Amelie – Points on the theme: Childhood

·         Sex shop – she is uncomfortable in there as her family have never taught her about sex and relationships. This is also evident when she kisses Nino as she is unsure about what to do.

·         When she’s at the bar she gulps down her glass of wine which links to the idea of childhood because she seemed greedy and excited.

·         Life hasn’t always been easy but turns out like a fairytale: prince and princess.

·         Georgette the hypochondriac seems childish in the way she overreacts.

·         The dad believes that the gnome has really come to live suggesting his immature outlook on life.

·         She goes to the fairground to find Nino – location relating to childhood

·         Skimming pebbles – she’s idiosyncratic

·         Dips her hand in grain – links to the simple pleasures a child has

·         She has a very creative imagination (takes pictures of clouds which turn into childlike things. Also her dreams are in clouds which is a projection of her childlike mind) which “comes to life above her in a bubble”. It also stems from her childhood because she was forced to use it as she was isolated.

·         Jeunet uses lots of primary colours especially red, these colours are often used and seen in primary schools which link to the theme of childhood.

·         Breaks into Collingon’s apartment and plays tricks on him – childish. He’s mean to her friends so she does this twice.

·         Nino means child in Spanish – he’s a childlike character as he collects things.

·         She was not brought up as an adult because her mum dies when she was pre-pubescent and her dad became depressed.

·         In the booth, she dresses up as Zorro which is childlike behaviour.

·         Ghost train are a metaphor for her fears – her fears are to be alone with Nino.

·         She finds the scrapbook and makes a game out of it – blue arrows (made of breadcrumbs, similar to the fairy tale Hansel and Gretel)

·         Wide angle camera creates a distorted face – creating childlike features.

Amelie & Opening Sequence

Amelie & Happiness

Amelie & Outsiders

Amelie & Childhood

Amelie's early childhood life had many similarities and differences compared to a normal child of her age including:

• The moment when she put hula hoops on the end of each of her fingers and ate each one, one by one. However Amelie is abit different, this is because instead of using hula hoops she uses strawberries.
• The way Amelie would draw the upside down face, using your chins as a face by drawing eyes, eyebrows,nose and eyelashes etc.
• Amelie also used to tightly push her face upon a window to make an amusing squished up face.
• Trying on different things e.g glasses to keep her entertained.
• Amelie used to get amused by drinking from a straw.
• Watching a penny turn round and round until it landed on a particular side.
• Having a coil of ribbon all neat in a circle, and blowing it to make it unfold and create a pattern.

As Amelie and her father didn't have a very close relationship, and didn't talk and do the normal things a daughter would do with her father resulted in many problems. Amelie's father believed that Amelie had a heart problem when he did a check up on her one day. From that day Amelie's father did a monthly check up to test the rate of her heart. The reason for Amelie's heartbeat racing was due to the interaction with her dad. It was unusual when Amelie's dad touched her, they never had a close family bond they didn't ever have a father and daughter cuddle...nothing. Therefore when each time Amelie was touched by her father her heartbeat began to speed up, as she wasn't used to her dad showing any care or affection.

Many things that made Amelie a unique child include:

• The way in which Amelie plays doctors with an imaginary alligator, just like her father does to check her heartbeat.
• She see's her fish as a friend, due to her having none of her own.
• Amelie swings her teddy on the swing, where as its usually the parents swinging the child.
• Due to the tragedy Amelie forgets about leaving her teddy outside and it stays outside through all seasons of the year 24/7.

Amelie was an unusual child of her time as she would easily entertain herself in a unique way. I believe the reasoning for all the unusual things she had done was because she was lonely, she wasn't very close to her mum and dad, and had no siblings.

Amelie & Innocence &Simplicity

Amelie as CInema Du look