AMELIE (2002)
Label: SPHE
Region Code: A
Rating: R
Duration: 121 Minutes 45 Seconds
Audio: French DTS-HD MA 5.1 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1)
Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Cast: Audrey Tautou, Mathieu Kassovitz, Rufus, Lorella Cravotta, Serge Merlin, Jamel Debbouze, Claire Maurier, Clotilde Mollet, Isabelle Nanty, Dominique Pinon, Artus de Penguern, Yolande Moreau, Urbain Cancelier, Maurice Benichou
Jean-Pierre Jeunet's fantastical tale of an imaginative but lonely young woman named Amélie (Audrey Tautou, A Very Long Engagement) who lives in the fantastical Montmartre district of Paris is a pastiche of cinematic perfection, who on the day of Diana, Princess of Wales tragic death discovers a small tin full of childhood memories hidden away inside the wall of her apartment, it having been left there decades ago by a small boy who lived there once. She gets the idea to track down the boy, now a grumpy adult who has forgotten the magic of childhood, to anonymously return his youthful memorabilia. She is so satisfied by the amount of joy that her act of anonymous kindness brings to him that she sets about to anonymously influence the lives of those around her, and in the process finds her own happiness in kindred spirit Nino (Matthieu Kassovitz, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets), a lonely young man who works at a sex shop and keeps a scrapbook of torn photos he collects from the trash bins near and around the automated photo booths of Montmartre.
Full of fantastic, whimsical imagery and inventive lensing by cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel (Across the Universe) that creates an eccentric bubble world on cobblestoned streets of the Montmartre district of Paris, as seen through the eyes of shy-girl Amélie, populated by interesting characters that include reclusive artists Raymond Dufayel (Serge Merlin, The City of Lost Children) with brittle bone disease that is obsessed with recreating a Renoir painting, her widowed father who becomes a bit of a recluse himself after the death of his wife, and budding an unlikely romance between her her hypochondriac co-worker Georgette (Isabelle Nanty) and with the stalker-ish love-spurned Joseph (Dominique Pinon, The City of Lost Children), and takes the bitter edge away from her widowed concierge Madeleine Wallace (Yolande Moreau, Micmacs) whose late-husband left her for another woman years earlier. Not all of her adventures are altruist or well-intentioned, as she execute a series of pranks on mean-spirited produce-salesman Collignon (Urbain Cancelier, A Very Long Engagement) who verbally regularly abuses good-natured assistant Lucien (Jamel Debbouze).
It's a beautiful, kind and warm-hearted tale of love and fantasy anchored by the breakout performance from its star Audrey Tautou, and the imaginative visuals of director Jean-Pierre Jeunet and cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel. It's just a film that brings a smile to my face every time I watch, and with no 4K UHD in sight this new Blu-ray will do nicely with a strong A/V presentation and a host of extras, including a new 5-min interview with Jeunet and a wealth of archival extras, plus attractive Steelbook packaging.
Audio/Video: Amélie (2002) arrives on Blu-ray from SPHE in 1080p HD widescreen (2.35:1), there's no new information supplied with this release to indicate a new restoration, but there's at least one recent interview with director Jean-Pierre Jeunet saying that it was restored by Sony, so it;s ambiguous. Not having my 2011 Lionsgate Blu-ray available for comparison, a casualty of the "who the fuck did I loanthat to?" it's hard to say for certain how much of an improvement this might be, but just taken on it's own merits this Sony Blu-ray looks terrific. Grain is well managed and nicely resolved, the source looks terrific with just a few minor specks here and again. Colors look marvelous, the film is bathed in gorgeous greens, red and amber swatches, nicely infused, black levels are rock solid, and depth and clarity please. Fine detail and textures in close-ups also are very pleasing, and the disc is well-authored without any noticeable compression issues to draw the eye away from the excellent HD presentation.
Audio comes by way of French DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround with optional English subtitles, it;s a nicely immersive track that pulls you right into the fantastical world of Amelie's Montmartre world. The French language audio is clean and well-balanced, while the wonderful score from Yann Tiersen (Good Bye Lenin!) which adds another layer of the fantastic to the visuals also sounds great in the mix.
Extras include over 90-minutes of archival extras from past releases that explore the making of the film, plus a brand new interview with the director by way of the 5-min Jean-Pierre Jeunet Looks Back, wherein the director recalls some fun anecdotes about the making of the film, it's brief but he packs in a lot of fun memories about it, with some memorable props from the film in the background
The single-disc Blu-ray release arrives in a Limited Edition Steelbook featuring the original movie poster artwork on the front, it's has an attractive metallic finish to it, on the backside is an image of Audrey Tautou as Amélie whimsically reading Nino's scrapbook in bed, while the inner artwork features an exterior shot of the Café des 2 Moulins in Montmartre.
Special Features:
- NEW! Jean-Pierre Jeunet Looks Back (Blu-ray Exclusive) (5:00)
- Audio Commentary with Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet
- The Look of Amélie (12:47)
- Q&A With the Director (24:36)
- Q&A With the Director and the Cast (5:55)
- An Intimate Chat With Jean-Pierre Jeunet (20:48).
- Fantasies of Audrey Tautou (2:07)
- Cast Auditions (6:28)
- Home Movie: Inside the Making of Amélie 12:45)
- Storyboard Comparisons (0:57)
- The Amélie Scrapbook
- Trailer (1:11)
Screenshots from the SPHE Blu-ray:
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