With its reputation as one of the most enthralling romances of all time well-established by now, it’s easy to forget how sadly the story of “Amélie” begins, with its young heroine given the dire – and erroneous – diagnosis of a heart defect that prevents her parents from letting her outside much, depriving her of all social interaction and after a freak accident takes her mother’s life, her father is even more eager to shield her from the world. It was an idea that came to director Jean-Pierre Jeunet years before he would get to put it on screen when his star was on the rise with films that would increase in scale from one to the next with his collaborator Marc Caro, first bursting onto the scene with the wildly imaginative “Delicatessen” and “The City of Lost Children” and eventually landing the highly coveted job of directing “Alien Resurrection.” The blockbuster could be considered both creatively and financially a wash, with Jeunet and Caro’s signature visuals enlivening the fourth entry in the franchise that felt like it had been treading water, but it showed the filmmakers the future they could have if they stayed in Hollywood and the two went their separate ways.
Jeunet didn’t need to look long for a new partner in crime. Guillaume Laurant, who has been a co-writer on all of his films ever since, was such a fan of Jeunet and Caro’s that he went about cold-calling them from a phone book and got a hold of the former more easily when it was a less common name, and Jeunet shared with him the idea for the small French film he wanted to make independently after emerging from the studio system. Of course, “Amélie” is in no way small and operates with the same mouse trap ingenuity that Jeunet had made a name with, only instead of the bleak humor to be found in his collaborations with Caro, it is fueled by heartwarming exuberance as its shy lead character sets about arranging all the relationships in the world around her that she’s been too timid to pursue herself as a waitress in a cafe, until she stumbles into one with Nino (Matthieu Kassovitz), a similarly lonely adult bookstore employee.
While seemingly born of misfortune from the director’s frustrating foray with “Alien” to the tricky path to distribution “Amélie” took, infamously declined by Cannes and falling into the clutches of Miramax, which oversaw a massively successful Stateside release before letting the film languish after its theatrical run (a Blu-ray on eBay can generally fetch $50), Jeunet’s masterwork also enjoyed the kind of series of lucky breaks that the most magical of movies have, from Laurant seeking out Jeunet to Jeunet finding a CD of eventual composer Yann Tiersen’s randomly in a friend’s car to having to put aside initial plans to cast Emily Watson in the lead role, giving way to a star making turn from Audrey Tatou. And the latest charmed twist of fate was for Sony Pictures Classics, with whom Jeunet partnered on the release of “The City of Lost Children” and “Micmacs,” to pick up the rights for “Amélie,” bringing the film back to the big screen where it belongs in all its visual splendor for a nationwide theatrical re-release this Valentine’s Day week.
Recently, Jeunet, who is as busy as ever these days currently working on an adaptation of Valérie Perrin’s “Fresh Water for Flowers,” spoke with the assistance of his American-born wife Liza Sullivan, who he met as an assistant editor on “Alien Resurrection,” about the legacy of “Amélie,” capturing the spirit of his home country on film and how despite his status as one of its great directors, he’s sometimes still not recognized there.
You actually revisited the film recently before this rerelease with “La Véritable Histoire d’Amélie Poulain,” to suggest an entirely different reading of Amélie than most might expect. What’s it been like to live with this character all this time?
Jean-Pierre Jeunet: Oh, you saw the short? I wanted to speak about that because I love freedom, and now it’s so difficult to make features — to get the money, and to explain and to convince people, so I need to keep the pleasure to make [things]. And this short film was just for the pleasure. It was €10,000, and that’s it, for the pleasure. And I do other things. I make some sculptures of animals. Have you seen my short film, “Deux Escargots S’en vont”?
One of the delights of finding “La Véritable Histoire d’Amélie Poulain” was to discover this entire YouTube Channel you have.
Jean-Pierre Jeunet: Yeah, I love to make [things] and I love to build the sculpture with my hands. It’s a space of liberty and freedom.
You were also at an interesting spot creatively when you made “Amélie,” though I know it had been kicking around inside your head at least a decade before you made it. What were you feeling at the time?
Jean-Pierre Jeunet: I was back from LA [where] I spent 20 months. Los Angeles is a place, it’s not a city. Where are you now?
