Netflix Queue Review -- 'Amelie'

Amelie sat on my Netflix queue for several years before I finally watched it last month. For a film with a pretty big cult following, and which garnered plenty of critical acclaim when it came out in 2001, I knew surprisingly little about it. The film surprised me by being more fun, quirky, and heartwarming, and less pretentious and "artsy" than I thought it would be.

The gist of the film is this: After an insulated childhood, Amelie (played by the charming and beautiful Audrey Tatou) develops a rich inner life that continues to insulate her into adulthood. But when she stumbles into a random act of kindness, she discovers that she has the power to make the real world as magical as her imaginary one by working behind the scenes to change the lives of the people around her. Humor and romance ensue.

The key to enjoying Amelie is to be willing, as a viewer, to enter fully into the title character's active imagination. If you let the film take you with it into Amelie's fanciful mind, the "weird" parts of the film are a lot of fun. If you already have an overactive imagination (like me), then it takes no work at all to be carried gladly into Amelie's strange world. As I watched it, I understood why the film's devoted fans seem frequently to be INFPs like me -- Amelie is an extreme version of that personality type, so her quest to get the outside world to match up with her ideal, inner world is one that any INFP can relate to. (For the non-personality-type-nerds, INFP is one of the Myers-Briggs types; learn more here.)

NOTE: Amelie contains some random, brief, graphic, and unnecessary sex scenes that may surprise and offend. (Basically, if you see the film on TV, these scenes will probably be cut with zero damage to the plot -- chalk it up the the film's being French, I guess). I can see why I don't really hear about these scenes because they're not at all central to the plot, so it's easy to forget them, but it's an important caveat for some people who would otherwise like the film.

In sum: Amelie was definitely worth my time, and I'm sorry it sat unwatched for so long on my movie list. If you're into France, whimsy, "paying-it-forward," quirky romance, or Audrey-Hepburn look-alikes, this film is definitely for you.