Some cinematography I noticed in Amelie was that sometimes the director sped up parts of a scene or slowed things down. I think that this feature was used to show how fast time was moving according to Amelie’s mind during that particular moment.
Lighting:
I noticed that the lighting in the super's apartment was very dark. Whenever Amelie went in to make minor adjustments to his doorknobs, slippers, or speed dials, the lighting was always very dim. I think this lighting cast the mood that the apartment was very unfriendly and unwelcoming just like the super himself was.
One scene that I remember very specifically was when Amelie was washing a dish in the sink and she felt like the man she loved was coming in through the door behind her. What she had hoped he was doing was in the upper left hand corner of the screen while she stood and imagined what was playing. I thought that this technique was helpful, especially in this case, because Amelie herself did not speak very much about what she thought; it helped portray the emotion she was feeling and what she wanted without her ever actually saying it.
Places, buildings, objects:
I think that the gnome Amelie uses and the buildings he travels to see represent her mother and father who never got to travel. The gnome symbolizes one of the many good gestures that she tries to do for other people and all of the buildings represent the places her parents could ever want to go. I also think that her pet fish symbolizes how lonely of a childhood she lived. Fish are pets that you cannot hold or play with, as her parents did not touch her and she had no friends to play with, and they are confined to their bowls by themselves, as she was confined to her home by herself.
Body language:
Although smiling does mean that people are happy, I found that throughout the entire movie Amelie had a soft smile. She kept her lips together and mouth closed so that she was smiling but never actually looked extremely happy. At the end of the film, however, when she has fallen in love and is with the guy she has been dreaming about, she is smiling and laughing and looks happier than she has throughout the entire movie. This type of smile symbolizes how she has finally done good for herself instead of only helping other people.
Dress/clothing:
The outfits typical of Amelie were darker colors, sweaters, and long floor length skirts. She dressed very conservatively which I think represents the way that she is a mystery and stays very much to herself. She is so quiet and confined as she was when she was a child that the way she dresses reveals her personality.
Art:
One of the examples of art I found in the movie was the Renoir painting that the old man was working on. The one part of the piece that he could perfect was the girl drinking the water. I think that this girl in the painting symbolized Amelie because no one could figure out what she wanted with life. She only did for others but never did for herself. One of the only people that old man let in his life was Amelie and he worked so hard to let her open up and be who she wanted. Ultimately, he realized he was too focused on perfecting the girl and accepted her for who she was.
In general, I found the movie to be fairly interesting. The visual effects I thought were a little hard to pay attention to because I was more focused on reading the subtitles than watching what was going on with lighting, camera effects, etc. What I did manage to notice, however, I found to be good examples of visual rhetoric but I do not know if other people saw the same things I did when watching the movie.
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