Amélie is a typical French film with all the ingredients of this genre. A story that is almost impossible to follow, with a charming young girl to lead you along and get you through the maze. Amélie has been judged to have a defective heart by her doctor father and therefore kept at home to be taught by her mother. All this contributes to her seeing the world in a very strange way and makes for a very unusual film with hypnotic qualities. The skill of director Jean-Pierre Jueunet, who also wrote the script with Guillaume Laurant, shows us Paris filled with unusual people that somehow gel together into a surreal being.

Amélie is played by Audrey Tautou who gives a superb performance as a girl whose life is changed by finding a tin box filled with a child’s memorabilia. She starts to try to find the originator of the collection and this leads to some strange adventures radiating out from the Two Windmills restaurant where she works. Add to this the fact that Amélie starts to bring people together in the hope of happiness then you get a very involved plot. The editing and film work is artistic which makes the whole compelling. This is an outstanding film and although it is in French language with subtitles this should not detract the cinema goer from making every effort to see it. A great film. Brilliant. 120 mins 15 © BA

“Amélie” is in York from the 23rd of November, 2001.