around them. Overall, Kassovitz crafts an exhilarating and visceral about three young men dealing with the fate of their friend while spending 20 hours trying to deal with the world they’re in.

Cinematographer Pierre Aim does phenomenal work with the film’s black-and-white photography with its approach to grainy film stock as well as its usage of available and artificial lighting for some of the film’s interiors along with some of the interior/exterior scenes at night. Editors Mathieu Kassovitz and Scott Stevenson do excellent work with the editing as their usage of jump-cuts and other rhythmic cuts to play into the action and drama add to the eerie tone of the film. Art director Giuseppe Ponturo does brilliant work with the look of the apartment homes of Vinz and Hubert as well as the gym that the latter trained in after it had been burned down as well as other places they go to. Costume designer Virginie Montel does fantastic work with the costumes as it is largely casual with many of the people in the suburbs wearing track suits, jeans, and t-shirts to play into the world they come from.

The makeup work of Sophie Benaiche does terrific work with the look of the characters in terms of the blood and bruises that appears following some of the film’s violent moments. The sound work of Vincent Tulli and Dominique Dalmasso do amazing work with the way objects sound as well as gunfire, police sirens, and other elements that play into the tense atmosphere of the film. The film’s music by the French hardcore hip-hop group Assassin is incredible for its intense and vibrant sound that help plays into the atmosphere of the film while its soundtrack features music from Bob Marley & the Wailers, Roger Troutman with Zapp, Isaac Hayes, Expression Direkt, Solo, the Beastie Boys, and Cut Killer who appears in the film playing music in a key scene of the film.

The casting by Jean-Claude Flamand-Barny is wonderful as it largely features non-actors and newcomers including some notable small roles from the trio of Zinedine Soualem, Bernie Bonvoisin, and Cyril Ancelin as a trio of plainclothes police officers who humiliate Hubert and Said during an interrogation, Mathieu Kassovitz as a young skinhead, Marc Duret as a police investigator wearing a Notre Dame jacket, Tadek Lokcinski as an old man in a bathroom who tells the three young men a story about his life that makes them think, Julie Mauduech and Karin Viard as a couple of women at an art gallery, Nabil Ben Nhamed as a young boy who tells the three men a story he watched on TV, Felicite Wouassi and Fatou Thioune in their respective roles as Hubert’s mother and sister, Rywka Wajsbrot and Olga Abrego in their respective roles as Vinz’s grandmother and aunt, Heloise Ruth as Vinz’s sister Sarah, Mathilde Vitry as a journalist trying to talk to the three men about the riots, Vincent Lindon as a drunk man who helps the three in trying to steal a car, and Abdel Ahmed Ghili as Abdel as the young man who is in a coma following a horrific beating.

Francois Levantal is superb as a man named Asterix who lives in a posh area as he owes money to Said where he is a man full of trouble as he tries to get the men to play Russian roulette that would make them uncomfortable. Edouard Montoute is excellent as Darty as a friend of the trio who invites them to a kickboxing fight that Vinz would watch as he also someone that proves to be violent. Karim Belkhardra is fantastic as Samir as a police detective who tries to help Hubert and Vinz following a confrontation at the hospital despite all of the chaos that is happening.

Finally, there’s the trio of Vincent Cassel, Hubert Kounde, and Said Taghmaoui in phenomenal performances in their respective roles as Vinz, Hubert, and Said. Taghmaoui’s performance is full of humor but also someone who feels like he doesn’t get enough credit as he tries to get some money and respect while is also the one who has to mediate between Hubert and Vinz. Kounde’s performance as Hubert is entrancing as this man who is sensitive and rational but is also intense as Hubert is a boxer that has issues with the rioters over burning his gym. Cassel’s performance as Vinz is the most intense as this Jewish man who is upset over Abdel and wants revenge where he is someone that wants to be tough and bad but also naïve in thinking that carrying a gun can give him power.

La Haine is a tremendous film from Mathieu Kassovitz that features a trio of great performances from Vincent Cassel, Hubert Kounde, and Said Taghmaoui. Along with its riveting visuals, intense presentation, exploration of social disenfranchisement, and its killer music soundtrack. It is a film that is definitely confrontational about the idea of what breed hates and why the ideals of what France is about is full of contradictions and lies. In the end, La Haine is an outstanding film from Mathieu Kassovitz.

