What a great little blind buy this was for me. I had heard many great things about the movie and decided to pick it up previewed for $20 (which was better then $35 brand new)
In a way i think the movie kind of turned me into (in a way) Amelie. She does so many great things for others but wants nothing in return except their happiness. I am currently lending my copy out to management at the work place cause i think the movie is so good and expect nothing in reurn for the use of the movie. I have been told to rent them for money but i don't cause i want them to enjoy themselves with their time off.
Its a nice blend of humour and dramatic elements. I love the suicidle fish and Quebecer. Its sad in a way but also funny that these things happened for a reason. I think the fish was more likely trying to escape more then die. When she releases the fish i think in a way she becomes the fish herself. She's basically all alone trapped inside her own fish bowl after her mother is killed. Her father is the same way as he wants to venture around the world but never does.
Glass and water are key elements in the movie to go along with her fish bowl world. She wants to talk to the man she likes but never does. She's either in a telephone booth peering through the glass at the man she admires, or running up stream beside the water. In the restaurant she is seen writing the menu on the glass board as her man is on the other side, as she is too afraid to say anything to him. In a way its like the fish being feed, never getting out of the bowl but she is being feed from the outside world just by him being there trying to meet her. Plus there is also her turning into a thing of water as he leaves, i believe it happens near the end of the movie (its been awhile) But maybe it represents her being free into the big pond or the world around her. As she learns that she can be happy with soemone else.
The people of the restaurant are also another bunch of fish in a bowl. The restaurant itself is made of glass yet no one ever seems to leave it. They feed off the news in the paper, people who come in and on each other. But they seem to be ok there in a miserable kind of way as all their adventures happen inside the bowl itself. Glass is seen falling from shelves from the couple having sex in the washroom. The glasses are free from the shelf but are still left in the restaurant/bowl.
Last but not least Amelie's father is another fish who never seems to leave his home/bowl. He has great plans for adventures around the world but never does. He'd rather stay at home depressed working in his glass hut. Yet he is also feed from the outside world of his bowl, as his favourite garden gnome ventures around the world feeding postcards/pictures of his venture. The gnome does eventually return safe and sound. I think this is what makes the father leave his bowl as the world has so many things to offer and explore. There's only so much you get from a fish bowl and so much more in the wild. As all water connects to some other part of the world itself.
So overall just a great film and now have to see why this movie lost to No Man's Land for best Foreign picture
