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Holistic Analysis of Amélie

Olivia O’Donnell 

CMS 294

Prof. C. Vukasovich

May 10, 2024

Synopsis

To complete this holistic analysis I would like to summarize Amélie on a basic level. Amélie by director Jean-Pierre Jeunet is a whimsical romantic comedy following the life of a young woman named Amélie. She grew up in solitude surrounded by loss with the need for triumph. This made her a very introverted individual, but she was raised with the desire for happiness and the need to spread goodness to those around her, to do this she would silently do good acts for others. 

Good Deeds

The first act we see is of Amélie finding a box in her small apartment that once belonged to a young boy who lived in her apartment decades prior. She sets on a mission to return this box to its rightful owner, she asks her neighbors and eventually finds this now grown man and anonymously returns it to him, with no need for recognition of her act of kindness. 

She brings joy to a blind man's life when walking him to the train station, she describes all the little things that he would never be able to see himself, the windows they pass, the actions of the strangers on a busy street, and the drama ensuing around them on their very quick journey.

The final act I want to touch on is the act of kindness she does for her love interest. He is a collector of photobooth images and the photobooth he gets his images from was broken. She made the effort to get it fixed and that is what unites them and this makes her love for him a reality.

These acts mentioned are only the most notable ones to me, however, there are much smaller deeds that she completes for others to bring strangers joy. I believe that this is due to cognitive theory, that my perception of the world affects what I find memorable in a film. I am a young woman perceiving this film. I will undoubtedly relate to some of the messages being delivered because I have something in common with the film's subject. I will link my memories and experiences that relate. I will find salience in the film as well as many others, the supporting characters are all individualized to be recognizable. The creators of this film build stereotypical characters that people can identify with. Amélie’s outspoken coworker and her creepy love interest, the loud-mouthed and introverted street vendors who treat Amélie with kindness and care, the helpless blind man on the street, and so on. All characters with quirks that a person may associate with themselves or someone in their lives. 

Message

This film has an overarching message. Amélie is an empathetic introvert who strives to bring joy to those she meets, she can feel their energy and can determine what they need to experience happiness. Due to her losing her mother so young and being emotionally neglected by her father, she craves to bestow happiness on others. Her behaviors remind me as a viewer that actions always speak louder than words. She has few moments of consistent dialogue, she does so much more intentional listening than she does speaking– an observer of things can be sure to take action seriously, and she does. She spends her whole life trying to bring joy to others waiting for her opportunity to receive it herself. After her good deed to her love interest, she is controlled by his reciprocated interest in her. When the photobooth is fixed for him he finds himself at her apartment where she invites him in and kisses him on his face, but not his lips. She waits for him to take that action, so she can be shown that he is feeling the same romantic interest in her. 

If there is one thing about this film I picked up on it is how many ways something can be presented. If the director wants the audience to know something they will be shown it visually in the acting, in the composition of the frames, verbally from the actor, or audibly from the music overlaid, the sound effects, or simply in the expressions, and even directly said in the narration. The style of this film was not ominous, viewers were walked through the story without room for misinterpretation.  

Color 

In Amélie, there were recurring colors and hues. Throughout the fil, the hue was strictly green and yellow. This was very intentional, yellow generally symbolizes hope, joy, and possibility, and green is grounding and childlike bringing in an element of nostalgia. Another recurring color was red, it surrounded Amélie constantly; her apartment walls, the clothes she wears, on the street when she's walking, in the cafe she works in. Red frequently represents passion and warmth which align with the tone of Amélie.  The film was shot in a low contrast highlighting the depth in the colors used, it brings out the vibrancy.

Sound 

Instrumentals, silence, and dialogue led this film. One moment that stood out in particular was when Amélie returned the trinket box to the grown man, when he realized that he was reunited with his belongings the audience was faced with emotional string instrumentals that brought a hopeful and nostalgic energy to the scene.