Mathieu Kassovitz Films: (Metisse/Café au lait) – (Assassin(s)) – (The Crimson Rivers) – (Gothika) – (Babylon A.D.) – (Rebellion (2011 film))

© thevoid99 2023

Happy End

Written and directed by Michael Haneke, Happy End is the story of a bourgeoisie family in Calais whose comfortable life is hindered by events relating to them or around them. It’s a film that explores family dysfunction in an upper-class world as they try to deal with their personal lives just as the growing refugee crisis in Europe is happening around them. Starring Isabelle Huppert, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Mathieu Kassovitz, and Toby Jones. Happy End is a chilling and offbeat film from Michael Haneke.

The film follows a year in the life of a family living in Calais as their personal and professional lives start to unravel by a series of unfortunate events relating to tragedy and other matters. It’s a film that doesn’t have much of a plot as it’s more of an exploration of a family told largely by a 12-year old girl in Eve Laurent (Fantine Harduin) who would capture the events of her mother’s drug overdose through her phone as she would later live with her father Thomas (Mathieu Kassovitz) who shares the family estate with his wife Anais (Laura Verlinden), his sister Anne (Isabelle Huppert), and the family patriarch Georges (Jean-Louis Trintignant).

Michael Haneke’s screenplay features an opening sequence where a section of a construction site collapses and a man that was inside a port-a-potty where the section had collapsed as Anne’s firm runs the site. It’s among the moments that play into the film that are dramatic but in a low-key approach as Haneke also uses the European migrant crisis as a backdrop with mentions of it on TV and parts of the film surrounding the characters. Notably as Thomas is chatting with another woman making Eve believe he has a mistress while Anne is also dealing with her adult son Pierre (Franz Rogowski) who is getting into trouble that is increased by his alcoholism due to his role in the construction accident. Georges meanwhile is suffering from dementia and is intent on committing suicide.

Haneke’s direction doesn’t really have much style other than long and gazing shots as well as this air of detachment into the direction. While the film opens with images of Eve filming things on her phone including the moment of her mother’s collapse from a drug overdose. The usage of smartphones and laptops play to the film’s visuals including the video tape footage of the construction accident where a section of the site collapses as it’s shown in a wide shot. Haneke’s usage of the wide shots add to the stark tone of the film as he displays of disconnect and detachment for characters and the world they’re in whether it’s Anne and Pierre investigating the site and area where the collapse happened or a shot of Eve and Thomas in the beach where the former is in the foreground seeing her father in the background smiling and talking on the phone.

There are moments where Haneke uses a few close-ups and medium shots in the film as it does play into characters attempting to connect such as Anne and Georges with Eve including one scene late in the film following some intense moments between Eve and Georges where it is this simple conversation that shows Haneke being at his most tender and knowing when to cut during this conversation. The film does feature a lot of long takes in shots that would last for more than a minute or two as it would also include these moments where the characters struggle to deal with a situation as some of it is happening off screen or from afar. The moment of reality that is away from their quaint world would come to ahead in the film’s final sequence as it relates to what is happening in Europe as it is about how these characters react to what is going on as well as what is happening around them. Overall, Haneke crafts a riveting yet eerie film about a year in the life of a bourgeoisie family dealing with tragedy and other unfortunate events.

Cinematographer Christian Berger does excellent work with the film’s cinematography with its vibrant usage of natural colors and lighting for the daytime exterior scenes along with some low-key lights for some scenes set at night. Editor Monika Willi does brilliant work with the editing as it is largely straightforward with a few stylistic cuts including a few rhythmic cuts for some of the conversations that occur in the film. Production designer Olivier Radot, with set decorator Nathalie Roubaud and art director Anthony Neale, does fantastic work with the look of the home that the Laurent family lives in as well as the home Eve lived with her mother.

Costume designer Catherine Leterrier does nice work with the costumes as it is largely straightforward with the expensive suits that Anne wears or the summer clothes some of the characters wear. Visual effects supervisor Arnaud Fouquet does terrific work with some of the film’s minimal visual effects such as the construction site accident and a few bits of scenes from the phone. The sound work of Guillaume Sciama is superb for its atmospheric sound as it help play into the atmosphere of the locations as well as the emphasis on natural sounds for scenes involving characters from afar though whatever dialogue is spoken is being heard along with the way music sounds on a radio or on a karaoke machine in one scene of the film.

