Jean-Pierre Jeanuet On The Legacy Of ‘Amélie’: “The First Idea Was To Make Something Positive”

From its beguiling unorthodoxy in creation and completion to its current reputation as a modern classic, Amélie (also known as Le Fabuleux Destin d’Amélie Poulain) has enjoyed a legacy that few other foreign films can bolster.

Ahead of last month’s rerelease of his 2001 romantic comedy, visionary French filmmaker Jean-Pierre Jeunet sat down with us to talk about both his and the film’s origins, what its messages mean to him, and his views on the continuing resonance of a woman who acts on goodwill and asks for nothing in return.

Niko Gonzalez: Hello, my name is Niko Gonzalez.I am a features writer for Mxdwn…I am here with Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Hello, Mr. Jeaunet. It’s great to have you here and I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with us.

Just to get into it, can you talk about where you were in your career going in with Amélie? Now that it’s 20+ years, that’s pretty incredible, and I’d love to hear about where you were [in your career]  when you were going into that particular film.

Jean-Pierre Jeunet: In fact, after Delicatessen and The City of Lost Children [that] I made with Marc Caro, Hollywood called me to make Alien: Resurrection. And I couldn’t believe it, because, after Ridley Scott, David Fincher, and James Cameron, I thought, “They will fire me after two weeks”, and they didn’t! And I made an arty movie…Americans say, “It’s an arty movie”. This is a very bad word for USA. But it was a big success in France…I was a hero in France…And before Alien, I started to work on Amélie. When I came back from L.A. after twenty months, I came back in Paris and this time it was Winter: It was very cold, the sidewalk at this time were full of dog shit on the street and everybody smoked at the restaurant. It was just a nightmare. But, I saw my beautiful Paris, and I thought, “This is a beautiful city. I have to show it to Parisian people and to the French people and to the rest of the world how this city can be nice.” So I started to getting to work, and one morning in the middle of my notes, I read, “A girl: She helps other people and she doesn’t want anything in return.” And I understood [that] this is the main story. Voilà!

NG: Yeah, there it is. Well you were talking about Paris, and watching the movie, it feels like such a love letter to that city. I wanted to know what elements you wanted to capture because it feels like every facet of that city is fully represented within Amélie.

JPJ: Yeah. Well, Paris is a beautiful mix between modernity and old stuff. I love that. I share that passion with a comic designer, Jacques Tati. I wanted to copy a little bit of picture from the ‘50s, and this time, NO parked cars on the street. The streets were empty and we tried to get that. We modified the posters on the walls and we hired a designer for that, a very colorful designer. And we of course got rid of the dog shit. So it was a fake Paris…And no traffic jam! So it was a total lie, it was a total fake Paris. And I have to say now, if I would make the film today, it would be impossible. Because with the new mayor, the streets are full of construction sites everywhere. Some block of concrete in the middle of the road and it’s a total disaster, Paris. Don’t come to Paris, please! You will be disappointed.

NG: Oh! I’ve been there once before, but it was many, many years ago.

JPJ: Yeah, it was nice, but it’s not nice anymore. When you walk, you have the bikes on the wrong way. It’s okay now for them, but they want to kill you (laughs). And also the scooter, that deliver for food, you know what I mean? The scooter for food? They drive very quickly, so it’s so dangerous.

NG: Well, I mean, kind of spring-boarding off that in a way…This movie and Delicatessen, there’s a sense of romance, but an off-kilter romance. Both in the sense of the actors within it, but then, of course, the way you photograph things. So when you’re going into those kinds of modes, what do you take while directing that produces those kinds of results, when you’re choosing camera, editing, casting? How do you produce this sort of romantic feel out of these almost off-kilter premises?

JPJ: I don’t know if it…The first idea was to make something positive. It was my very first thought. At this time, the word ‘feel-good movie’ didn’t exist, I think. But I wanted to make something positive, probably because after Alien: Resurrection, [which is] very dark, very bloody, I wanted to make something nice, you know? And romantic because Amélie doesn’t ask for anything in return, but of course, we needed to give her something, and it was love, of course. Because she had a monster to fight and the monster was introversion. She was very introverted, you know? And it’s a film of all my films: A young guy or kid fighting against a monster and using their imagination. Probably, this is a story of my life…I won’t tell you what was my monster, because it’s very personal. But I escaped from my battered life…Because I was a worker. When I was 17 or 18, I was a worker and I escaped because [of] my imagination. So it was an opportunity to bring everything I wanted to make in a feature. Original things: You see the heart beating like in a cartoon. You see some words are shaking on the side, on the edge, of the frame. You know, everything I wanted to put, it’s in Amélie.