Shots 

The director has an interest in tension within scenes. I don’t think I could count the number of zoom shots within this film, each time it was used the actors were expressing an intense emotion of surprise, fear, excitement, or confusion. The quick or suspenseful nature of the zoom was appropriately chosen for the emotion being expressed. I paid close attention to the composition of the scenes, when characters were interacting with each other the angles would reflect their heights, for example when Amélie was taking an order you’d see her view looking down at the customer and vice versa. It helped the viewer become immersed in the film. In my research, I learned they used several cameras and several lenses to create their desired dramatized style, specifically the ARRIFLEX 435 ES Camera, ARRIFLEX 535 Camera, Iwerks Cameras, and Zeiss Ultra Prime Lenses in 14, 18, 21, 25, and 27mm. (Evan E. Richards, 2011).

Zoom Shot (9:52)

Medium

Amélie’s passion and energy were shown with a multimedia approach of CGI. When there was a need for emphasis the scene would be edited in an illuminated presentation of the main focus, may that be a set of keys, her thumping heart, or her melting with passion and anxiety. 

Thumping Heart

Melting with feelings (1:38:58)

A second way they incorporated CGI was with talking portraits. The paintings on her walls speak to her in her moments of loneliness and the photo booth images speak to her when she needs a friend. 

Talking portraits (58:04) and interactive photo booth pictures (1:12:33)

Cuts and Transitions and Movement 

Cuts and transitions were embraced in this film. The most notable and entertaining use of a transition was towards the beginning of the film, Amélie was being disturbed by customers having sex in her Cafe restroom and then a sequence of orgasms was included from men and women from both adults and elders, they when from orgasm to moan with no time in between to process, it elevated the intensity of Amélie’s feelings towards the sex being had in her presence. She and the audience feel the confusion and surprise. The movement of those clips was quick, intentionally to not distract from the scene at hand, but to give context to the sound. Movement was consistently quick in this film, the anxiety was shown well with the incorporation of movement. Many of the scenes in the train station were fast-moving. One moment of Amélie sitting alone on the train was shown with a violent movement, showing her physical self being jumbled around in the train seat, but also her mind jumbling around focusing on her thoughts and her surroundings.

Amélie on a shaky train with jumbling thoughts (26:35 and 27:24)

References

Amélie. (2024, April 9). ShotOnWhat? Retrieved May 10, 2024, from https://shotonwhat.com/amelie-2001

Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Director). (2001). Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain [Amélie] [Film]. Claudie Ossard Productions.

Lester, P. M. (2013). Visual Communication: Images with Messages. Cengage Learning.

Richards, E. E. (2011). Deconstructing Amelie – Evan E. Richards. Evan E. Richards. Retrieved May 10, 2024, from https://www.evanerichards.com/2011/2120

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Blog #2

Advertisements are intended to sell people on things, and often advertisers will target certain qualities to get their message across to a specific audience. Semiotic analysis is an approach that deconstructs an advertisement and the meanings found within. It helps a person decode social, cultural, and personal messages trying to bring a viewer in and grab attention from the masses. For this blog post, I will be diving into gendered stereotypes within print advertisements. I chose advertisements with youthful subjects, I think that different audiences frequently view these and they are trying to get their message across to more than just one group of people. 

The first advertisements I thought of for this assignment are ones targeted toward young women, when exploring I noticed several reoccurring themes, but the ones I will be focusing on are the sweet blonde girl and the deviant brunette girl tropes.

 

In the photos above, the sweet blonde girl is depicted. The main character of these images is a famous female actor from the late 90s and early 00s, Sarah Michelle Gellar. At one point, she was America’s sweetheart and a household name, a perfect selling point for a beauty brand like Maybelline. This campaign was targeted towards women on the go, using vocabulary like “express makeup” and “dot, blend, blush, go!” surrounded by pastel colors and a bright smile. Using a beautiful, young, and notable woman like Gellar communicates to the audience that this product will provide this beauty to whoever purchases it. With the word choice and imagery of the product, women are told that with this product their lives will be easier and that the time they spend on their beauty routine will be cut in half. Using Gellar as the spokesperson for this product is not only intentional in targeting young girls but also parents and friends of young girls. Gellar dresses modestly and wears reserved hairstyles in this advertisement, showing the innocence and purity that parents want in their daughters. 