The casting by David El Hakim and Kris Portier de Bellair is incredible as it feature some notable small roles from Hassam Ghancy and Nabiha Akkari as a Moroccan couple who live at the Laurent estate in Rachid and Jamila who both work for the family with the former being Georges’ most loyal servant and the latter being the maid that everyone likes. Loubna Abidar is wonderful in her small role as a musician named Claire who is believed to be Thomas’ mistress through chats that Eve would discover. Toby Jones is superb as British businessman Lawrence Bradshaw whom is in a relationship with Anne as he helps her deal with the accident while watch from afar the chaos of Anne’s family life. Laura Verlinden is terrific as Thomas’ wife Anais as a woman that is trying to get to know Eve while raising a baby as she is unaware of what her husband is doing. Franz Rogowski is fantastic as Anne’s troubled adult son Pierre as someone who is unable to deal with the responsibilities of his actions as he gets himself into trouble and begins to act out believing he’s unable to cope with taking over the family firm.

Fantine Harduin is excellent as Eve as a 12-year old girl dealing with her mother’s drug overdose as well as some of the drama that is going on in her family as she films some things on her phone while trying to understand this air of detachment around her family. Mathieu Kassovitz is brilliant as Eve’s father Thomas as a doctor who is trying to make Eve comfortable at his home while hiding a secret about his affair with another woman unaware that Eve knows about it as well as question him about ever loving someone. Isabelle Huppert is amazing as Anne as Georges’ eldest child as a woman trying to run a firm that is under scrutiny as she is also dealing with her son’s alcoholism and all sorts of chaos as well as being someone trying to connect with Eve. Finally, there’s Jean-Louis Trintignant in a remarkable performance as Georges Laurent as an old man dealing with dementia who has a death wish for himself where he is tired of his age and life while eventually bonding with Eve about his own feelings of death.

Happy End is a sensational film from Michael Haneke. Featuring a great cast, gorgeous visuals, and a compelling story about a family unraveling amidst the chaos of the European migrant crisis as a backdrop. It’s a film that is a study of a family coping with their surroundings as well as being a different film of sorts from Haneke while maintaining his views on the dark aspects of life that is sprinkled with some humor. In the end, Happy End is an incredible film from Michael Haneke.

Michael Haneke Films: (The Seventh Continent) – (Benny’s Video) – (71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance) – (The Castle (1997 TV movie) – Funny Games (1997 film) - Code Unknown – The Piano Teacher - (Time of the Wolf) – Cache` - Funny Games (2007 film) - The White Ribbon - Amour (2012 film)

© thevoid99 2019

The City of Lost Children

Directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet & Marc Caro and written by Jeunet,Caro, and Gilles Adrien, La Cite des enfants perdus (The City of Lost Children) is a fantasy-drama film set in a dystopian world where a carnival strongman and a streetwise orphan going to an island to save children from a mad scientist. Featuring Jeunet’s whimsical yet colorful direction along with Caro’s broad visual ideas, it is considered the duo’s finest collaboration of their career. Starring Ron Perlman, Daniel Emilfork, Judith Vittet, Dominique Pinon, Jean-Claude Dreyfus, Rufus, Ticky Holgado, Mathieu Kassovitz, and the voice of Jean-Louis Trintignant. La Cite des enfants perdus is a remarkable yet stunning film from Jean-Pierre Jeunet & Marc Caro.

Somewhere on a mysterious island in the middle of the sea, a mad scientist named Krank (Daniel Emilfork) is kidnapping children so he can steal their dreams. Krank, unable to dream, is getting nightmares from the children he kidnaps with the help of his midget-wife Martha (Mirielle Mosse) and a group of cloned men (Dominique Pinon). Yet, all the children are scared of Krank as he hopes to reverse the aging process while is being annoyed by a brain named Irvin (Jean-Louis Trintignant) who the clones admire. Krank continues to look for a child that would give him good dreams so he can stop himself from aging. Meanwhile at a nearby dystopian world, a simple-minded strongman named One (Ron Perlman) is taking care of a young infant child named Denree (Joseph Lucien) who is later kidnapped by a group of men known as Cyclops.