NG: Do you think it’s that sort of ‘feel-good’ quality that made it such a success overseas? Because it is the most…I think still the most successful French film worldwide.

JPJ: Yes, probably. But not only that, because you have also the positive theme and also because you have some detail. For example, when she puts her hand on the grain…Some small details of the life. I love that, I have plenty of nods like this…And I made a short film a long time ago: Things I Love, Things I Hate. It’s on YouTube, you can see that. Also because of beautiful, fey Paris and the beautiful music, and we made it with a great actress. She was new, she was unknown at this time. So, you know, sometimes the stars are in line in the sky. It’s a kind of miracle and it happens once…It’s once in a lifetime, unfortunately.

NG: Exactly. Well, Audrey Tautou…She’s become, in my opinion, the face of French cinema of this century. Can you tell…kind of off the bat that that would happen, when you found her? Because I understand the casting for her was, sort of, you saw her and that was it.

JPJ: Yes, because I was thinking about Emily Watson…I saw her on Breaking the Waves. And she would have been a nice Amélie, [but] she left a few weeks before the shooting for personal reasons…I didn’t know why. And so, I was totally depressed. I saw only two actresses and the second one was Audrey. You can see the casting on the bonus of the DVD, and I remember, I said, “Where do you come from?” After ten seconds, I knew I had my Amélie. And she brought something fresher on the film, because she was younger.

NG: She does bring just this sense of warmth to this movie, in helping everyone.

JPJ: She’s very emotional when she says, “I am the small animal of nobody.” Something like this (laughs).

NG: She’s capable of so much and it’s incredible to watch.

JPJ: Yeah, yeah.

NG: So, I want to go back a bit and talk about those influences of yours you were talking about: Like in cartoons, seeing the heartbeat. I wanted to talk about where those notions come from in your early life watching movies. What were the big influences that made you decide?

JPJ: My main influence was a film I saw, I was seventeen, it was Once Upon a Time in the West from Sergio Leone, and I couldn’t speak during three days. My parents said, “Oh, you’re sick!” and I said, “No, you cannot understand!” You know? (laughs). Because of close-up, because of music, because of sound design, especially at the beginning of the film (imitates squeak of the windmill), you know what I mean? So I was totally amazed, and it was a big influence. Since I saw this film, I was thinking only about short lens, like Sergio Leone or Terry Gilliam or Orson Welles. I was use only 18 and 21 [mm]. Only that, you know?

NG: Yeah.

JPJ: And also after that, I saw a film I saw fourteen times in theaters, because at this time, movies here are nothing…It was A Clockwork Orange. Not so much for the violence, of course, but for the style, the form. It was amazing, as well! Same thing [for] music, same thing for short lens…So those are [the] two most important films for me. And after that, I learned to appreciate more difficult films, like Citizen Kane or La dolce vita from Fellini, you know? And recently, I discover[ed] a masterpiece! A great movie! Probably one of the best of the best. And I discover[ed] this film last year, and I am 70! Can you believe it?! And the title is…The Crane are Flying…something like this.

NG: Yes, The Cranes are Flying!

JPJ: ’58, Golden Palm in Cannes Film Festival in ’58. Wow! This film’s so fucking great! The frames, it’s emotional and the form is absolutely amazing. Masterpiece.

NG: Yes, I got to see his I Am Cuba in theaters.

JPJ: Also, yeah. But I prefer the other one.

NG: I mean, those kind of camera moves are very complex, and watching Amélie…those kind of camera movements are sort of present in the way that it just kind of…it moves! The camera’s very mobile and I wanted to know where that idea came from. Because it’s very kinetic! Extremely kinetic! Has that always been an interest of yours as well?

JPJ: I don’t know. One day, I met John Woo in Hollywood when I was making Alien: Resurrection, and he told me, “You and me, we are the same. We paint with the camera.” I don’t know if we do it! But, you know, I don’t like Réalisme, realistic stories. Now as a spectator, I can appreciate, but as a director, I need to work and to play with everything in the box! The costume design, the production design, the music, the editing, the acting, the camera movement, everything! We have so many toys now. I am also a big fan about the film from the ‘40s in France, Marcel Carné’s Children of Paradise. This kind of stuff in black & white, you know? But I complain for them, because at this time, they had so big cameras and no TechnoCrane, nothing. And each time I work with this toy, I think about him and I said, “Oh, he would have been so happy to have this material!” So it’s good to play with, even for the credits! I try to imagine something original for our credits.

NG: Well speaking of playfulness: When you were making this, CGI was kind of just in its infancy, in a way. Obviously, PIXAR had come out and Titanic had come out, but the use of CGI on this kind of scale, where it wasn’t backed by anything major and it was just [used] in this very intimate space…what was that like?