On the opposite side of the spectrum that is often depicted in media and print advertising is the deviant brunette trope. In the advertisements below are two examples of this, on the left is an advertising campaign for the brand L’oreal. The model in this is promoting a new line of beauty products that shimmer, she wears a glitter polish and a blue lipgloss. Her facial expression is seductive, with her gently caressing her cheek. Paired with her seductive looks is a message at the core of the image, “indécente innocence”, two contradicting words. The use of the color blue is also symbolic, the icy blue used here is cool, deceitful, and unforgiving. The advertisement to the right is for Maybelline eyeliners and eyeshadow, the models used have Eurocentric features suggesting a standard of beauty expected of the consumer. The eyeliner is marketed to be used “everywhere” for the face and body, to suggest this they present a hand with henna-like tattoos drawn on, a girl's abdomen, and an upper arm detail. The full-body model is wearing low-waisted pants and a tube top, which reveals a large amount of skin which will draw attention to the advertisement, but also sexualize the model from the male gaze.

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BLOG ONE - O.O.

Who Owns What?

Barbara Kruger 

2012 

… A black and white visual of a feminine hand holding what looks like a cigarette pack, the side of the pack being seen clearly by the viewer is covered by a vibrant white and red block of capitalized text, “WHO OWNS WHAT”. When I see this image I am drawn to the bold text, the three fingers held up, and the red framing of the image. My interpretation of this image is that the woman holding the box of cigarettes thinks she owns them and that she is “in charge” or “winning” because she was the one to purchase and enjoy the cigarettes when in reality the cigarettes own her. Cigarettes are now known as addictive because of the nicotine inside of them. I think this photo is made to challenge the nicotine industry or make consumers aware that they are pawns. Once a person becomes addicted to something they tend to repurchase the same things from the same companies, and if a company is turning a profit, they do not have to care for the consumer to a certain extent. I think the choice of words here is important to take note of as well, it is so blatant, yet not tell the viewer the exact meaning. You need context for thorough understanding, but when considering the artist’s history with cultural critiques and knowledge of American consumerism the answer is right in front of you. The image presented is a wake-up call to the fact that companies are taking advantage of consumers.

Untitled (Your body is a battleground)

Barbara Kruger

1989

… A black and white image of a white woman, half of her face is “typical” and the other half has the black and white coloring inverted. She is the ideal American beauty, with a slim face, maintained eyebrows, bright eyes, smooth skin, and meticulously colored lips from lipstick. She has no jewelry but is likely wearing face makeup. Written top to bottom of the frame in the center of her face with a bold red and white text block, “Your body is a battleground”. As a woman interpreting this image, I know the intent immediately, the meaning has a personal reaction. The use of red presents the urgency and intensity of the message, using an image of a classic American beauty shows that it is both the issue of the young women of the late sixties and early seventies and it is yet again an issue for the young women of today. When looking into this piece I was made aware of a spike in anti-abortion laws in 1989, Barbara Kruger made this piece in response the the restrictions being made on women’s right to choice. It was used at a pro-choice march in Washington, D.C. that year. I learned that the separation between the sides of the woman’s face was intentional, it was intended to represent the divide of reproductive freedom– two different women, and two different lives with and without bodily autonomy (The Broad, 2016). 

References

Grapheine. (2022, January 19). Barbara Kruger/Supreme: who's hijacking whom? Graphéine. Retrieved February 4, 2024, from https://www.grapheine.com/en/history-of-graphic-design/barbara-kruger-supreme-who-is-hijacking-whom

Selvin, C. (2020, August 6). Barbara Kruger’s Most Famous Artworks and Exhibitions. Art News. Retrieved February 4, 2024, from https://www.artnews.com/feature/barbara-kruger-art-exhibitions-1202696145/

The Broad. (2015, October 16). Barbara Kruger - Untitled (Your Body is a Battleground). SoundCloud. Retrieved February 4, 2024, from https://soundcloud.com/thebroad/barbara-kruger-your-body-is-a-battleground