Importance of Simplicity as Portrayed through Amelie (Blog Entry 12)

One of my favorite movies is the French film, Amelie (2001). This film follows a quirky young woman as she partakes in her daily life, helping others, and chasing a mysterious man. Although the film is in French, it is easy to follow, not only due to the subtitles, but also the strong visual rhetoric used.
There is a scene that depicts Amelie taking joy in simple pleasures; dipping her hand into a bag of grain, cracking the caramel topping of her crème brulee, and skipping stones. All of these scenes are shot at a close point of view. Although it may seem as though these actions are insignificant and silly to take pleasure in, the film begs to differ. Because all of these actions take up the whole scene it shows their importance. The film communicates with the viewer how each moment of simple pleasure positively affects our lives.
In the following scene, we are allowed into Amelie’s apartment while she spies on her neighbor, “The Glass Man.” Her apartment, like Amelie, is eccentric, filled with odds and ends that suggest she surrounds herself with things that provide her pleasure, regardless of their aesthetic beauty. As she watches her neighbor, the narrator of the film talks of how the man is fragile and has not left his apartment in twenty years. Interested in the man, Amelie closes her window and shuts off her lights. She then takes out a binocular to watch him as he paints. It appears as though she is distancing herself from the world’s view of this man, as depicted by the narrator and allowing herself to gain her own insight by magnifying him through her lens. The rhetoric of this scene showing the actions portrayed by Amelie contrasting with the narrator shows the importance of forming one’s own insight to the world and not allowing others to dictate one’s own opinion.

Throughout the film, close up shots of seemingly insignificant actions, that may seem ordinary such as Amelie satisfying her simple desires or even peeking at a neighbor, shows that these instances are not small at all. They are what define us as individuals. Through the film emphasizing the importance of small actions, viewers are encouraged to take pride in the everyday and to pay attention to what really makes them happy. The importance of these actions are showed by Amelie’s facial expressions, large smiles for what makes her happy, and wide eyes to things that shock her Amelie does not allow the outside world tell her what is acceptable whether that be having joy from eating a dessert or later befriending an outcast. The film would not have portrayed this message clearly if not for the close up camera angles, and the contradiction between the narrator and Amelie’s actions.