Cinematic Techniques: Amélie

For this assignment I chose to watch Amélie, a french film directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. It follows a naive girl in Paris where upon finding an old metal box that used to belong to a young boy who lived in her apartment decades before, decides to return it to its rightful owner. Afterward she feels incredibly happy and decides to devote her life into making others happy. The cinematography in this film is breathtakingly beautiful. The streets of Paris are so rich in color and life. The color is heightened and selective which give it that warm rich feeling. When they show Amelie growing in the her Mother's stomach it is shown throw time-lapse photography.At the beginning of the movie when they introduce Amelie as a child the camera is zoomed in close to the objects she is playing with, and also her hands. This gives us a sense of intimacy with the child. When introducing the Mother and Father, they both stand at a distance giving a full body shot then zooming into their face to see the emotion on it. When the shots have people in it, it is not panned out to show the entire scene, but usually zoomed in on the faces and over the shoulders. Overall the movie gives a sense of magical reality through its colors and special camera techniques.