Talk:Amélie

Orgasm counting

Article says she's imagining how many orgasms there are in the world right now, but I think it's just in Paris, based on

a) Her looking down over the city at the time

b) Number of people born every second is something like 4.4 according to google, so obviously there are many more orgasms than that occuring per second.:-) —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 66.118.97.95 (talk • contribs) .

As far as i can remember in the movie itself, the narrator says that she counts the number of orgasms happening at that moment - but does not say where. Elizej 17:38, 20 September 2006 (UTC)

I've always taken it to mean in Paris. I'll pay more attention to the individual settings and people next time. Of course, this may require single-framing that sequence on the old DVD player ;-) ...

Atlant 18:25, 20 September 2006 (UTC)

"Time hasn't changed anything. Amélie still shelters in solitude... and asks herself silly questions about the world or about this city. For example, how many couples are having an orgasm right now? -Fifteen..."

I guess we will never know since the narrator mentions both. _└ ^VodkaJazz / _talk ^┐ 20:25, 20 September 2006 (UTC)

I'd say she's counting the number of orgasms in the city within the boundary of her mind...(Jonarvs 08:45, 25 November 2006 (UTC))

I say, number of orgasms in the city because all the couples look very french to me.

Criticism as racist

Re: Criticism section - You can see Afro-French people in the film. One of the shots in the train station, there are 3 black people walking behind her. On the old man's tv there is black and white footage of a black woman singing, and two of the photos in the scrapbook are of a black man. What is with the criticism of no Afro-French people in it? Lapinmies 19:06, 4 Jun 2005 (UTC)

People have to politicize everything nowadays. It's all very sad. If every ethnic group isn't represented in exact proportions to the real-world ones then it's racist. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 67.186.43.161 (talk • contribs) .

My wife and I just watched the film again with this criticism in mind, and we've decided that the criticism is hogwash. Aside from the principal players (one of whom is apparently North-African), there are very few other people of any notable ethnicity really visible in the film; there are very few "crowd" scenes. Amelie leading the blind man to Abessess is the one that I recall. The scenes in the train station that show crowds are almost always very far shots. And Amelie appears to live towards the Abessess side of the butte, not the Barbès-Rochechouart side, so that attempt to prop-up this criticism doesn't hold water either.

Atlant 13:07, 30 May 2006 (UTC)

Calling this film racist is friggen ridiculous! --164.107.92.120 23:44, 5 November 2006 (UTC)

We have our own ways of thinking but we're not all citizens of Paris. Maybe they should vote on this.(Jonarvs 08:49, 25 November 2006 (UTC))

If critics begin to criticise films because it doesn't portray a multicultural society, what on earth is happening? Who really cares whether or not there are French-Africans included in each shot. There is nothing racist about that. We have been driven by the media to believe that we must embrace every culture and people to the point where no culture can be seen in isolation. I didn't want to see every facet of Paris through this film. It could also be argued that this film "competely ignored the Eiffel Tower" and therefore did not show what Paris is really like. The problem with a politically correct society like ours today is that there is so much angst about these issues. People become so afraid that if even a film doesn't officially recognise every ethnicity there is, people become afraid as if a brawl is set to commence over such an offence.

I think the point is that the film tries to create a fantasy, 'perfect' version of Paris, right? Everyone knows that the real Paris is often cold and rainy, but in this film, everything is lit in golden sunlight. Everyone knows that the real Paris is often dirty, but in this film, all the litter and grafitti has vanished. And everyone knows that there are lots of black people in Paris, especially Montmartre, but in this film all the black people have vanished. I imagine that's why some viewers were offended: airbrushing black people out to create a sense of 'perfection' is perhaps just a little bit racist, isn't it? Cop 633 15:41, 12 April 2007 (UTC)

Death

Re: "But while she is looking after others, no one seems to be looking after Amélie, and internally, she recognizes that this unrequited devotion to the other people in her life is going to lead to her eventual death from despair." Could someone, perhaps the author of the above statement, clarify whether Amelie died in this film from despair?

