Living and Partly Living: Jean-Pierre Jeunet's 'Amélie'

Abstract

For a while after its release in 2001, Jean-Pierre Jeunet's popular film, 'Amélie', provoked controversy over a perceived insensitivity to the cultural diversity of today's Paris. Alison James noted at the time in 'Variety' that: France's major left-wing newspaper, 'Libération', accused Jeunet of "propagating unsavoury extreme-right values in his "nauseating" portrayal of a Paris in which there are no blacks or Asians and where the outside world is never allowed to impinge." Sylvie Waskiewicz argues however ... It certainly does not "look like that;" in fact, it does not look at all like Jeunet's previous French films. What strikes anyone who has seen 'Delicatessen' or 'The City of Lost Children' is Jeunet's departure in Amélie from consistently sombre colours. This nostalgic tourist's dream of a Paris is highlighted in bright optimistic hues (red, green and occasionally, a transcendent gold), while Yann Tiersen's lilting accordion music reinforces the mood.