Amelie Poulain has led a very sheltered and overprotected life. Home-educated by over-bearing parents, she makes up her own fantasy world. When she eventually grows up and moves out to work at a Parisian Cafe, Amelie finds an old tin box containing a schoolboy’s forgotten memories.
It is then that Amelie decides to help others find love and happiness, which she does in a magical and splendid manner – not knowing that on her path to bring love and happiness to others , she will end up finding them herself.

The interesting thing about the movie is how all the characters interact with each other and how they bring this plot to be. If you take the plot in absolute value, there’s nothing extraordinary about it. But Amelie is an extraordinary movie because the way it handles this plot is brilliant. The chase between Amelie and her love interest is absolutely stunning, to say the least, let alone extremely intelligent.

The first ten minutes of Amelie are absolutely one of the best moments of film-making I have ever watched. Never have I been more positively surprised by a movie than I was with Amelie. You cannot but be instantly captivated with the exquisite narrative: “Le 3 Septembre, 1973, à 18h 28 min et 32 secondes….” It’s absolutely brilliant.
The movie ends with an almost similar style of narrative, giving the aspect of wrapping up the whole thing like a big box with a tidy ribbon.

Audrey Tautou gives a brilliant performance in her role as Amelie. She showcases the strong, independent girl persona perfectly and doesn’t shy away from showing compassion when other characters need it. She’s witty, fast, captivating…

The score by Yann Tiersen is absolutely stunning as well. If you haven’t listened to Comptine d’Eté, n°2, then you really must do so. To say it is a good musical composition would be an understatement. And it works perfectly well in the movie.

Le Fabuleux Destin D’Amelie Poulain is probably the best French movie I have ever watched. It made me appreciate having been taught French so I wouldn’t have to add up closed captioning to the movie and hide out some parts of the screen. It’s a whimsical, fun, care-free and simply happy. I wouldn’t say it’s a perfect movie but it’s pretty close. Everything just falls together in an excellent way in it: the acting, the cinematography, the music, the plot, Paris…
It is a must see for everyone who appreciates movies. And, again, if you’re not hooked by the first minute or so, I advise re-watching it. Because something would be definitely wrong if the absolute wittiness of the introduction sequence doesn’t grab you.