(Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain)
France/Germany (2001): Comedy/Drama
Perhaps the most charming movie of all time, Amélie is certainly one of the top 10. The title character (the bashful and impish Audrey Tautou) is a single waitress who decides to help other lonely people fix their lives. Her widowed father yearns to travel but won't, so to inspire the old man she sends his garden gnome on a tour of the world; with whispered gossip, she brings together two cranky regulars at her café; she reverses the doorknobs and reprograms the speed dial of a grocer who's mean to his assistant. Gradually she realizes her own life needs fixing, and a chance meeting leads to her most elaborate stratagem of all. This is a deeply wonderful movie, an illuminating mix of magic and pragmatism. Fans of Jean-Pierre Jeunet's previous films (Delicatessen, The City of Lost Children) will not be disappointed; newcomers will be delighted. (Amazon.com)
5 nominations
· Achievement in Writing - Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen 2001: Screenplay by Guillaume Laurant and Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Dialogue by Guillaume Laurant
· Achievement in Art Direction 2001: Art Direction: Aline Bonetto; Set Decoration: Marie-Laure Valla
· Achievement in Cinematography 2001: Bruno Delbonnel
· Best Foreign Language Film of the Year 2001: (France) (Jean-Marc Deschamps & Claudie Ossard, producers)
· Achievement in Sound 2001: Vincent Arnardi, Guillaume Leriche and Jean Umansky