Joyous Jeunet

>> French hit Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain is whimsical, charming

by JOANNE LATIMER

Magnolia has found its French cousin. Jean-Pierre Jeunet, the Gallic genius who brought us Delicatessen and City of Lost Souls, now offers up his whimsical treatise on unrelated anomalies. Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain takes a page from Magnolia, that pastiche of loneliness and happenstance that divided both critics and audiences, then injects enough magic to turn it into a fairy tale. It's charming and it'll confirm your belief in the rejuvenating effects of cinema.

Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain was shunned by the selection committee for Cannes this year, but then extracted revenge by stealing the box office in France. Under its original title, Amélie de Monmartre, it earned $37-million (U.S.) out of the gate before foreign distribution and video. It re-established Jeunet as a madman auteur after his dalliance with Hollywood-backed sequels, Alien Resurrection.

Jeunet's opening sequence sets the tone: chaotic little vignettes, maybe one minute each, illustrate the back-history of how, exactly, Amélie Poulain came to be born. A commanding voice-over anchors the onslaught of circumstances, lending some authority to Jeunet's madcap montage. It's exhausting, albeit fun, and a perfect introduction to the film's signature style.

At the centre of Jeunet's story is a lonely young woman, Amélie (Audrey Tauton), who can't find someone to share her life. Her bubbly good will rises to the surface, however, and she's anything but an introverted loner. She's surrounded by crazy eccentrics, equally lonely, and in need of some help. Amélie has her own tics--following people, defending mentally handicapped shop clerks, part-time B&E, spying, liberating lawn gnomes, and some harmless stalking. One day she finds a scrap book of photos that turns her crank. The photos are cast-offs from photo booths around Paris. The scrap book's owner (Mathieu Kassovitz) obviously has his own little obsessive hobby and Amélie hunts him down.

Amélie may sound deranged, but she's thoroughly charming on screen. Audrey Tauton conveys the perfect mix of innocence and sexuality. She's got that Juliette Binoche bob and a disarming smile. She may be taunting Kassovitz with clues as to the whereabouts of his scrap book, but she's also playing matchmaker at her job at the local café and keeping her undeserving father company on the weekends. Jeunet wants us to know it's safe to cheer for Amélie and cheer you will.

Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain opens Friday, Sept. 7 at Ex-Centris