Friday 4 July 2008

Amélie


I thought I'd complete a trilogy of French films of influential note. Amélie probably needs no introduction to most of you. Featuring the charming and gorgeous Audrey Tatou, Amélie is a film of note due to it's eccentric use of costume and scene setting to explore the growth of the central character Amélie.


The mixture of her upbringing, fate and interaction with the other characters provides an interesting mix of an idealised view of contemporary Paris and a skittish portrayal of quintessential French fashion. The costume designer was Madeline Fointaine, with Emily Lebail, Veronique Elise and Sylvie Bello as the costumers.


The film was an international success, although it attracted criticism for not reflecting the racial diversity of Paris in 2001. If you compare Amélie to Diva made 20 years earlier this is not an unreasonable view. As with many French films the stories and the costumes are a perfect antidote to Hollywood. Years later Pushing up Daisies on American TV borrows heavily from Amélie's cinematography, art direction and wardrobe.

Despite any misgivings Amélie is extraordinary as a cinematography example.

7 comments:

Elizabeth said...

I loved her wardrobe in that film. I saw the film a year after it came out, and wished I hadn't waited so long.

..... said...

audrey tautou is fantastic !! soon as coco chanel !! so exciting !!

Sharon S said...

I should get this on dvd-I think I'll try in the holidays!!

Anonymous said...

recently watched Amelie on channel 4 a few weeks ago, absolutely adore the film.....love the fashion, the location, the language and the soundtracks......talking about soundtracks, I went to HMV last week to buy the Amelie original soundtracks and Yann Tiersen's masterpieces (composer for the film) ^_^

Kira Aderne said...

this is one of my fav. movies! fantastic!!

a kiss!!

Penny said...

Love love love Amélie, I can watch it over and over. It's timeless

Bluukbob said...

amelieeeeeeeeee


i love her.. she is so sweet and cute and oohh...

xoxo