During his search for Denree, One meets a young girl named Miette who helps him as she’s part of a group of orphan thieves who steal for Siamese-twin women known as Octopus (Genevieve Brunet and Odile Mallet) who are connected by one foot. After encountering their guard Peeler (Rufus), One and Miette go on a journey to find Cyclops and its leader Gabriel Marie (Serge Merlin). There, they see a ceremony where Martha and one of the clones get the kidnapped children including Denree where One and Miette are caught. Octopus sends a former circus performer named Marcell (Jean-Claude Dreyfus) to retrieve One for their own reasons where Marcello uses a flea to attack one of the Cyclops to save One while Miette nearly drowns only to be saved by a man in a diving bell suit revealed to be Krank’s former scientist (Dominique Pinon).

When a fuse full of nightmares comes across the ex-scientist, he realizes what is going on while Miette finds One as she also sees one of the nightmares. Realizing where Denree is, they encounter some trouble while finding a man (Ham-Chau Luong) with a tattoo on his head leading to the island. It’s up to a strongman, a young girl, and an ex-scientist to save the kids before its too late.

The film is a fantasy story about a simple-minded yet loving strongman and a young girl try to save a young infant boy from an evil scientist who is trying to steal dreams from children in hopes to reverse the aging process for himself. Yet, it is set in a world where things are hopeless as young infant children are often kidnapped while orphans had to fend for themselves. For this young girl where she meets this childlike strongman, she finds someone who can protect her while this strongman finds someone who can help him. Yet, they face a mad scientist who has become obsessed with becoming young only to lose sight of reality as he becomes dependent on finding infants who aren’t scared of him so he can live in their dreams.

The screenplay that Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Marc Caro, and Gilles Adrien create explores a world that is definitely lost where there are even more crazier things in this mysterious island that is protected by mines and such. Notably as the mainland features an underground army of blind men who can only see through an electronic eye as they’re working for this scientist to kidnap children. When they encounter this strong man and a very determined young girl, all things become troubling for the scientist. Yet, One and Miette also have to deal with the Siamese-twin ladies known as Octopus who are upset over the fact that Miette has become trouble and is turning over a new leaf away from stealing.

While the story is a dystopian-fantasy film, it’s also got a lot of humor as there’s a small subplot about a group of clones trying to figure out who is the original clone. Even in some scenes where there’s a lot of strange scenarios into how One and Miette try to get out of a bad situation that does involve a lot of comedy. Even the character of Krank is comical since he is so delusional about what he wants as he is also annoyed by this talking brain named Irvin who is the film’s conscience.

The direction of Caro and Jeunet is definitely big in terms of its presentation where it is set in a world that is off-kilter and full of things where not everything works. Notably as the mainland is cramped and there’s children running around while there’s a lot of strange things happening where young children have to hide from the Cyclops. The direction is filled with stylish shots from these wide crane shots, dizzying fish-eye lenses, close-ups, and all sorts of things to maintain that sense of whimsy that Caro and Jeunet wants. Even in the way they present funny moments as well as surreal moments where reality and fiction collide such as the climatic scene at the island when One and Miette finally face Krank.

The direction also contains element of darkness in the way dystopia is presented though it’s not overtly bleak. Notably as it features some spectacular action sequences that involves not just some quirky visual effects but also suspense such as face-off between Octopus against Miette and One. There’s also some very strange scenes such as the way an accident is presented where it is this strange mix of humor and action that plays to that world of the whimsical. It’s all part of a world that is very weird that has some element of reality but it is mostly a fantasy. Overall, Jeunet and Caro create a fantastic and adventurous film that plays well to the fantasy genre.

Cinematographer Darius Khondji does brilliant work with the film‘s very stylish photography with its sepia-drenched lighting schemes for many of the film‘s interior and exterior settings in the mainland as well as scenes underwater and some more low-key colors in the island scenes. Editor Herve Schneid does amazing work with the editing by utilizing lots of stylish cuts for some of the film‘s action scenes along with dazzling cuts for some of the dream montages. Production designers Marc Caro and Jean Rabasse do spectacular work with the set pieces created from the look of the mainland with its buildings to the more quirky video cameras at Krank’s island.

Costume designer Jean-Paul Gaultier does excellent work with the costumes as they‘re quite over-the-top in the look of the Cyclops as well as the more colorful clothes most of the characters wear. The visual effects by Pitof and Pierre Buffin are terrific for the way some of the backdrops look as well as the close-ups of Marcello‘s flea that would fly to inject something into a person. Sound designer Jean-Pierre Halbwachs does superb work with the sound to create some unique sound effects in the scenes set in the island as well as other layers of mixing to play up the sense of whimsy that occurs in the film. The film’s music by Angelo Badalamenti is wonderful for its sense of orchestral bombast as well as playfulness in some of the comical moments as it’s one of Badalamenti’s best scores.