I think this refers to a brief clip where Amélie is watching the news and, somewhat surreally, sees an old-fashioned news report of her death, where it praises her achievements in helping people but points out that she died lonely. I do reckon this could be altered a bit, though, as it is a bit confusing.--Joseph Q Publique 07:34, 29 May 2006 (UTC)

I think that this movie is about a girl who was helping others trying to fix their lives but she couldn't fix her own. Amelie could have lived and died that way if she did not overcome her own "issue" with life. She's like a fixer and figured that maybe she's going to die that way just trying to fix other people's lives and she had to give up her own when in fact it didn't need to be the case. I think she was just this girl who couldn't get out of her shell and lived vicariously through others by doing what good she tried to do for them. But of course in the end the reverse happened because she was able to allow the man she fancied to step into her world.(Jonarvs 08:54, 25 November 2006 (UTC))

Red colour

This film is one of the best films I have ever seen. I noticed something. Almost every frame have some red article. Even some little thing is red in this film. Interesting... --Pockey 01:09, 19 May 2006 (UTC)

Colour was definitely on the director's mind. (I don't recall if our article mentions it, but) you can see that the entire film has an overall greenish tint to it (and the director has stated that this was deliberate), so red would be a very good contrasting colour to draw attention to objects.

Atlant 11:50, 19 May 2006 (UTC)

I recall hearing (as in a friend telling me) that the director's intention was to make the movie look like a painting come to life. Don't quote me on that, though, as I have nothing accept my friend's assurance that this is case - no direct quotes from the director or anything.--Joseph Q Publique 07:35, 29 May 2006 (UTC)

I just watched the film again, and I paid particular note to the colour scheme. Pockey has it correct; the scenes that are green-tinted do almost always have a number of bright-red objects in them. A notable contrast to the entire colour-scheme is Amelie's apartment; themed almost entirely in red, she has an obvious bright blue table lamp and she is often wearing a bright-green dress. Again, very high colour contrast.

Atlant 13:02, 30 May 2006 (UTC)

Color is a a medium of communication not only in paintings but in all art form. Color always means something. A director does not smack an object into a scene simply because it looks good. Every detail is calculated from the camera angle to lighting. A good director never misses that. If something catches your attention, it's not because it just happened to but because it was intended to.

(Jonarvs 09:00, 25 November 2006 (UTC))

"DVD" section

should this section be deleted? This is nothing but some kind of trivial fact that seldom relates to an article, so why needing this useless section? --69.232.47.90 08:48, 25 May 2006 (UTC)

I'd say yes, delete it.

Atlant 13:34, 25 May 2006 (UTC)

Ratings backlash

When this film was released, I recall a major critic (I believe Roger Ebert) making mention of how the film proved the current MPAA ratings system was unrealistic in that it was given an R rating even though the film was virtually devoid of violence and had very little sex in it (indeed except for the orgasm sequence, there's more explictness in your average episode of CSI). I think it might be worth mentioning how this film sparked this discussion, perhaps in the Trivia section, but unfortunately I can't find any online source to back up my memory. Does anyone else recall this debate? 23skidoo 06:50, 30 May 2006 (UTC)

Film clips

Aren't there clips of the TF1 bulletin giving the news of Princess Diana's death (before she finds the box) and a Tour de France (added to the video for Raymond Dufayel). If so, why aren't these in this list? I was going to add, but I was worried they might be deleted. Having watched the French version twice, Im sure I saw this DannyM 10:21, 31 May 2006 (UTC)

It isn't from the Tour de France but from Critérium International video here. Anyone know what the tumbler and the dog is from which follows this? (Emperor 00:11, 12 March 2007 (UTC))

Capitalization

I do not know if there's some policy on wiki, but French and Italian movie titles are always written devoid of capital letters. If there's no policy it should be changed, together with all the interwiki articles using the French title. _└ ^VodkaJazz / _talk ^┐ 00:00, 13 June 2006 (UTC)

• The naming policy on the article title is to use the English title, capitals and all. Like "Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain" becomes "Amélie". And the French Amélie article uses capitals. It seems to me that only Italian films do not use capitals.

