
Escorting a blind man to the Metro station, giving him a rich description of the street scenes he passes convincing the unhappy concierge of her building that the husband who abandoned her had in fact sent her a final reconciliatory love letter just before his accidental death years before. She persuades her aloof father to follow his dream of touring the world by stealing his garden gnome and having a stewardess friend send pictures of it posing with landmarks from all over the world and she champions Lucien, a childlike young man who works for the bullying neighborhood greengrocer.
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There are a series of stories within the film of forlorn people to whom Amélie brings happiness, all cleverly tied in together. Her quest sees her turn matchmaker with the eccentric staff and customers who frequent her café she carries out complicated, secret schemes which impact the lives of those around her, always trying to hide her involvement. Inspired by finding some old photos hidden in her apartment which she thinks by returning to the owner she will cause joy, Amélie decides to make people happy. Featuring the winsome Audrey Tatou in the title role as a shy young waitress with a vivid imagination, the film follows her adventures set in Montmartre in Paris. In 2008, the same member of the GGLF, still searching for the artifact, was arrested and fined after authorities discovered his home contained nearly two-hundred garden gnomes he had collected in a long-winded example of the process of elimination.Amélie is a beautiful and quirky love story with a typically French flavour. The GGLF, a French organization with members worldwide, has taken credit for hundreds of gnome thefts and gnome-related stunts since the 1990s. Originally spotted in 2003, the gnome was narrowly bagged in 2005 when the Warehouse became aware of efforts by a wayward member of the Garden Gnome Liberation Front to capture and use the gnome for his own benefit. However, the gnome will teleport itself away afterwards.

Imbued with its film's popularity and message about making a difference in the world, this gnome manifests a moment of positive serendipity for anyone who touches it. Unfortunately (and ironically), the gnome was later stolen and never recovered. The gnome that was used in the film was originally donated to The Café des 2 Moulins, the principal shooting location for the movie, after filming wrapped. It is the highest-grossing French-language film released in the United States, and one of the most successful French films internationally, and has been adapted for the stage in a musical of the same name.Ĭulturally, the film popularized the traveling gnome prank, which involves stealing a garden gnome, traveling with it, and sending back pictures of the gnome in front of famous landmarks - a plot point from the film that Amélie uses to convince her reclusive father to travel.

This critically acclaimed film depicts the life of the titular Amélie, played by Audrey Tautou, a shy waitress who tries to improve the lives of those around her while wrestling with her own loneliness.Īmélie was a commercial success, grossing over $170 million worldwide despite a budget of $10 million. It's better to help people than a garden gnome.Īmélie, also known as Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain, is a 2001 French-German fantasy romantic comedy film directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, written by Jeunet and Guillaume Laurent.