JPJ: Well, technically it wasn’t new, because with Marc Caro…from the beginning, we loved to play with technical stuff. Some people say I have a vintage look, yes, but to reproduce the vintage look, we always used some high technology. We were the first to mix in digital for The City of Lost Children; We used video VFX for Delicatessen…video, not digital [because] it was too early; For [The Young and Prodigious] T.S. Spivet, I shot in RealD 3D, etc. etc. So for Amélie, of course it was a visual effect, but I use it for poetry, not for monster, spaceship, you know? It was much more for poetry, like the example of the heart or when she falls in a puddle of water….this kind of stuff. And it was pretty new! And I remember Daniel Toscan du Plantier, a French producer, he saw that and he told me, “This is a Marcel Carné, Jacques Prévert films, but with the new technology of today!” It was [a] big compliment.

NG: Yeah, it’s very incredible to watch. And so now moving forward-

JPJ: Sorry, I interrupted you. When I saw the film with Jacques Chirac, the French president, he was beside me [and said], “Oh, it’s full of visual effects, your film! We don’t see them!” (laughs)

NG: Right! Right, you don’t typically associate.

JPJ: Yeah. ”It’s full of visual effects! We don’t see them!” (laughs)

NG: It blends in incredibly well. I love, again, that playfulness and eschewing realism, but the emotions are real. Those first ten minutes of that movie, of the narration, when I first saw that, had me in stitches. It was just so irreverent, but still true to life, understanding where this person comes from, so by the end, it’s so cathartic.

JPJ: You know, it was pretty risky, because during the first fifteen or twenty minutes, the story doesn’t start. And never do that…never do that. I was really concerned. During a screening, I was in a theater watching Crouching Tiger…or something like this…I was preoccupied and so then I had an idea to put in the middle of the presentation a small part saying, “Be patient! The story will start very quickly!”

NG: Yes!

JPJ: With just some small pieces of the future, and it was a good trick, I think. It was a good idea.

NG: It was a good call. Obviously, it resulted in an Oscar nomination for screenplay, so…

JPJ: Nomination, but not the Oscar, but you know what? You know why? You know the story? That year, Miramax…Mr. Harvey Weinstein…was boycotted by the Oscar Academy. In Hollywood Reporter, I remember [a] title, we won [the] vote for Amélie: It was just to punish Harvey Weinstein. It’s funny, because every year now, the Oscar academy (not every year, but often), they ask me to put a small part of Amélie in the “Best Of” of the history of the Oscar. Can you believe it?! And we didn’t win! And who remember[s]…No Man’s Land? No Man’s Land, yeah…yeah. So, bad luck, because it’s a beautiful statue. I would have want to have this beautiful statue on my shelf. I miss it. The next time in Hollywood Boulevard, I will pay a fake one in plastic.

NG: (laughs) I’ll be sure to pick one up for you, how about that? So, now moving on to the present: Speaking of the legacy, the movie’s getting rereleased. It just got a new restoration and, very fittingly, it’s being released on Valentine’s Day. What was it like revisiting the film all these years later?

JPJ: It’s the same thing, because it never stops. You know, two or three years ago, it was a screening in [the] Cannes Film Festival on the beach for free, and they expected fifty people because it was a rainy day. No, it was packed! 800 people and they refused 200 other peoples. So, it never stops. Every day at my office, some people knock on the door because they see the poster. Just the other day it was a little girl, five years old, and the parents told me, “She watch[es] Amélie every day!” Can you believe it?! And the café of Amélie…I am in the neighborhood, very close to café of Amélie…every four minutes, you have some picture [taken] of the café in some group. It’s funny, because when I shop, I walk all along the group and they don’t recognize me. It’s pretty funny. It’s a beautiful story.

NG: It’s great, yeah, that the movie’s still being appreciated all these years later. I believe that’s all the time we have, but thank you so much! This was incredible.

JPJ: Thank you. Thank you to you. Ah! By the way, by the way: Do you know The True Story of Amélie Poulain?

NG: No!

JPJ: Oh! Watch it on YouTube! La véritable histoire d’Amélie Poulain. For the fun, I re-edit Amélie in six minutes and it’s a complete history. I tell the story, the true [story]; Amélie was a spy for the KGB, in fact. It’s totally stupid, totally silly and it’s very funny, I think. It was cheap: Just re-editing, some stock footage, new music and the voice-over with the same actor, André Dussollier. Look at that, it’s very funny, and speaking about that! Because I am very bad about social networks, so we have just under 400,000 views. This is peanuts! Speak about that!

NG: I’ll share it, that sounds fantastic.

JPJ: Okay! Thank you!

NG: Thank you so much.

JPJ: Have a nice day in Los Angeles.