Italian film articles: it:Il favoloso mondo di Amélie, it:La vita è bella, it:Il dottor Stranamore, ovvero: come imparai a non preoccuparmi e ad amare la bomba. Calicore 01:01, 13 June 2006 (UTC)

"Cinema Paradiso" is capitalised, so is "Malena", both are Italian films. They may be uncapitalised in the Italian language but this is the English version of Wikipedia so the titles should stay as they are.Gillean666

First letter is obviously capitalized in any language :) And both Cinema Paridiso and Malena are proper names! On IMDb it's written Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulin. Now what I'm asking is about policy not your patriotic views of the English language, since IMO a title should be kept in its original format (as is the case for Se7en). Now if it's policy / practice to use the title released in English speaking countries (which, may I add, was actually Amélie of Montemartre not Amélie) it's another story and I'm not going to go against that. Thing is, the title is already the "English" version, but in the text the original title is given (and is fully capitalized). Now, throwing an argument against myself, the poster actually capitalizes all words.

This was more of a general question rather than specific to Amélie, to know how things stand for all other Italian and French movies! _└ ^VodkaJazz / _talk ^┐ 00:35, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

The habit in French is not to capitise nearly so frequently as in English. For example, in French one could re-write that first sentence: "C'est l'habitude en français de ne pas capitaliser si souvent qu'en anglais." "French" and "English" customarily are graced with capitals, but "français" and "anglais" are not. This is really only a detail: I frequently over-capitalise when writing in French, which native speakers probably find a little odd but nothing more. Where the French title is being written it would seem reasonable to me to stick to the native language convention. Malkin the Cat 19:53, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

wikilinks

i just removed two wikilinks from a completely blue sentence.--trueblood 10:57, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

Copyright violation?

This article is pretty much just the narrative of the story. Doesn't this violate some sort of rule?--WHS 13:21, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

I don't think so as the words as written are original to this article (as far as I can tell from a bit of Googling on samples of text). Also, in the Copyright article, it says "Copyright law covers only the particular form or manner in which ideas or information have been manifested, the "form of material expression". It is not designed or intended to cover the actual idea, concepts, facts, styles, or techniques which may be embodied in or represented by the copyright work. Copyright law provides scope for satirical or interpretive works which themselves may be copyrighted." My interpretation is that a "form of material expression" would mean the actual words and sentences used (or ones very close), and doesn't apply if you're doing a freshly-written synopsis. If you were to hawk this synopsis round film studios as an idea for a screenplay, then I reckon that would be different. Anyone else got any views? --A bit iffy 14:05, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

By narrative of the story, I meant that the words that the narrator is saying in the story. I apologize on my part for the lack of unclarity. Most of the synopsis, while not quite word for word with the script, follows the lines recited in the narration throughout the movie extremely closely, which I'm pretty sure must qualify as a copyright violation of some kind.--WHS 21:07, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

I see no similarity whatsoever, sorry! Anyway, isn't the narration in French?! _└ ^VodkaJazz / _talk ^┐ 00:33, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

I was referring to the subtitled English, at least in my copy of the movie. But if no one else agrees with me then I suppose I'm wrong. Here's a copy of the script, just for reference. [1]--WHS 07:19, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

To be honest, I'm not quite sure at what point something becomes a copyright violation, and I wouldn't have a clue how to determine it. So I'm only going on my gut feeling which is that, as I'm sure that the writing of the sysnopsis here is original, then there isn't a copyright violation. I'm sure that the writing here is original because I can see from the history it's been built up gradually. It's possible some contributors have used the script to construct parts of the article, but the texts are quite different in my opinion. The sequence of events described in this article and occurring in the film appear to be the same, but I doubt if reporting a sequence can be construed as violation of copyright. So sorry, WHS, I still don't agree! All the best, --A bit iffy 07:53, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

All the same, that was just my initial feeling upon reading the article. Thanks for giving your input. --WHS 08:44, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

Pronunciation

How do you pronunciate Amelie? Is it like "a-meal" or "a-meal-a" or "a-meal-e?", or something different? And perhaps it should be mentioned in the article? Funkadillo 02:05, 30 October 2006 (UTC)

Well... you could try watching the movie! But anyway, it's "A-mel-ee", with the "A" pronounced as in "cat" (I've heard a lot of Americans pronouncing "a" as in "father" but that's wrong) Cop 633 02:12, 30 October 2006 (UTC)

I disagree a bit: "cat" sounds a bit harsh to my ears. So, in English, I'd recommend "Ah-may-lee". And next time, I'll update this if the Glass Man really does use a "cat"-like pronunciation of that first "A".

