DVD: Amelie

In November of that sad autumn of 2001 I found myself coming back from the doctor's office one afternoon, nursing a cold and none too happy with the world, and decided to make a detour to the Cineplex Odeon at Dupont Circle. I landed in the front row of a packed theater. The film was Jean-Pierre Jeunet's Amelie, and it was as inherently therapeutic as any prescription I was carrying at the time.

Amelie proved a showcase for a gamine named Audrey Tautou, all big brown eyes and Louise Brooks-inspired haircut as the title character, an introverted Frenchwoman who leaves her emotionally stifling childhood home for life among the quirky souls of Parisian apartment houses, train stations, and cafes.

If Amelie is used to living in her head -- and really, when is the last time you saw a film focused wholly on an introvert? -- there is no shortage of action once she moves from being an observer of life to a participant. Upon discovering of the power she has to influence the lives of others, Amelie takes up an avocation as both fairy godmother and avenging angel, her outward fragility masking steely resolve, resourcefulness, and even a soupcon of sadism.

And boy, do the people around her need help. One thing that struck me upon seeing the movie yet again was the degree to which most of the characters are floundering within self-imposed imprisonments, which range from remaining under the thumb of a petty, mean-spirited boss to clinging to grudges, giving free rein to jealousy or hypochondria, and even hiding within one's own mind and fantasies. In fact, Amelie is as much a festival of neuroses as any Woody Allen film, though it's leavened considerably by its sweetness, charm, and can-do spirit. No wonder American audiences fell in love with this movie.

And I suspect they fell for Audrey Tautou in a big way, much as her on-screen character is jolted out of isolation by a chance encounter with Nino (Mathieu Kassovitz), a guy with a few quirks and obsessions of his own. Like the title character in Jane Austen's Emma, Amelie's own love story develops as she's trying to sort out everyone else's lives, and like Miss Woodhouse, she is is great danger of getting it all terribly wrong.

One note: as sweet and life-affirming as Amelie is, save it for a movie night when the kids aren't around. You know what they say about the French? Well, they are right.

And aside from those piquant touches (and scenes), you'll enjoy all the extras on the DVD, from the multiple trailers to the featurettes and filmographies. And whatever you do, if you are not fluent in French, don't forget to switch those subtitles on.

Enjoy.