-On September 3, 1973 at 6.28pm and 32 sec.
..a blue fly of the Calliphorides species,..
..whose wings can flutter 14 670 times per minute..
..landed in Saint-Vincent Street, Montmartre.
At the exact same second, outside a restaurant,..
..the wind was sweeping in under a tablecloth,..
..causing the glasses to dance without anybody noticing it.
At the same time, on the fifth floor of 28, avenue Trudaine,..
..Eugène Koler, erased the name of his best friend, Émile Maginot,..
..in his adress-book after coming home from his funeral.
Still at the same second, a spermatozoon..
..containing an X-chromosome and belonging to M. Raphaël Poulain..
..was reaching the ovum of Mrs Poulain,..
..born Amandine Fouet.
9 months later a girl was born:..
..Amélie Poulain.
-Amélie's father was a former army doctor,..
..and was working at the hydropathic establishment of Enghien-les-Bains.
Raphaël Poulain doesn't like..
..peeing next to somebody else.
He doesn't like..
..noticing people laughing at his sandals...
...coming out of the water with his swimming suit sticking to his body
Raphaël Poulain likes..
..to tear big pieces of wallpaper off the walls..
..to line up his shoes and polish them with great care..
..to empty his toolbox,..
..clean it thoroughly,..
..and, finally, put everything away carefully.
Amélie's mother, Amandine Fouet,..
..was a Primary School teacher from Gueugnon,..
..she had always been unstable and nervy.
She doesn't like to have her fingers all wrinkled by hot water.
She doesn't like it when somebody she doesn't like..
..touches her,..
..to have the marks of the sheets on her cheek in the morning.
She likes the outfits of the ice-skaters on TV.
..to shine the flooring.
to empty her handbag..
..clean it thoroughly,..
..and, finally, putting everything away carefully.
Amélie is 6 years old.
She would like her father to hold her in his arms from time to time.
But the only contact they have is during the monthly medical check-up.
Moved by this intimacy, the little girl..
..can't stop her heart from beating wildly.
As a result,..
..her father believes she suffers from a heart disease.
Because of this fictitious illness, she doesn't go to school.
Her mother acts as her private tutor.
-"The... chicken... often...
..hatch... in... the... convent."
-"The chicken..."
-Very good.
-hatch often. -No !
-With no contact with other children,..
..and mollycoddled by her parents,..
..Amélie's only refuge is the world she makes up.
In that world, vinyls are made the same way as pancakes,..
..and the neighbour's wife, who has been in a coma for months,..
..just decided to do all her sleeping at once.
-This way, I'll stay awake night and day for the rest of my life.
-Amélie's only friend is called "the Cachalot".
But the atmosphere at home turned it into a neurasthenic and suicidal fish.
-Since these suicide-attempts only increased her mother's stress,..
..a decision is taken...
-ENOUGH !!!
-In order to comfort Amélie,..
..her mother gives her a second-hand Kodak.
-What have you done?
-A neighbour makes her believe that her camera causes accidents to happen.
Since she's been taking pictures all afternoon,..
..Amélie finds herself in deep worry in the evening.
She collapses in front of the televison, feeling guilty ..
..for a fire,..
..2 derailments and the crash of a Boeing 747.
Later on, Amélie realizes that the neighbour had made fun of her,..
..and decides to take her revenge.
-But, what the...
You be careful!
-and then, one day, tragedy struck her.
Like every year, her mother had taken her to church to lit a candle..
..so that Heaven would send her a little brother.
The divine answer came 3 minutes later
Alas, it wasn't a newborn that fell out of the sky..
..but a tourist from Quebec, determined to end her life.
Amandine Poulain, born Fouet, is killed outright.
After her mother's death,..
..Amélie finds herself alone with her father.
The latter withdraws into himself even more.
He starts to build a miniature mausoleum,..
..for the ashes of his beloved wife.
Days, months, then years go by...
The outside world seems so dull..
..That Amélie prefers to dream her life until she's old enough to leave.
