The scene in question plays from 0:41 to 2:56 in the clip embedded below:
The scene being analyzed here begins at approximately 40 minutes and 12 seconds into the movie and ends at 42 minutes and 27 seconds. This is a short scene, no longer than 135 seconds in length and comprises 15 shots in total. It begins with a wide shot of a train station in Paris and ends on close-up of Audrey Tautou as she sits on the stairs outside the train station perusing the photo album that falls off the bike ridden by Mathieu Kassovitz’ character.
The Significance
Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Amélie plays almost like a series of mood-pieces. Selecting one sequence from the lot isn’t the easiest of choices. Scenes that come to mind almost immediately are the opening mise-en-scéne, the scene in which Amélie helps a blind man find his way through a market and the scene where a young Bretodeau loses all his marbles. There are scenes full of expository dialogue, with hidden layers of meaning, such as the scene in which Amélie discusses Renoir‘s painting with the Glass Man. There are scenes of slapstick comedy like those set in Collignon’s apartment or the bathroom of Les Deux Moulins. And there are scenes of lush beauty and intricate camera-work like when Amélie is shown skipping stones on the river.
This particular sequence contains only about two lines of dialogue, but is a pivotal moment in the story. It introduces the foil to Tautou’s Amélie in the form of an equally complex character, Nino Quincampoix. This chance meeting of the story’s two protagonists sets in motion a sequence of events that makes up the bulk of the film's narrative. It also introduces the mysterious man in the Red Shoes (red shoes = red herring – a deliberate allusion or simply a coincidence?) as well as a significant plot device in the form of Nino’s photo album. These help drive the narration forward and the unison of these seemingly disparate threads results in the protagonists ultimately finding the companionship that they both so deeply desire.
We shall also make a note of how the scene captures several themes that tend to appear significantly in Jeunet’s oeuvres.
The Set-Up
Amélie, a waitress at a café in Montmartre, Paris has just spent the night in a photo-booth at the train station, having missed the last train home from her Fathers’ house. She clutches under her jacket the garden gnome that she stole from her Father’s garden.
Sight and Sound
As in much of the movie, the dominant tint in this scene is a greenish tinge with elements of red and yellow interspersed throughout. These three colors along with the occasional splash of electric blue to contrast sharply with the surroundings constitute the visual leitmotif of the movie. Jeunet is said to have been inspired by the paintings of the Brazilian artist Juarez Machado in selecting this color scheme.
Although the movie is clearly set in the present (shortly after the death of Princess Diana), the movie has a deliberate whimsical timelessness to it – as if it were a story that could take place anywhere and anytime.
The score for Amélie was composed by Yann Tiersen and this sequence includes two of his musical pieces. Background sounds are often hyper-exaggerated to accentuate the senses.
Shot 1
The scene opens with a wide shot of a Parisian train station (Screenshot 1). Employing an elaborate crane movement, the camera slowly tracks downwards and ends in a locked off shot just ahead of Amélie who paces towards the camera lugging the gnome under her jacket. Note that the costume designer has dressed the extras trailing behind Amélie in yellow, red and greens and that most of the props (such as the garden-gnome) are also almost exclusively in those colors. This shot establishes time and location for the scene – daytime is indicated by the lighting source, emanating from the large glass windows on three sides (contrasting with the florescent lighting and faint-buzzing of the previous night scene). Location is indicated by the presence of trains. Background sound of announcements of imminent arrivals and departures also add help to fix the location. Note how the sound is synchronized so that the noise of a train coming to a halt coincides with the camera finally reaching a stationary position.
Shot 2
The scene then cuts to a continuous shot, breaking the continuity rule (which states that a static shot should transition into another static shot and a continuous shot should only transition into another continuous shot). Bruno Delbonnel, the Director of Photography circumvents this rule quite often in the movie, perhaps intentionally given the meticulous planning that seems to have gone into each shot. The camera tracks low almost crawling across the ground focusing on Amelie’s feet (a shot that occurs quite frequently in this movie) as she walks past miscellaneous pieces of luggage (note that the props are once again in red, green and yellow). Nino enters the frame from the right corner. He is couched under a photo-booth and scrapping up discarded fragments of photos (Screenshot 2). Two props in this scene stand out here - Nino’s plastic bag and the door in the background are both electric blue, providing visual contrast. As Amélie approaches Nino, the camera begins to track slower, eventually ending as a slow-motion sequence. Contrasted against the hurried pacing of both the camera and the protagonist from earlier in the shot we get the impression that something has caught Amélie’s attention as she approaches the booth.
Shot 3
This is a punch-in to Nino’s face as his eyes widen (Screenshot 3). The background noise from the previous shot is drowned out and replaced by the steadily accelerating sound of a heartbeat.
Shot 4
We cut to a clean shot of Amélie face, the camera jibs down to her chest and a special-effect shot of a beating heart is superimposed over her (Screenshot 4). The camera jibs back up to her face. Note that rather than being shot from the ground up (as would be customary to establish Nino’s POV), Amélie is shot from the face level. This is explained in the following shot where Nino was not distracted by Amélie, but rather by something possibly behind her, that (deliberately) isn’t shown in this shot. Note that the color scheme is again maintained – a red heart glowing with a yellowish tinge.
Shot 5
We cut to Nino as he stands up and runs past Amélie brushing up against her (Screenshot 5) – the positioning of the camera in this shot seems to be stationary. The camera seems to be positioned about five feet off the ground and to the immediate right of Amélie and focused on the ground level as the shot begins. Rather than jib up as he stands, it tilts upwards and simultaneously rotates 120˚, following his path.