Atlant 17:28, 30 October 2006 (UTC)

I have watched the movie, but its hard to pick up how the characters are pronouncing the name when you're watching it in a foreign language with subtitles. You're more listening to the tones they're using and reading the words than listening to the words they're actually saying. Funkadillo 22:04, 1 November 2006 (UTC)

Funny how you tell others that (1) they should try watching the film and (2) that they mispronounce the name, because you're wrong yourself. I've never heard a Frenchman pronouncing an 'a' like in 'cat'. 'Ah' isn't right either. Correct pronunciation:

a (like in Chicago) - may (like in okay) - lee (as in Bruce).

Troy 18:48, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

Look, I'm sorry, but you're wrong. It is a as in 'cat'. Click here. Listen to the first time her name is spoken (it's when we see the sperms and the narrator says "Amelie Poulain is born". It's much closer to 'cat' than anything else suggested here (although I can't hear any difference between Chicago and father, so maybe we're all talking at cross purposes here...). Cop 633 15:22, 28 December 2006 (UTC)

To be very nitpicky, the a in 'cat' is a near-open front unrounded vowel, while the French a (according to French phonology) is an open front unrounded vowel... a huge difference! (not really) :) ugen64 16:34, 16 January 2007 (UTC)]

Haha! SO much for a frenchman never pronoucing an a like in 'cat' what about 'Avec' meaning 'with' ?? and if it was like chicago, does that make it pronouced (when spelt phentically) ARRRMELIEEEEE ?

thats surely not right :/? 18:42 March 2007

Dwarf

Just want to spark a discussion on the use of an elf. Why not a dwarf? Or an elephant? Or anything else but an elf? (Jonarvs 09:06, 25 November 2006 (UTC))

Garden gnomes are popular in France and liberating gnomes is an old prank. -Lapinmies 10:19, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

• I have an interesting question about the gnome. Was it what inspired the "Roaming Gnome" commercials for Travelocity, or the other way around? I can't remember the timing. Also, I just wanted to comment on the wonderful symbolism of the gnome... that her father is so quirky and antisocial that he spends his time heaping love and attention upon the inanimate object, rather than people; Amelie says she is better than him in that she at least spends time on people... but at the same time, she doesn't come to terms with her own avoidance of emotional investment and has to live vicariously through others until the end. GREAT movie. --68.239.232.19 20:28, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

According to IMDB, the garden gnome was inspired by similar pranks in the 1990s by the "Front de Libération des Nains de Jardins", and the idea was later used for the advert. Here is the link to the IMDB page. Améliefan 15:57, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

Romantic comedy?

It's a light-hearted romance, but is it really a romantic comedy? It doesn't seem to fit the definition given in that article. But perhaps that's just a bad definition (it certainly seems to be overly specific).--Shantavira 18:23, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

I think the problem is the romantic comedy article, not this one; that article has a ridiculously narrow definition of the genre. Cop 633 21:56, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

• Being that I generally hate romantic comedies but LOVED Amelie, I hope it never ends up with that genre label. But that probably has to do with my own ridiculusly narrow definitions. :) --68.239.232.19 20:31, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

Mistakes

Under the mistakes section, it mentions a car model that was not around at the time the film is set, but that the director knows this and left it in on purpose. If the director left it there on purpose, is it really a mistake? Pnkrockr 18:38, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

Princess Di Significance

• I was just curious what everyone else thought the meaning of the Princess Di subplot had to the story, it's a recurrent theme that gets brought up a lot. I know that the Glass Man hated hearing about her all the time. I thought it was commentary that modern society is superficial (the comparison with Mother Theresa's more overlooked death during that time) and gives undeserved worship to pop iconography rather than to milestones of deeper significance. Maybe there's more to it, and I'm curious what others thought. --68.239.232.19 20:35, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

Truffaut Clip

Right now, the text of the page reads "A 'kissing scene' during which a bug, apparently unnoticed by the filmmakers, crawls across the screen behind the two lovers and appears to enter the woman's mouth." I'm not sure it's really fair to say "apparently unnoticed by the filmmakers", because my understanding was that Truffaut noticed this but left it in intentionally.