5 years later, Amélie is a waitress in a bar in Montmartre,..
.."les Deux Moulins".
Today's 29 August,..
..in 48 hours, the destiny of Amélie Poulain will take a different turn.
but right now, she has no idea of what's going to happen.
For her, life goes on with her collegues and the regulars.
This is Suzanne, the landlady.
She limps a little, but has never spilled the slightest drop.
When she was young, she used to be a horse-dancer. She likes..
..sportsmen who cry from disappointment.
She doesn't like it when a man is humiliated in front of his kid.
The tobacconist is Georgette, the hypochondriac.
When it's not a migraine, it's the sciatic nerve that's trapped.
She doesn't like to hear..
.."le fruit de vos entrailles est béni."
This is Gina, Amélie's colleague, granddaughter of a healer.
She likes to crack her fingers.
Here you can see her bringing a Kir to Hipolito, the not-successful writer.
What he likes is to see a bullfighter getting gored.
This is Joseph. Gina's jealous ex-lover.
He spies on her to see if she's replaced him.
The only thing he likes..
..is to pop the bubbles of plastic wrappings.
And finally, there's Philomène, the air hostess.
Amélie looks after her cat when she's away. She likes..
..the sound of the bowl with water on the floor. As for the cat,..
..he likes to listen to children's stories.
-No thanks, ma'am, I never work on Sundays.
-Amélie often goes to see her father, during the WE, by train.
-Why don't you enjoy your retirement, and... -Do what?
-Travel, you never left Enghien.
-When we were young, your mother and me,..
..we'd have liked to travel, but we never could.
Because of your heart. -Yes, I know.
-And now,... Now...
-Sometimes, Amélie goes to the movies.
-I like to turn around in the dark to see the faces of the people around.
And I also like to spot the little detail nobody will ever see.
But I don't like it when the driver doesn't watch the road.
-Amélie doesn't have a boyfriend.
She tried, but it didn't live up to her expectations.
On the other hand, she enjoys all sorts of little pleasures,..
..putting her hand in a bag of seeds,..
..piercing the crust of crème brûlée..
..with the tip of a spoon.
And play at ducks and drakes on the Saint-Martin-canal.
-This is the cristal-man.
Because of an illness, his bones break like cristal.
All his furniture is fleece-lined.
A hand shake is enough to break his finger-bones,..
..so he never goes out.
Time hasn't changed anything. Amélie still shelters in solitude..
..and asks herself silly questions about the world or about this town.
For example, how many couples are having an orgasm right now?
-Fifteen...
-And finally, the night of 30 August 1997.
This is what will change the life of Amélie Poulain totally.
*-Good evening.
The Princess of Wales, Lady Di died this afternoon in a car crash.
She was with her friend...
Only the first man to enter the grave of Toutankhamon..
..may understand how Amélie felt..
..when she discovered the treasure that had been hid by a little boy.
On the 31st of August, at 4 in the morning..
..Amélie suddenly has a luminous idea.
She is going to find the owner of this box..
..and return his treasure to him.
If he's moved, that's it, she'll start to mingle with other people's lives.
If not, well, too bad.
-Oh, the young missie of the 5th floor. We don't often see you.
-Excuse me. Did a little boy use to live in my flat in the 50ies ?
-Come in and have a drink.
-No, thanks. -Yes, come in. Close the door.
Oh, kids... I've known so many!
At first, they're cute, and then they start throwing snowballs..
I know. -How long have you been here?
-Since 64.
People must have told you.
-No.
Sit down.
My husband used to work at Coccinelle Insurance.
People liked to say he slept with his secretary.
They certainly did stop at all the hotels in Batignolles...
And not the little ones.
'cause the bitch would certainly spread her legs,..
..but only in satin cheets!
My husband started to steal from his firm.
First only a little, then 50 million at once.
And there they went! Flew away, both of 'em.
Drink !
So, on January 20 1970,..
..the doorbell rings. Well...
"Ma'am, your husband died in a car crash in South America."