The casting by Pierre-Jacques Benichou is incredible for the ensemble that features some notable appearances from Mathieu Kassovitz as a man in the streets, Ticky Holgado as One’s master, Rufus as Octopus’ henchman, Marc Caro as a man becoming a Cyclops, Serge Merlin as the Cyclops leader, and Joseph Lucien as One’s baby brother Denree who is always eating something. Genevieve Brunet and Odile Mallet are great as the conniving Siamese-twin sisters Octopus who are determined to get rid of Miette for rebelling against them. Jean-Louis Trintignant is very funny as the voice of the brain Irvin whom the clones adore and Krank is annoyed by while Jean-Claude Dreyfus is excellent as the former circus performer Marcello who finds himself sympathizing with One and Miette over their situation.

Mirelle Mosse is wonderful as Krank’s diminutive wife Martha who helps Krank out while dealing all of the chaos in the island while Dominique Pinon is amazing as the clones and the mysterious man in the diving bell suit where he brings a lot of humor as the clones while being more quirky as the diver. Daniel Emilfork is terrific as the villainous Krank as he’s a man full of delusions and anger as he is unsure if his experiments will work. Judith Vittet is brilliant as Miette as she’s a determined child who knows how to do things while aiding One in his mission as she realized how important it is. Finally, there’s Ron Perlman in a remarkable performance as the simple-minded strongman One where Perlman gets to show restraint in his role as a man trying to find his baby brother while Perlman doesn’t get to have a lot of dialogue though he does speak French quite adequately. Notably as he makes up for it with his physical presence and ability to be funny and sensitive in his role.

La Cite des enfants perdus is a marvelous film from the duo of Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro. The film is definitely among one of Jeunet’s great films as it features amazing performances from Ron Perlman, Judith Vittet, Daniel Emilfork, and Dominique Pinon. It’s a film that is among one of the most imaginative and entertaining fantasy films that plays to the world of reality and fiction that is expected in the genre. In the end, La Cite des enfants perdus is a spectacular film from Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet.

Jean-Pierre Jeunet Films: Delicatessen - Alien: Resurrection - Amelie - A Very Long Engagment - Micmacs - (The Young and Prodigious Spivet) - The Auteurs #20: Jean-Pierre Jeunet

© thevoid99 2013

Amelie

Originally Written and Posted on 6/15/08 w/ Additional Edits & Revisions.

When French director Jean-Pierre Jeunet arrived to the cinema with 1991's black-comedy Delicatessen with directing partner Marc Caro. It unveiled two new voices in cinema with Jeunet providing a colorful look to the film with Caro providing the effects. The duo scored a much bigger hit with the fantasy film The City of Lost Children that allowed the duo to make a Hollywood film. The project they were given was the fourth Alien film of the franchise entitled Alien: Resurrection with Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon writing the screenplay.

Despite making a profit, the film wasn't well-received with critics and audiences with Jeunet given sole credit as Caro did work on the art direction. Jeunet was disappointed by the experience of making the film despite the clout it gave him as he and Caro parted ways. In 2001, after a break, Jeunet returned with a film that would re-define his career as well as establish himself as one of cinema's finest artists with the film entitled Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amelie Poulain (The Fabulous Destiny of Amelie Poulain) or simply, Amelie.

Directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet with a script he co-wrote with Guillaume Laurant, Amelie tells the story of a shy waitress who makes life better for those around her while struggling with her own isolation. A lighter, more colorful fare than his previous work, the film explores the whimsical world of contemporary Parisian life through the eyes of a young woman. Starring Audrey Tautou, Mathieu Kassovitz, Rufus, Dominique Pinon, Yolande Moreau, and in the voice of the narrator, Andre Dussolier. Amelie is a wonderful, imaginative, and heartwarming masterpiece from Jean-Pierre Jeunet.

Amelie Poulain (Audrey Tautou) has always lived a life of imagination despite being born to her antisocial ex-Army doctor father Raphael (Rufus) and her nerve-stricken mother Amandine (Lorella Cravotta). While she had a whimsical life as a child (Flora Guiet), she also had a weak heart condition while her mother died in a freak accident due to the suicide of a Quebecois woman at the Notre Dam Cathedral. While her father would make a shrine for his wife, Amelie's imagination grew as she became a waitress with a group of eccentrics that included its manager Suzanne (Claire Maurier), a waitress named Gina (Clotilde Molett), the cigarette clerk Georgette (Isabelle Nanty), Gina's ex-boyfriend Joseph (Dominique Pinon), and a failed writer named Hipolito (Artus de Penguern).

