Amelie

Amelie (2001)

Plot summary

(4 votes)

(Flashback) As a child, Amelie lived a very sheltered life, didn't go to school, and had no friends. When she was six, her mother suddenly died, leaving her with her indifferent father.

(The present) Now she is 23, and having left home, she is working in a cafe in Paris. On the day Princess Diana is killed in a car crash, she discovers a box hidden in her flat, containing some treasured objects that a young boy hid away in the 1950's. She decides to find him, and give it back to him.

She succeeds, making this man happy, and now sets out to make everybody she can happy, in subtle and amusing ways. (One example: her neighbour tells her a story about her late husband. Amelie reads some letters from this man, "invents" a new letter by piecing together some of the old ones, and sends it to the neighbour, with a note saying it was lost for 30 years.)

But she doesn't do so well in making herself happy. Nino, a young man who Amelie fancies, collects discarded photos from photo booths, and sticks them in an album, which he loses. Amelie finds it, and devises complicated ways of returning it to him. Although she loves him, can Amelie bring herself to meet him?

In the photo album, there is also a mysterious man who keeps reappearing: taking his picture in photo booths all over Paris, only to throw them away. Is he someone afraid of growing old, or a dead man who is afraid of being forgotten?

Batty

Factual error: The film is set in 1997. There is a scene where Amelie knocks on a house door and in the background is a new model VW Beetle. These weren't available until early 1998. You can also see several scenes with various new models of Fiat Punto and VW Golf which weren't available until 1999. (00:19:00)

More mistakes in Amelie

Old Man at the Two Windmills: Still, true love does exist.
Suzanne, Owner Two Windmills bar: I know. After 30 years behind a bar, I'm an expert. I'll even give you the recipe. Take two regulars, mix them together and let them stew. It never fails.

More quotes from Amelie

Trivia: Just before Bretodeau enters the phone booth while the phone rings, he's the only one moving in real time; all other characters in the background are in slow motion.

Sereenie

More trivia for Amelie

Question: How does Raymond Dufayel aka Glass Man know Amélie is looking for Bretodeau/Bredoteau aka The Box Man. He says "I've lived here for five years. This is the first time we've met." Then adding that he never goes out on the landing, they're all creeps. So my question is who told him Amélie was looking for The Box Man? Lucien the grocer boy maybe? As he delivers to his flat. Or maybe Madeleine Wallace the Concierge. (00:26:20)

Paul Andrews

Chosen answer: The Glass Man isn't as reclusive as he tells Amelie; he obviously talks to many people and spies on them with his binoculars (he knows all about Amelie's revenge on the grocer and the letter she wrote to Mrs. Wells). It isn't revealed where he got the specific information about Amelie's search for Dominique Bredoteau.

jle

More questions & answers from Amelie

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