Shot 6
Cut to Amélie, now facing the opposite direction (with her back to the photo-booth). This is a reaction shot, and the sound editor includes a dull “thud” to accentuate her emotion as they make contact.
Shot 7
Cut to an over the shoulder shot from behind Amélie. Nino pauses to allow a luggage trolley pass, which honks, as if to shake Amélie from her stupor.
Shot 8
Cut to yet another reaction shot, we hear the thud repeated – as it dawns on Amélie that Nino was in fact looking at something else. She begins to pursue him
Shot 9
The edit cuts to a continuous tracking shot once again at ground level as Amélie begins pursuing Nino on foot. The camera tracks behind, dodging behind metal pillars giving the shot the feel of a handheld shot and revealing l’absent, the man in the red sneakers. The score swells as Yann Tiersen’s “Quimper” starts to play.
Shot 10
This shot changes the location as the camera is positioned right outside the train station exit. The man in the red sneakers, who was previously in the third field of view, is now in the primary field, with Nino now behind him (Screenshot 6). The camera tracks from ahead, but allows the man to walk past, choosing to keep Nino in the frame instead. A procession of monks enters the frame from the left blocking Nino from view (Screenshot 7), but he pushes past them, yelling “Attendez!” and runs past the camera which does a 180˚ turn and in one of the more spectacular sequences of the movie, raises up off the ground, and comes to rest behind a lamp-post while Nino runs up a flight of stairs in the background. The shot deliberately avoids showing Amélie who is obviously right behind. He pushes past them and runs past the camera and up a flight of stairs. In a spectacular continuous moving shot, the camera raises up off the ground, and up past a lamppost. Since this is an outdoor shot, the lighting indicates a dull overcast cloudy sky. Also note the poster in the background to the side of the steps, again in the visual leitmotif of red, green and yellow (Screenshot 8).
Shot 11
The camera is now positioned at the very top of the stairs as the man walks past yet again. The camera tracks to the other end of the stairs where Nino is straggling up the stairs. The background shows the roof of the train station, the interior of which opened Shot 1.
Shot 12
The camera tracks towards a minivan, comes to rest behind the back left tire, pauses momentarily, as the car takes off revealing Nino’s motorcycle in the background. The camera now tracks towards the motorcycle again coming to rest behind the back wheel (Screenshot 9). As Nino takes off on his bike, the camera follows him, as he nearly collides with a car and drops off a bag (Screenshot 10). The camera then swooshes around making a 360˚ loop all the while keeping the bag in focus at the center of the frame (Screenshot 11), finally coming to a stop in the middle of the road. The background score phases out and is replaced by the sound of heavy footsteps as Amélie comes running up into the frame, leans down and picks up the bag (Screenshot 12). The camera tilts up to her face (Screenshot 13). This shot encompasses numerous subtle digital effects – streets were cleaned up in post production and reflections in the store windows were digitally removed. The car itself was inserted digitally to ensure the safety of the actors. Again, note the usage of color – the cars are either red or electric blue, the bag is a deep shade of red and the streets are bereft of any additional color.
Shot 13
Yet another location change to the stairs outside the station. The camera pans down from the ceiling, tracks towards Amélie who is seated on the stairs (Screenshot 14) and does a 360˚ loop culminating in an overhead shot (Screenshot 15). Over her head to become an overhead shot where we are shown what she is reading. Music in this scene is "L'Autre Valse D'Amélie" by Tiersen.
Shot 14
The camera punches in to the photo album (Screenshot 16). We hear the voice of the narrator, André Dussollier who states:
“Des pages plien de photos…
- Pages full of id photographs, torn up and discarded by their owners carefully reassembled by some oddball. Some family album! -
…album de la famille”
Shot 15
The camera tracks slowly upwards as Amélie shuts the album, speeding up as it pans into her face ending in a tight close-up on Amélie (Screenshot 17).
Themes and Obsessions
In his book, Studying Surrealist and Fantasy Cinema, Neil Coombs identifies the following “Themes and Obsessions” with Jeunet’s oeuvres, all of which can be identified in this short sequence:
· Use of dreamlike quality as part of the narrative development
· Chance encounters trigger a chain of events
· Use of carnival (or carnival themed music)
· Nostalgia – difficulty in pinning down a time period as demonstrated by an aversion for the modern
· Adults who are orphans (or orphan-like) demonstrating childlike behavior and hobbies
· Extreme close-up shots
In his book, Studying Surrealist and Fantasy Cinema, Neil Coombs identifies the following “Themes and Obsessions” with Jeunet’s oeuvres, all of which can be identified in this short sequence:
· Use of dreamlike quality as part of the narrative development
· Chance encounters trigger a chain of events
· Use of carnival (or carnival themed music)
· Nostalgia – difficulty in pinning down a time period as demonstrated by an aversion for the modern
· Adults who are orphans (or orphan-like) demonstrating childlike behavior and hobbies
· Extreme close-up shots
References:
· Studying Surrealist and Fantasy Cinema – Neil Coombs
· CINÉ-FILES: The French Film Guides (Amélie) – Isabelle Vanderschelden
· Contemporary Film Directors: Jean-Pierre Jeunet – Elizabeth Ezra
· IMDb.com
· movie-locations.com
· soundtrack.net
· YouTube.com
· Studying Surrealist and Fantasy Cinema – Neil Coombs
· CINÉ-FILES: The French Film Guides (Amélie) – Isabelle Vanderschelden
· Contemporary Film Directors: Jean-Pierre Jeunet – Elizabeth Ezra
· IMDb.com
· movie-locations.com
· soundtrack.net
· YouTube.com