Despite a lack of a thriving social life and her frequent weekend trips to see her father, she would have strange pleasures that plays to her personality until the death of Princess Diana were she finds a mysterious box in her apartment. After asking her landlady Madeleine Wallace (Yolande Moreau), the market owner Collignon(Urbain Cancelier), and Collignon's parents (Michel & Andree Damant), Amelie is able to find Dominique Bretodeau (Maurice Benichou) with help from her neighbor Raymond Dufayel (Serge Merlin). Leaving the box to Bretodeau allowed Amelie to do good for people to fulfill her own life to deal with her own lonely life

After playing matchmaker to Georgette and Joseph while helping out Lucien (Jamel Debbouze) deal with Collignon. Yet, Amelie find herself falling for a man named Nino Quincampoix (Mathieu Kassovitz) whom she had seen in the train station as he had just lost a book of photos. Amelie decides to play a game with his book in order to get to know him more as she learns about him as he works in a fair and at a porno shop with friend Eva (Claude Perron). With Amelie continuing to help other people while stealing her father's gnome and having a stewardess travel with it all over the world. Nino starts to respond to Amelie's game in hopes to contact her as he uses some unexpected help to reach her.

Imagination is truly one of the strongest forms of escapism and in the vision of Jean-Pierre Jeunet, he creates a film that is dream-like but also whimsical. What this film is about is a young woman, with not much to fulfill her life decides to play a role in being a guardian angel of sorts for the people around her including her father and landlady. Yet, when she falls for a mysterious man who is also lonely and has quirks, she doesn't know how to react nor how to talk to him and such. Yet, amidst all of Amelie's drama, Jeunet and co-writer Guillaume Laurant make a wise decision to profile all of the people that Amelie has an effect on.

The script is wonderfully written that includes an amazing narrative told by Andre Dussolier who reveals the unique world that Amelie lives by as well as the assortment of characters that the audience get to enjoy and care about. Yet, through the center of it all, the main focus is in its title character. The narrator reveals her childhood existence, her odd behavior, and quirky imagination as well as her longing to connect with people in a unique manner. Throughout all of this, the script flows through easily as Dussolier's narration is told in such a manner and style that isn't distracting but an essential part to the story.

If Jeunet and Laurant's script is filled with lots of wonder and humor, Jeunet's direction is the key to the film's unique look and feel. While some might accuse Jeunet of creating a postcard look of sorts for Paris, his vision is more in tune in what Amelie sees in Paris as this dream-like yet beautiful city of full of wonder and life. Yet, with its sepia, dream-like look, it's a film full of energy and life that includes visual effects to play to the film's whimsical nature and oddball humor. Yet, the drama is told with such subtlety, it doesn't pander down to anything over-dramatic and sentimental. The way Jeunet tells the story with such style and warmth for the characters involved is truly magnificent. Even how he presents them through zoom lenses, long tracking shots, and such, he also uses things like films, events, and even the Renoir painting that Dufayel is trying to recreate to tell his story. The result is truly a fascinating, charming, and heartwarming style of direction from the wondrous mind of Jean-Pierre Jeunet.

Cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel does a wonderful job with the film's picturesque, sepia-drowned look with yellowish colors and shades of red and such to convey the dreamy mood of the film. Delbonnel's photography is exquisite and stylish for every scene shot as his camera moves with such ease and energy to convey the whimsical nature of the film. Editor Herve Schneid does a fabulous job in the film’s editing including the use of stock footage, old films including the classic Jules et Jim by Francois Truffaut, and TV footage. Schneid's editing also plays up to the film’s whimsical nature as its emphasis on styles moves from a smooth, transitional editing style to sometimes, speed-cutting to add to the film's sense of energy and eccentricity.

Production designer Aline Bonetto along set decorator Marie-Laure Valla and art director Volker Schafer do a fantastic job with the film's look from the real coffee shops and markets that Amelie goes to along with various locations in Paris and France. One of the great set designs is in the fun fair scene where Amelie goes into a ride and the look of it is truly superb. Costume designers Madeline Fontaine and Emma Lebail do a wonderful job in bringing the film's unique look in its clothing from the casual look that Amelie has to the coloring of the clothes that the character wear for the film’s picturesque look.