My life just stopped.
Black Lion died of sorrow.
Poor thing!
See how he still looks at his master..
..with love in his eyes.
I'll read his letters to you.
Don't move.
You can spare me 5 min, can't you? There, he was in the army.
"Mado my love..." My name is Madeleine.
"I can't sleep. I can't eat.
"I left my only reason to live in Paris.
"I will see her again on friday 15,..
"..when I'll see my beloved weasel at the station,..
"..in her blue dress with straps.
"(the one you find too transparent.)
"Love." There you are.
Have you ever received letters like these?
-No. I'm nobody's little weasel.
-My name is Madeleine Walace.
There's this saying: "Pleurer comme une madeleine", isn't it?
-Yes. -And Walace...
The Walace Fountains...
You see, tears were my destiny!
For that business of yours...
Go and ask the grocer.
Collignon has always lived in this building.
-Ah, good morning, Amélie-mélo !
A fig and 3 nuts, as usual?
-The people who lived in my flat, in the 50ies...
Do you remember them? -Tough question!
I was 2 in the 50ies. Just like this moron today.
-The moron is Lucien. He's not a genius,..
..but Amélie likes him.
He holds the endives as if they were precious,..
..'cause he likes a job well done.
-Come on, look at him!
It's as if he's picking up a bird that's fallen from the nest!
You're lucky you don't want grapes,..
..you'd have gotten it on Monday!
Come on, move, you retard!
The lady has other things to do!
Right.
Go and see my mother.
She's got a memory like an elephant.
Mum-ephant!
-Thanks.
-Bredoteau.
-Excuse me ?
-That's the name you're looking for. But it doesn't count if I say it,..
..I am senile.
-Don't listen to him, he's senile.
Look at my oleanders! -Why, what?
-Before the grocery, he used to be a ticket puncher.
-What's wrong with that?!
-At night, he gets up..
..and punches my oleanders!
-I'd have preferred lilacs. But that's life!
Everyone his way to calm down!
-With me, it's ducks and drakes!
- Ducks and drakes! - There you are !
I write down everything.
-You write down what?
-Your son's almost 50.
And I still do his accounting!
-When he was 15, you still got his toothbrush ready! That's the result!
-So, Camus, 2nd on the right...
-No, that's not it!
-No, staircase B, that was Brossard...
That's it, I've got it!
Bredoteau, 5th on the right.
They were from the Pas-de-Calais. -Bredoteau...
That's all I have to say!
-This young man who rummages about under the photo machine..
..is called Nino Quincampoix.
Amélie was denied the company of other children,..
..but little Nino, would rather have done without.
Often, at the same moment, 9 km away from each other,..
..one was dreaming about a sister and the other about a brother,..
..with whom they'd play all the time.
-Hello, dad.
Made yourself a new friend?
-No, I've had it for ages.
But since your mother hated it,..
..I had put it away in the shed. Let's reconcile them with each other.
There! Not bad, eh?
-Say, dad.
If you found something from your childhood, a treasure for you,..
..would it make you happy, sad, nostalgic? How would you feel?
-I didn't have the dwarf when I was a kid.
It was a present when I retired.
-No, the things you keep a secret as if it was of great value.
-I should varnish it before the fall.
-I'm gonna make tea. Do you want some?
-Don't move.
-You're OK? Better?
-Hey, close the door !
-It's not like Siberia.
-You're not allergic to carbon monoxyde!
I coughed so much last night that my pleural membrane almost broke!
-Yes, of course! -What's the menu today?
-Endive "au gratin"
-They'll bring you to your knees.
-So they're good? -Depends on where you fall...
True, if it's in the toilet.. -They're no good!
-12.15am, burst of laughter reminiscent of an orgasm..
..to please the dominating male.
-I can't take it anymore. -Yes, true.
Why does he insists?
There's other bars!
-Goodbye. Mrs Suzanne !
-Yes ?
-Is there béchamel sauce, in your endives?
-Of course, why?
