Amélie (2001) is a French romantic comedy about a shy waitress called Amelie who likes to secretly change the lives of those around her before she found a mysterious photobook which leads her to a man called Nino she eventually falls in love with.. This movie was directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet.
Mis-en-scene is a word which originates from French and it means "placing on stage". Basically it's all the objects which include background, clothing, stage, lighting, performance etc in a shot. Generally it is staging of a scene.
First of, the film takes place in Montmartre, small elevated area north of Paris, France. The film was shot on location and not in a studio which helps a lot in the mis-en-scene of the film. Amelie's room is also filled with candles, decorations and color, probably signifying her vivid imagination and her ability to plan and layout her room the way she likes it. This is opposed to her neighbor, Raymond Dufayel aka "The Glass Man", who has a pretty dull room but his paintings show a tremendous amount of focus or maybe its just for the audience to focus more on the character.
Amelie is also shown to have very strong imaginations with the scene of her staring at the clouds and making out different shapes. The color of the scene and the weather also seem to correspond to Amelie's mood. The scenes are usually bright in color but when she becomes sad, the weather seem to darken as well and everything feels a little more desaturated. On the topic of lighting, the chosen light is usually soft lights with evidence of key lighting and back filled light (the use of three point lighting). Even our text book Film Art by David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson references Amilie in their three point lighting. This lighting helps focus on the character in close up or medium shots.
Next, let's talk about the costumes, Mr. Colignon, the market owner Amelie often stops by, wears a thick grey overcoat, formal shirt and tie during work signifying his cold, business like personality that affects his kind assistant, Lucien negatively who also wears an overcoat but warmer in color and you can see him wearing a bright colored tee shirt on the inside indicating him wearing appropriately for work but also having a bright warm personality on the inside. Amelie on the other hand wears pretty normal looking clothing, very modest and sweet looking which helps the audience associate her with innocence. Not to mention that haircut, the short bangs and her facial expressions gives her a sort of naive look. Also, the clothing of "The Glass Man', Raymond Dufayel also corresponds very well with his current status of a sickly old man. He wears thick clothing, and gloves with many layers which is usually what sick people would wear. I'm just a bit worried his clothing might snap his brittle bones, it looks quite heavy..
In conclusion, Amelie is a great example of a movie which uses all available skills to make a great movie, from the accurate and colorful mis-en-scene to the cinematography, special effects and acting skills which brought us a wonderful funny film of Amelie.