Special effects supervisor Yves Domenjoud and visual effects supervisor Alain Carsoux do a fantastic job with the film's small but delightful special effects for some of Amelie's appliances and one of Nino's pictures. Sound editors Marilena Cavola, Gerard Hardy, and Alexandre Widmer do a great job with the sound work to capture the atmosphere of Paris as well as the sense of adventure and whimsy that surrounds the film and its character.

The music by composer Yann Tiersen is truly whimsical but also one of the most memorable film scores in film. With the use of the accordion, the music captures the sense of romance and quirkiness that is Paris. Tiersen's music adds to the film's sense of humor and whimsy with the accordion playing speedily but also at times, serene and flutter. For its intense drama, it plays slowly with low notes as it captures the tension and drama of what Amelie is going through.

The casting by Pierre-Jacques Benichou, Valerie Espagne, and Alberte Garo is truly superb as it's filled with a numerous array of actors including several of Jeunet's regulars. Small performances from Isis Peyrade as one of Nino's colleagues from the porn shop, Eugene Berthier as the man whose pictures Nino has been collecting, Amaury Babault as the young Nino, and Ticky Holdago as the man in the photo who talks to Nino about Amelie. Other small but memorable performances from Claude Perron as Eva, Michel Robin and Andree Damant as Collignon's parents, and Maurice Benichou as Dominique Bretodeau are excellent. Flora Guiet is great as the young Amelie while Lorella Cravotta is also great as Amelie's nervous, neurotic mother. Urbain Cancelier is funny as the bullying Collignon who goes nuts due to Amelie's pranks while Yolande Moreau is brilliant as Amelie's landlady Madeleine who is still mourning over the death of her husband and the idea that he never loved her.

Artus de Penguern is good in his small role as a failed writer who observes everything that goes on in the coffee shop. Clotilde Mollet is also good as the flirtatious Gina who makes her ex-boyfriend Joseph jealous. Dominique Pinon is great as the cantankerous Joseph who realizes he has a crush on Georgette. Isabelle Nanty is excellent as the bothered, cranky Georgette who becomes aware that Joseph has a crush on her. Claire Maurier is superb as the coffee shop manager Suzanne who manages everything while is another observant of everything that goes on. Jamel Debbouze is amazing as the bullied Lucien, a man who has a great love for vegetables that he's mocked by Collignon while having a friend in Raymond Dufayel.

Rufus is great as Amelie's antisocial, taciturn father Raphael who, after his wife's death, has refused to go anywhere as his desires to turn her grave into a shrine is suddenly stopped when his gnome is taken and goes all over the world. Serge Merlin is brilliant as Raymond Dufayel, a man trying to recreate a Renoir painting as he observes everything that's around him while being a friend to both Amelie and Lucien as Merlin's performance is a huge standout. Mathieu Kassovitz is great as Nino, a dreamer who likes to collect torn photographs from a photo booth as he had his book lost and then found while being intrigued by Amelie, whom he sees from afar.

Finally, there's Audrey Tautou in her breakthrough role as the title character of Amelie. Tautou's charming, whimsical, and energetic performance is truly intoxicating to watch as is her smile. There’s a sense of spirit to everything she does while in moments where she's not speaking, there's so much life to her performance. When she's sad, she doesn't overdramatize herself or anything but remain subtle. It's a worldly performance from the French actress as she carries the film with such wonder and charisma whether she pretends to be Zorro, Tautou's performance is one of such charm and wit that it will make anyone want to fall in love with her.

Amelie is a colorful, whimsical, and charming masterpiece from Jean-Pierre Jeunet and company featuring a superb, spirited performance from Audrey Tautou. For audiences new to today's French cinema will no doubt place this film as one of the essential while it's also one of the best romantic films of the decade. For anyone new to Jeunet will consider this to be a great start to his film work while also makes a great introduction to the wonder that is Audrey Tautou. In the end, Amelie is one of those rare films that at first viewing, is the kind of film you tend to fall in love with.

Jean-Pierre Jeunet Films: Delicatessen - The City of Lost Children - Alien: Resurrection - A Very Long Engagement - Micmacs - (The Young and Prodigious Spivet) - The Auteurs #20: Jean-Pierre Jeunet

(C) thevoid99 2011