-Béchamel sauce doesn't agree with me.
Just like horse-meat for you.
-That's got nothing to do with digestion, but with memories.
I'd rather eat human flesh.
-Come on!
-Mrs Suzanne ?
Can I leave earlier today?
-What's his name?
-Dominique Bredoteau.
-Hello !
-Dominique Bredoteau ?
-Yes...
Can I help you? -Well... It's for the petition.
-The petition ?
-Yes... The pétition... for...
For the canonization of Lady Di.
-O, yes. Er, no, thanks!
-Hello! *-Yes?
Dominique Bredoteau ? It's for the census of the European Union.
*-Come up. 3rd floor.
Hello, kitten.
Earl Grey ? Bergamot ? Jasmine ?
Can I offer you something to drink?
-No. I have work to do.
-Yes, yes! Coming!
-Good afternoon, madam. I'm looking for Dominique Bredoteau.
-Oh, my poor girl! You've just missed him.
See, he's coming down.
-Bretodeau.
Not Bredoteau.
You look like you can use some hot wine with cinnamon. Come in!
-I've lived here for five years now, it's the 1st time bump into you.
-I never come out.
I don't want to meet just anybody.
And there's only rascals out there!
But come in. There. Come in...
You know, They call me the cristal man.
But my name is Raymond Dufayel.
Amélie Poulain.. I'm a waitress...
-At the "Deux Moulins", I know. And you're coming back empty-handed..
..from your hunt for Bretodeau.
Because it's not "do", it's "to".
Like "toto". -Thanks.
I really like this painting.
-It's "The rower's lunch".
By Renoir.
I paint one every year, for 20 years now.
The hardest is the eyes.
Sometimes, they change their moods on purpose,..
..when I'm not looking.
-They look happy here. -They better be!
This year, they had hare with morel..
..and waffles with jam for the children.
Let's see, where did I put..
..that little note?
I see you're looking at my camera at the window.
It's a gift from my sister-in-law.
Oh, I just put it there, this way..
..no need to wind up my clock anymore.
After all these years,..
..the only character I can't quite figure out,..
..is the girl with the glass of water. She's in the middle..
..and yet, outside.
-Maybe she's just different from the others.
-How different?
-I don't know.
-As a kid, maybe she didn't often play with other children.
Maybe even never...
Here you are.
Dominique Bretodeau. 27, rue Mouffetard.
It's for you.
-This morning, like every Tuesday,..
..Dominique Bretodeau goes out to buy a chicken.
Usually, he cooks it in the oven with baked potatoes.
After cutting off the legs, the breast and the wings,..
..he'll clean up the bones with his fingers,..
..starting with the oyster.
No, Bretodeau won't buy..
..a chicken today.
He won't go any further..
than that telephone booth. There...
-In one second, Bretodeau remembers everything.
Bahamontes' victory in the Tour de France 1959...
Aunt Josette's corselets...
And, especially, that tragic day..
..when he won all the marbles of his classmates during playtime.
-Bretodeau !
-Bretodeau !!
The Claw, Bretodeau ! Does he know it, the claw?
-One cognac, please.
I can't believe, what just happened to me.
It must've been my guardian angel. Can't be anything else.
It's as if the telephone booth was calling me..
..it rang, and rang...
-Well my, there's the microwave calling!
-Can I have another cognac?
It's weird, life.
When you're a kid, time creeps slowly and then one day,..
..you're 50.
And childhood, whatever's left of it,..
..fits into a little rusty box.
You don't have children yet, do you,..
..miss?
I have a daughter. She must be about your age.
We haven't spoken to each other for years now.
I heard she has a child, a little boy.
His name is Lucas.
It's about time I went to pay them a visit..
..before I end up in a box myself.
Don't you think?
-Amélie suddenly feels in perfect harmony with herself.
everything's perfect: the softness of the light,..
..that little scent in the air, the peaceful sounds of the city...
Life seems so simple and cristal-clear that she's swept..
..by this desire to help the all mankind.
