There are three movies I've seen twice, in the theater, during the same weekend:
1. "Truly, Madly, Deeply"
2. "Amadeus"
3. "Amélie"
To be fair, I saw "Amadeus" twice on the same day. I begged my mom to drive me back to the theater for the very next showing, which she did, because my mom is awesome.
And I KNOW. I wasn't nearly old enough to drive yet and yet I wanted to spend an entire afternoon with an 18th-century composer and his plotting professional rival. If you're new here and you're like, "huh, I wonder what the writer of the Wilfair series is like, behind her blog" this is pretty much all you need to know in a nutshell: Very young teen, ornate costumes, classical music, "pleeeease, Mom, I need to see it AGAIN."
(Really, I wasn't spoiled and rarely asked for much. But when I did it was usually of the "I want to live in the 18th century and carry a hand fan and wear hoop skirts" ilk. Oh, my patient, patient parents.)
Going to the second showing of "Amadeus," by the way, made me late for a babysitting gig that night. The only time I was every late to a babysitting job. Ever. (Sorry, Mrs. Tharp, if you happen to find me here. Still feel guilty. But, Mozart! Dreeeeeeamy!)
Ahem.
So, onto "Amélie," a movie I love so much I'm delaying even starting a conversation about it because I can't even begin. I can't. Where does one start? The marvelous cinematography? The colors? The characters? Audrey Tautou? Mathieu Kassovitz? The film's unapologetic joie de vivre and its impish spirit and its profound madcappery and all of the wonderfully outlandish situations?
I love it all. I love the garden gnome, the editing, the costumes, the photo booth -- the photo booth! -- her neighbor, her apartment, and the gentle magical realism resting upon everything, like some diaphanous scarf draped across a piano top.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand the emotion-filled soundtrack. Gold stars for you, Yann Tiersen.
Basically this film, like all three films listed at top, were and are life-changing works for me. "A Room with a View" is also a life-changing movie, but I loved the book first, so that is a different post.
What's your favorite "Amélie" bit? Or, if this movie doesn't do it for you, what film have you seen twice in a weekend (or even a day) in the theater?
