Amélie

"I had two heart attacks, an abortion, did crack... while I was pregnant. Other than that, I'm fine. — to her father, who is not paying attention" - Amélie

I was watching this movie last night and I have to say that I still enjoy it as much as when I saw it for the first time. I've been watching Amélie more than once but the movie is just so unique and enjoyable that I fall in love again with the character and the story. Below is the sypnosis of the movie. For those who haven't watched it, beware! Otherwise, go on and continue reading it.

Warning: Spoilers ahead

"Amélie is the story of a girl who grows up isolated from other children. Her mother dies when she is young. Her father, a doctor, never hugs her. He only touches her for her monthly checkup, and this rare thrill causes her heart to race. As a result, her father believes she has a heart condition and keeps her away from other children while she grows up. Left to amuse herself, she develops an unusually active imagination.

Amélie grows up and becomes a waitress in a small Monmartre cafe run by a former circus performer. By age 22, life for Amélie is simple. She enjoys small pleasures like cracking crème brûlées with a teaspoon, going for walks in the Paris sunshine observing people, skipping stones across St. Martin's canal, trying to guess how many people in the world are having an orgasm at one moment ("Fifteen!", as she tells the camera), and letting her imagination roam free. One day, behind a loose bathroom tile she finds an old metal box of childhood memorabilia hidden by a boy who lived in her apartment decades past. She resolves to track down the now-grownup man who put it there and return it to him. If she finds him and it makes him glad, she will devote her life to goodness; if not, too bad.

After a bit of detective work she tracks him down and places the box in a phone booth. When he passes by, she rings the number to lure him into the booth. He opens the box and has an epiphany as long-forgotten childhood memories come flooding back. She trails him to a nearby bar and observes him but does not reveal herself. When she sees the positive effect she had on him, she resolves from that moment on to do good in the life of other people, including her father, her co-workers, the concierge of her building, and Lucien, the boy who works for the abusive owner of the neighborhood vegetable stand. But while she is looking after others, no one seems to be looking after Amélie, and internally, she recognizes that this unrequited devotion to the other people in her life is going to lead to her eventual death from despair.

She befriends a recluse painter in her building, who teaches her to do things for her own happiness as well as others'. She repairs relationships, and even starts one of her own with the mysterious man who collects the discarded photographs of strangers. She eventually gains his love by the most delightfully roundabout methods imaginable, involving something almost like a treasure hunt and a constant teasing promise to reveal her identity to him if he continues following her, and still manages to give peace of mind and happiness to her neighbors."

So, if by any chance you haven't watched it, I suggest you should go out and rent this movie...