-I'll help you. We go down and there we go!
There's the widow of the drummer of the brass band.
Hey, the horse's lost one ear!
The husband of florist is laughing.
There's lollipops in the shop window!
Can you smell his scent?
This man is offering melon to his clients to taste.
There, they make wonderful ice-cream!
We're passing in front of the butcher's.
Ham on the bone costs 79 !
Here we're at the cheese merchant's...
12,90 for a Picodon d'Ardèche ! At the butcher's,..
..a baby's looking at a dog, that's looking at the chicken.
Here you are, now we're at the metro station.
I'll leave you here, goodbye.
"She was never able to enter into relationships with others..."
"As a kid, she was always on her own."
*-On the evening of a bright day in July,..
..while holiday-makers enjoy themselves on the beach..
..in the carefreeness of the sunny days and while in Paris,..
..the strollers, overcome by the heat gaze at the trails of smoke..
..of the fireworks,..
..Amélie Poulain, also known as "the godmother of the rejected",..
..or "the madonna of the cast-offs" succumbs to exhaustion.
In the streets of Paris, struck with grief,..
..millions of mourning anonyms gather for the funeral cortège..
..to show in silence..
..their great sorrow of being forever orphans.
What a strange fate, that of this young woman..
..deprived of herself,..
..yet so sensitive to the charm of the little things in life.
Like Don Quichotte, she was determined to grapple..
..the unforgiving grinder of all the human sorrows.
An impossible fight that consumed..
..her life prematurely. At 23, Amélie Poulain..
..let her life deteriorate in the swirls of universal pain.
And there she was struck by the regret of having let her father die,..
..without ever being able to give back to this suffocated man..
..the breath of air she'd been able to give..
..to so many others.
-Hey, Mister !
Hey, Mister !
Sir !!
Wait!
Wait!!
-Pages full of failed identity photos..
..that their owners had thrown away..
..and that had been re-assembled and classified by some eccentric.
Some family-album!
-One Gauloises blondes.
-There's so much smoke. Where are they?
I can't see anything. -More to the left.
A bit further. There you are. -There? Thanks.
Where are my 1F coins?
Never mind.
-Yes? -One Moresque.
On Kir, one Moresque and two and 2 peppermint cordials.
-That cooing, is it pre-nuptial or post-coital ?
-And your bloody stupidity, is it congenital?
-Pre-nuptial. -Don't worry.
You'll find the right one in the end.
They all dream about sleeping on a man's shoulder.
-I wouldn't mind, but men snore.
I have a sensitive ear!
-I was operated, I got rid of it.
-How romantic !
-It's clear you've never known true love.
-If I hadn't known it, they wouldn't have shortened my right leg.
-Wasn't it a horse?
-Yes, precisely.
I was in love with a trapeze artist.
I should've known, they dump you at the last moment!
He dumped me as I was going into the circus ring.
I was so upset, and as a result, so was the horse.
Unfortunately, I was under it!
Right ! The Moresque.
-Love at first sight, it does exists.
-I'm not sayin' it doesn't. But after 30 years behind the bar,..
..I can even give you the recipe!
Take two regulars, make them believe they like each other,..
..let it simmer..
..works every time.
-Excuse me!
Excuse me!
-No ! -I'll go.
Don't you think you've done enough harm already?
-Gina's old enough to defend herself.
-I'm not thinking about Gina, but about Georgette.
-Georgette ?
-Open your eyes ! She's hoping for you..
..and you're only looking at Gina !
Poor thing ! Look at all she's doing..
..to try and attract your attention.
You're blind !
-I'm off, I have a date. Bye!
-Goodbye. -Goodbye.
I don't know how the new one will be,..
..but'll never be worse than that freak there with his tape recorder.
-Joseph's not really a freak.
He's hurting, that's all.
-It's been two months since they broke up,..
..and he still shows up every day. He likes to suffer !
-Don't tell me you haven't noticed anything?
-What do you mean ?
-He always sits there? -Well, yes.
