If I would have to divide the movies I watch in categories sorted by language, about 95% would be English, 4% would be Dutch and the other 1% would be any other language. Or actually, less than 1%. Sometimes a Belgian movie gets slipped in, sometimes a French movie and that’s about it. Foreign movies might be really good! I want to broaden my movie genre a bit and a great step by doing so is watching more foreign movies. That’s why I chose to watch a foreign movie: Le Fabuleux Destin d’Amélie Poulain (or Amélie)!
Watching foreign movies can be hard for some people. I grew up bilingual with speaking Dutch and Limburgish, and it has been proven that bilingual children are better at learning more languages than people who don’t. When I was ten, I learned to speak English at which I was indeed better than most other people. When I was twelve, I had French for two years and German for one year. While I never wanted to keep on studying those languages, I wasn’t bad at it. That being said: I have already forgotten most of it. So yes, watching a French movie wasn’t easy. Reading subtitles while watching a movie is hard if you don’t understand the language that well.
Foreign movies are easily forgotten, but Amélie was -and still is – a quite a big hit. It was nominated for five Oscars and has big scores on IMDb and RottenTomatoes. Let me give you 5 reasons why you should watch Amélie.
A girl living in Paris and trying to find love seems very standard and not unique at all. But it’s the little things in Amélie that make the movie worthwhile. The things like the storylines, the small events that happen that lead up to that big moment, the cinematography, the setting. If I had to compare the style of this movie with any other movie, I would probably say any Wes Anderson movie. The peculiarity, the cinematography, the quirky characters. So if you like Wes Anderson, you’ll also like Amélie!
Earlier on I already said that it’s the little things that make this movie worthwhile to watch. The dry, unique humor is one of those. Normally, when I find a movie funny, I grin. I don’t laugh out loud that often, but this movie made me do it multiple times. Quite hard, actually.
If it wasn’t for the music, I wouldn’t have ever found out that this movie existed. I like to listen to movie soundtracks and on my way to finding new music to listen to, I found Comptine d’un autre été, l’après-midi a few years ago. I never knew that this song was one of the most recognizable songs from any movie of all time. But it’s not only this song that makes the movie worthwhile but it’s the entire soundtrack. The way this typical, recognizable soundtrack fits the setting and story of the movie perfectly. It’s impossible to not want to go to Paris immediately, the Paris vibe is very much there with the accordion. Yann Tiersen really did a great job!
Not any character in this movie is normal, although you can easily relate to them. Amélie, finding love. Her coworkers, finding or losing love. Her neighbors, finding life. The connections between them, their day-to-day schedule, everybody trying out new things – they’re all unique.
I’m quite picky while choosing things to watch, and so are you! I can’t be the only one not wanting to see horror, war movies or foreign movies. But honestly, just try them. I loved watching Amélie, even though it’s different from the movies I usually watch. You might find a new favorite movie on the way to trying new things!
Did I convince you to watch Amélie? And if you already have seen it, what did you think of it? Leave it in the comments below!
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