Amelie

Jay Sherman (voiced by Jon Lovitz) was the star of a short lived but in my opinion great prime time cartoon "The Critic." In an early episode upon seeing a poster for a French film he sang the lines "I love French films, pretentious boring French films, I love French Films, two tickets s'il vous plaît!" I couldn't shake this line when watching Amelie.

Directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet (who was on probation anyway for his Alien: Resurrection), Amelie follows the titular character as she attempts to improve the lives of those around her, through elaborately contrived schemes while also slowly learning to take risks for herself as well. The film is filled with quirky odd balls set in their own reality.

Visually there is some great stuff going on in this film and the charm of some of the characters is quite endearing. Audrey Tautou with her small frame and secretive smiles make you want to smile and go with her. Sadly there is an incessant narrator who shows up now and again to forward the film and I found an annoying obsession with not only the coincidences that bring people together but also with the random events that will never have any bearing on anything. All part of some grand ballet of life, I guess.

I also felt the film was telling me how I should live. Even that one isn't really alive unless one is taking risks and enjoying the simplicities of life. So heavy handed is this film that I don't even care whether there is any truth to it or not. So, unlike Jay Sherman, I do not like pretentious French films.