-Sit down.
Sit down, Georgette.
What can you see, from here? -My shop.
-And there's nothing missing? -Well, no.
-Think harder.
-Well, no. Really, I can't see!
-I'll let you think about it. Good night.
Good morning...
"A Swiss octogenarian has received a letter 30 years later.
"The mail was found by mountaineers on the Mont-Blanc,..
"..in a bag of the Malabar Princess,..
..a plane that crashed at the end of the 60ies."
-What a pity ! Such a young and pretty princess...
-You mean, old and ugly, that wouldn't have been that bad?
-Well, yes... Look at Mother Theresa.
And him? Still after Gina ?
-No, after somebody else.
-Tell me, is it someone I know ?
-Yes. It's funny, that story about the mountaineers.
-Somebody from the Deux Moulins ? Not you!
-No !
-Not Mme Suzanne...
No !
-Yes !
Look, he's there again. -Yes... How strange.
-And here. -"Still him."
Lyon Station.
-And here, again.
March 5, Austerlitz.
-And still the same expression.
Isn't it ? So neutral.
-12 times in total.
I counted. It's strange, isn't it?
Why would he go across the whole town to take photographs,..
..and then throw them away?
-Especially since they're in perfect condition!
-Looks like some sort of ritual.
-Maybe he's obsessed..
..by the fear of getting old and this is his way to relax.
-He's dead!
-Dead?
-He's afraid of being forgotten.
He uses those machines to remind the living of his face.
As if he were faxing his image from the hereafter.
-A dead man who'd be afraid of being forgotten...
Well, these ones don't have to worry about that!
They died long time ago.
But they'll never be forgotten.
You know, that girl with the glass,..
..maybe she's thinking about someone.
-Somebody on the picture?
-No.
Rather a young man she saw some place else.
She feels like they're the same, the two of 'em.
-She prefers to imagine a relationship with somebody who's away,..
..than to create bonds with..
..those who are there?
-No...
Maybe she's doing everything she can to sort out other people's lives.
-But her ?
Her life,..
..who's going to take care of that?
-In the meantime,..
..it's better to devote yourself to others than to a garden-dwarf.
-2,8 g of alcohol in his blood for a chauffeur!
I'm not the only one to employ an irresponsible moron.
-M. Collignon.
Your keys... -Just a minute!
No rush!
Look at Lucien.
At work, there's no chance he'll exceed the speed limits. Is there?
-You shouldn't, M. Collignon.
It's not his fault.
-You're right.
It's not his fault, it's Lady Di's fault !
Do you know what I found this morning?..
..The 3 Suisses catalogue open at the page with the nighties.
He'd stuck the picture of Lady Di on the bodies of the models.
So, this time, a bunch of asparagus,..
..or the neighbourhood records?
-Nothing.
"KEYS WHILE YOU WAIT"
-Thanks. Well, looks like those migraines are gone.
-Yes, but I haven't slept all night because of my sciatic nerve.
-You're looking good !
-Really ?
-A woman without love, it's like a flower without sun. It dies.
-Strange weather today!
Did I say something wrong?
-No. Everyone gives me the weather forecast.
-Talking about the weather to forget that time goes by.
-No, to avoid talking nonsense.
-You can write nonsense, but not publish it...
-Still nothing? -30th rejection.
-What about your cousin, the critic? -What do you think?
They're like the cactus..
..they live to sting... -And your book ?
Is it a love-story ?
-No, it's about a guy who keeps a diary.
But instead of writing it as things happen,..
..he writes the worst-case scenario beforehand.
As a result, he's depressed, and he doesn't do anything.
-It's the story of a guy who doesn't do anything.
-Look, Mme Suzanne,..
..I'll sign you the manuscript.
-Yes, and you forget about his bill.
-I exchange his masterpieces for my "pièces-de-résistance!"
-Here you are. -Thanks.
-Thanks, Mme Suzanne.
-How long did it take you?
Have you seen the time? Jesus, this one,..
..they never got him finished!