Amelie

Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain
2001 - Dir: Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Shown at FeckenOdeon 2 on 16th April, 2010
This utterly beguiling fable from one half of the team behind "Delicatessen" and "The City of Lost Children" whipped up a storm of controversy across the Channel, with some commentators arguing that its nostalgic whimsy brushed the realities of modern multicultural Paris under the carpet. Audiences didn't seem to mind though, over seven million French people saw it in the first weeks of its release, and the film earned accolades from both Prime Minister Lionel Jospin and President Jacques Chirac. Since the historic setting of Amélie is at the time of Lady Di's tragic car accident, one can safely assume that the film was a while in the making. Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet admits that he got called on to make “Alien Resurrection” in between and had to let it go for a while. Jeunet loves cartoons and did art work for sophisticated French comics called 'Fluide Glaciale', 'Charlie Mensuel', and 'Fantasmagorie'. Bringing cartoons to life is what Jeunet seems to do best. You can imagine him sitting on this film many years, refining it, polishing it and hand crafting it.
Fun and charm aside, this film is a triumph of technical wizardry. The camera work shows a Paris that is vivid and full of extraordinary colours, almost a fairyland where Amélie is the lonely princess without love. M.Jeunet talked about the film with Monty Python animator Terry Gilliam and the style owes something to the latter’s facility for creating a world within a world. Barely a frame is un-retouched or digitally un-adjusted and the result is a fantasy Paris that we fervently wish was real. It could be the Paris of 50 years ago: no McDonald's, no Pompidou Centre, certainly no glass Bibliothèque Nationale towers or Grande Arche de la Défense. It is a sumptuous confection of a city, a virtual-reality CGI-Paris.
It's a rare pleasure to see a film where the parts gel so well that the finished result is so perfect. The comedy is subversive enough to satisfy the most cynical of tastes and performances all round are first rate. The film is not only a mix of genres - romance, comedy, drama - but is also a mix of the sweet gooeyness of marzipan, rich strawberry cream cake, pure sugar... Energised with its own sugar-rush quality, the film's pace is athletic. Overall, “Amelie” is a tribute to randomness and imagination and you can dig your sweet tooth into it, without fretting about the calories. Bon Appétit!

Hobson's Choice

1953 - Dir: David Lean (1hr 40mins)
Shown at The FeckenOdeon on April 24th, 2010
It was Alexander Korda who suggested Harold Brighouse's 1915 stage comedy "Hobson's Choice" to David Lean as a possible film project. Korda had been approached by the screenwriting team, Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat, who were developing a screen adaptation. Korda bought the screen rights from under them and offered the project to David Lean.
Charles Laughton had already made several successful films for Korda before he was offered Hobson, a role he had actually played on stage as a teenager in his native Scarborough. He was the first real international star that David Lean had worked with up to that time. Korda knew that Laughton could be difficult and obsessive, but realised he would be perfect for the outsized character and told the actor that the part had been written for him. Laughton got on famously with Lean, often socialising with the director after hours, and he spoke of the role of Hobson as one of his favourite screen performances.... but the filming was far from untroubled. Robert Donat was originally cast in the role of boot-maker Willie Mossop but was in ill health and was forced to drop out (replaced by John Mills). Laughton threw a fit, claiming he had only agreed to the film to work with his old friend and that the production was thus in breach of contract. Korda countered by threatening Laughton with a scandal, which would reveal the actor's well-concealed private life (he was homosexual, which was then illegal). Laughton returned to work but remained furious. He didn’t like his accommodation, was unhappy with playing so many drunk scenes and he loathed his co-star, Brenda De Banzie, a stage actress with only a few films to her credit - the feeling was mutual! The off screen fireworks never detract from this most professional of productions. There’s fine playing from a distinguished cast (including a few faces more familiar from the small screen), a brilliant score by William Walton and meticulous craftsmanship throughout.

• This is David Lean’s last film shot in black and white. Jack Hilyard’s rich monochrome photography is often regarded as the very best ever achieved.
• The exterior scenes were shot in Salford. The Corporation had cleaned up the canalside location when they heard that filming was to take place. The crew took great delight in dirtying it all down again with copious quantities of rubbish and detergent powder.