Mis-en-scene in Amelie

Mis-en-scene, as illustrated in class, includes everything one sees in the frame of a film. Setting, the first aspect, focuses on the time and place in which the events in the movie take place. In the case of the French film Amelie, the setting is Paris in the late 1990's. I gathered that the film took place in this city because some of the elaborate buildings in the street scenes (such as the Notre Dame Cathedral) are known only to that area. As for the time period, there is a particular scene in which Amelie learns of Princess Diana's sudden death, which occured on August 31, 1997. Learning both the time and place of the events in the film helped me understand it on a more interpretive level. After a shocked Amelie hears of Princess Diana's death, she drops the cap to a bottle on the bathroom floor, which strikes a tile and causes it to loosen. She removes the tile and discovers a keepsake box from a boy that lived in the same apartment in the 1950's, and resolves to return it in hopes of restoring goodness in the life of someone else. For me, this scene added to the film's theme of life's random occurrences having a lasting impact; had it not been for the recent news of Diana's death, Amelie may not have been inspired to perform gracious acts and evolve into the character she becomes at the film's end. Anything can happen at anytime that can change one's life forever, and I believe the whimsical city of Paris is the perfect atmosphere to produce that type of randomness.

The second aspect of mis-en-scene involves the lighting techniques used in the film. I felt lighting was used to bring out the symbolism the color red carries in Amelie. For example, when Amelie fears the man she is in love with does not feel the same, she retreats to her apartment, whose walls look a deep, burning red. However, after the man comes to her door, she passes by the same walls again, only this time looking a brighter, friendlier shade of red. The lighting techniques used to show a contrast in the same red walls, I think, show a contrast in the way love makes one feel. It is a strong emotion, and like the color red, can make us feel passionate hate or passionate bliss, depending on the way we look at it. Another part of mis-en-scene, characters are the figures (usually human) in which viewers relate themselves in the story. One character that particularly spoke to me was Amelie's neighbor, Raymond Dufayel. A painter, Raymond helps his neighbor bring artistic, imaginative thought into her life. I enjoyed how some of the characters turned into cartoon art after having epiphanies, such as when Amelie transforms into a drawing with an exaggerated heart when she realizes she is in love, or when Mr. Collignon, a rational man who demands order, is changed into art upon realizing little details in his home have been altered. I liked how prominently art stood out when characters abandoned their usual ways of thinking in this film, and I feel Raymond's character inspired these transformations.

Composition, or how elements of a film are arranged, is another aspect of mis-en-scene. I liked the scene in which Amelie has just returned the keepsake box to its rightful owner, and the man goes into a bar to celebrate. Rather than the man being the prominent person in the shot, he is seated behind Amelie from the angle we see. This signifies that the returning of the keepsake box was most importantly an insight into her character, rather than an epiphany in his. Finally, cinematography, or the camera and lens techniques used in the film, is the last part of mis-en-scene. In one scene, Amelie sees a blind man sitting against a wall in a dimly lit train station, and the camera swerves 180 degrees around his position. The next time we see this man, however, Amelie is guiding him through the bright streets of Paris, telling him what is happening visually as they walk so that she provides him a pair of eyes. During this scene, the camera swings 360 degrees around the pair, signifying that Amelie has temporarily destroyed his limitations.

Paige Brinkmann