An Analysis of the Opening Sequence of Amelie
The opening sequence of Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Amelie introduces the main character’s father Raphael Poulain. He is an ex-Army doctor who works at a spa; he hates urinating next to someone else, scornful glances at his sandals, and clingy swimming trunks; and he enjoys peeling wallpaper, shining his shoes, and cleaning out his toolbox. What these scenes mean and how they are composed contribute to the film’s overall tone, themes, internal rules, and visual style.
The opening sequence establishes the film’s quirky sense of humor. Most characters in stories are introduced by their broad characteristics, but Jeunet introduces his characters by their likes and dislikes. Raphael’s personal preferences are not important to the overall plot, but they are comical in their peculiarity. This unusual manner of introduction continues throughout the movie: Amandine Poulain likes cleaning out her purse and dislikes puckered fingers, and Amelie likes skipping stones and dislikes drivers who do not watch the road in old movies. This kind of odd humor indicates the mood and genre of the film. Stylistically, the opening sequence’s vivid colors, pleasant lighting, amusing voiceover, and upbeat score also suggest a humorous, feel-good cinematic experience. The look, feel, and substance of Raphael’s eccentric introduction set up the film as an eccentric comedy.
In addition to the movie’s humor, the opening sequence introduces the motif of simple pleasures, which factors into the film’s central theme of happiness. Amelie appreciates the minor delights of life, such as dipping her hand in sacks of grain, but she is too cowardly to embrace true happiness. Helping those around her find happiness becomes another of her little pleasures, yet she is unable to allow happiness for herself. She confidently devises little games to entice Nino, the man she has fallen in love with, but when the time finally comes to confront him face-to-face, she falters repeatedly. While Amelie lacks the courage to reach beyond her hobbies and simple pleasures, her father is imprisoned by them. After the death of his wife, Raphael becomes obsessed with building a shrine for her. Not until a part of his project, a garden gnome, mysteriously leaves him and experiences the world, does he decide to break away from his reclusive life and travel. Simple pleasures are not always an obstacle, however. When Bretodeau remembers the pleasures of his childhood, he realizes how quickly life has passed him by and decides to contact his estranged daughter. Reunited with her, he shares one of his simple pleasures with his grandson: eating roasted chicken with his fingers. In the film, simple pleasures work in different ways: they limit Amelie, confine Raphael, and enlighten Bretodeau. Raphael’s activities in the opening sequence may seem merely comical at first, but they are a major part of the movie’s ideas.
The opening scenes set up the film’s logic as well. In the first shot, Raphael stands perfectly still as the narrator introduces him. The scene appears nondiegetic, since the character’s presence is for the purpose of the narration and not for the story. The scene is unusual, because it uses a moving shot where a still image would suffice; the character almost seems to be posing for the viewer. In several instances, such as the scene in the movie theater, Amelie is aware of the camera, although she is not the narrator. In one scene, she wonders how many couples are having an orgasm at that moment. A montage of couples climaxing follows, and then Amelie turns to the camera and says, “Fifteen,” as if she had just seen the montage herself. These types of scenes give the film a playful, self-conscious quality. Sometimes the characters know they are in a movie, and sometimes they do not. Likewise, Jeunet often employs visual techniques to express the characters’ feelings. After Amelie educates a blind man of their surroundings, his entire body glows in joy and astonishment. When Amelie is too shy to confront Nino, she turns into water and splashes to the floor. Despite being set in a real time and place, the film is essentially a magical fairytale where paintings speak and statues wink; events that would not make sense in the real world work in the context of the film. With the subtly peculiar opening shot, Jeunet establishes the movie’s absurd and fanciful language.
The opening
sequence also develops the film’s distinct style. In the shot of Raphael at the train station, his
red shopping bags contrast with the green surroundings. When he is at the pool, his red swimming
trunks contrast with the green background.
When he is cleaning out his toolbox, the red toolbox contrasts with the green
room. This color scheme of red and green
occurs frequently throughout the movie and can be found in the costumes, sets,
locations, and cinematography. The
specific colors enhance the film’s surreal atmosphere, emphasizing that while
the film is set in modern
The film’s camera movement is unique as well. In the first shot of the opening sequence, the camera tracks forward to Raphael’s face. In the shot of him urinating and the shot of him shining his shoes, the camera glides slowly to the right. In these cases and many others, where the camera moves subtly when it could easily not move at all, the camera movement is not particularly important to the telling of the story, but it does give the sense that the camera is gracefully floating around its subjects at all times, as if it is a character itself. In other shots, the camera movement is more significant and complex. When Raphael is at the train station, the camera shows two women looking at something, then pans to the right to show Raphael’s reaction to their glances, and then moves down to show his sandals, the subject of interest. In one shot, the camera presents the viewer with three bits of information. In another scene, the camera shows Amelie looking at the bathroom which Joseph has just entered, then swings to the left as she turns to look at Georgette, then tilts down to show Amelie place the coffee on the tray, and then tracks to the right to show her spill the coffee on Georgette, so that she will run off to the bathroom and bump into Joseph. The camera’s dance allows the viewer to follow the inner workings of Amelie’s mind. The opening sequence illustrates the nature of the camera: at times it is merely an observer, and at others it is an integral part of the action.
All of these characteristics are not independent of Amelie, however. Jeunet is an auteur, and his films possess a consistent and distinct structure and style. Delicatessen (1991), The City of Lost Children (1995), and A Very Long Engagement (2004) all contain quirky characters, absurd humor, specific color schemes, elegant camera movements, and common cast members, including his regular Dominique Pinon. A major recurrent theme in Jeunet’s work is causality. His films often involve an event that sets off a chain of others. In The City of Lost Children, a girl’s teardrop sparks an outrageous domino effect that eventually ends in a ship crashing ashore. In Amelie, the news of Princess Diana’s death causes Amelie to drop a bottle cap, which ultimately leads to the happiness of those around her and her own happiness as well. One tragic death inadvertently brings joy to many people. Jeunet demonstrates that a singular incident can have life-changing consequences.
The opening sequence of Amelie serves as a gateway into the film’s strange world. It establishes the movie’s odd humor, its themes of happiness and simple pleasures, its surreal and carefree nature, its unique visual style, and its rightful placement among Jeunet’s other works.
