Amélie/Headscratchers


 * Everybody gets a happy (or at least deserved) ending... except Georgette and Joseph. Their romance goes up in flames and we never get to see how it's resolved. If it's meant to show Amélie that not all her meddling is going to turn out well, how come we never see that?
 * I don't think it was supposed to teach a lesson. I think it was just that people are going to be people.
 * I got the impression they were the type of people who enjoy having a torrential relationship with a loved one they're able to kvetch about, and wouldn't really be happy otherwise.
 * It's also that French movies are generally okay with that - in American movies romance is about the destination, in French movies romance is about the journey.
 * Actually, lots of people don't get a particularly happy ending. Georgette and Joseph are back to being lonely, the writer is still unpublished, Lucien still works for a jerk, and the old artist is still trapped by his infirmity. Nothing particularly good happens to several other characters.
 * Could be that this is a case of Earn Your Happy Ending; Amélie can bring brief moments of happiness into the lives of others, but just as she needs to take charge of her own life in order to achieve lasting happiness, so too do they.
 * They made a movie that takes place in one of the most ethnically diverse sections of Paris, one dominated by black and North African immigrants, and the only non-white character is a simpleton who's constantly being mocked and used for comic relief? Oy Givalt.
 * I assume you're talking about Lucien, who was a sympathetic character despite the comic relief. I got the impression he was supposed to be Eastern European. There are black and non-white extras in the background, but it's true, there aren't any non-European main characters. As to that, I can only say it's probably based on how Jeunet thought of Montmartre during his childhood, when it would have been less ethnically diverse - which isn't an excuse, but is an explanation.
 * Well, Jamel Debbouze is Algerian or otherwise Arabic... certainly not eastern European...
 * To paraphrase the words of Roger Ebert, the movie takes place in a version of Paris that only exist in imagination or in romantic dreams. Racial diversity is the least of its deviation from reality.
 * So this delightful magic wonderland only has white people? Not a huge improvement.
 * In Amélie's delightful magic wonderland it does. Yes I realize the Pothole is slightly incorrect, as Amélie doesn't narrate, but we see her viewpoint.
 * One might be being overly sensitive to this issue. I sincerely doubt that the filmmakers were making a statement on race. Relax. It's just a movie.
 * There's a reason why we call it Unfortunate Implications.
 * Maybe we ought to start calling it Unfortunate Inference.
 * Maybe some people are less likely to see the implication because it doesn't affect them personally. Nevertheless, if they weren't *trying* to make a statement, they made one anyway by creating a Paris that doesn't reflect reality.
 * The movie has a Paris with talking photographs and desk lamps, a character watching a newsreel of her own imaginary life, sex in a public restroom so loud it literally shakes the walls of the whole cafe, and a literal roaming gnome... and it's insufficient ethnic diversity that doesn't reflect reality?
 * Montmartre is ethnically diverse now. But if you talk to actual Parisians, they will tell you this movie shows the city in a very retro way. The characters are not real people, but more like symbols of certain aspects of humanity. You could replace the whole cast with African or Asian actors and it wouldn't mean a thing, would change nothing in the story. This eastern European troper with strong Jewish ancestry has no problem relating to French cast in a movie like this.
 * Or maybe they weren't implying anything and simply didn't think about it during casting?
 * While I also wish there were more African or Asian actors, I can understand some of the reasons for what they did. It's possible that there just simply weren't enough African or Asian actors auditioning for the roles. Let's face it, would you rather have an inexperienced Asian or African actor play the part or someone with more experience? No matter how talented you are, experience carries much more weight. Especially when the actor or actress is very well known
 * The film's perceived racism (a negative racism, one based around not depicting something) is one of the reasons why it was not that well reviewed in France.