Magic Realism
Watched the 2001 film Amelie - Directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet.
Consuming the film on screen, there are many elements of hyper-realism. The film itself felt like I was watching a fairytale. The editing is very fast paced, a bit like a montage, a long clip cut together with jump cuts in place to give a sense of urgency for our dominant female protagonist. We are given hints as to what is about to unfold, it's this idea of storytelling that makes us as the viewer engaged within the film and we want to carry on watching to find out what Amelie is up to. We're always questioning whether or not that this is actually happening. The set design is visually stunning and must have taken a lot of work, I always remember the crane shot, Amelie is on the bridge at the start of the film, she appears in the bottom left of the frame as we track her heading towards the bridge, the camera then inclines and pans overhead as she frees her fish into the nearby river. Finally, I feel like the film itself, although magical, it made me feel claustrophobic as there are a wide variety of close-ups used which helps to understand how our character is feeling towards the action that is taking place, I could only describe this as her being an innocent woman but with a devious mind.
Amelie at a young age, holding the TV remote
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