Los Angeles. [laughs]
Jean-Pierre Jeunet: I was so happy to be back in Paris, except the smoke. Everybody was smoking at this time, and it was in winter. But it was a pleasure to see Paris, and I thought, “Oh my God, it’s such a beautiful city. Are you going to cheat to get rid of the cars parked on the edge of the street? Are you going to get rid of the dog shit? “Are you going to change the posters on the walls?” But I wanted to show to Parisians how Paris was beautiful. And I needed a total freedom.
I have to admit I had 95% freedom for “Alien Resurrection,” which is great because now I think it wouldn’t be possible now in Hollywood. Thank you, Tom Rothman and everyone from Fox. But with “Amélie,” it was a total freedom. And by the way, Tom Rothman wanted to produce the film — I had an appointment at Fox, and the Fox marketing service told me, “It’s not Titanic.” And I said, “Of course, it’s not Titanic. It’s Amélie in Paris.” And they gave up. And when Tom Rothman saw the film, he was so pissed off [when it looked like a hit], but he told me, “But you are lucky because with us, you couldn’t have the same freedom,” so I was very happy to have the French freedom.
It’s interesting to hear you talk about having to film on location in Paris when all of your previous films you had complete control over on soundstages. Was that a new experience?
Jean-Pierre Jeunet: I hate that. You can modify [on a sound stage], but [not] when you are outdoors with the sun, the clouds, the sun, and in Paris, they are not respectful for the cinema like in Hollywood. For example, one day, a guy parked his car just in front of the camera, and he said, “I fuck the cinema. I do the cinema.” [Then I say] “We have to wait one hour.” This is typically French.
You still make it look painterly, and as I understand there was inspiration from a Brazilian artist Juarez Machado. How did you come up with the green-and-red color palette?
Jean-Pierre Jeunet: It’s important when you give the direction to the crew — production design, costume design — to have some references with pictures because with words, everybody can imagine something else. You don’t give a lot, [only] two or three pictures, and in terms of color, what is the spirit you like? I made that all the time with Marc Caro for “Delicatessen” and I remember for “Alien,” it was one picture of a jackhammer that [I gave to] Nigel Phelps, the production designer. It’s a good direction. Everybody understands that.
Your films have almost always been about ensembles, so does a character naturally emerge as someone central during the process or are you thinking about who is in the neighborhood with someone?
Jean-Pierre Jeunet: It’s a good question. Sometimes. And in fact, for “Amélie,” I knew [who the central character was from the start], but it was Emily Watson, and she [had to leave] for personal reasons a few weeks before the shooting. At this time, you are totally lost. You make a casting, and I was [then] very lucky because I saw two actresses Emma De Caunes, and Vanessa Paradis, the wife of Johnny Depp. She never read the script because she’s a singer as well and had to record a CD, but I met her. And [Audrey Tatou] was a second character in a French movie, but I saw her on a poster, and immediately after 40 seconds [after we brought her in for a meeting], you can see that on the bonus of the DVD. I was totally amazed. And I told her, “Where do you come from? Are you E.T.?” And I knew at this time she was Amélie.
On the previous home video release for the film, I was touched to see how much care you put into it – you actually say in one of the bonus features you wanted to record your thoughts not only because it was so close to the time of the production and you wanted to remember, but also because of how important DVDs were to you in terms of learning about filmmaking and one of the special features I loved the most was the short documentary where you were showing how the picture book that Amélie finds of Nino’s was made. I think another director filmed it…
Jean-Pierre Jeunet: This is the director of the documentary… [proudly bringing his wife Liza Sullivan into the frame]
Liza Sullivan: I did the making-of. But then when Weinstein bought it for American audiences, he cut it to one minute. I was an editor in another life and I lived in L.A. for a long time, so I thought it was really interesting how he shoots and puts things together as a visual storyboard and then he puts it up on the set and everyone can see what they’re shooting that day.
You show the making of the photo book – were those friends and family taking pictures for it?
Liza Sullivan: For the photo book, we made a fake photo book, but the real one existed. It was a real collection with the same story with the guy who fixed the machine. But of course, we had to make a fake one to avoid being sued.
Jean-Pierre Jeunet: Yeah, it was an opportunity. You see myself in the book, and you see even my wife as a rabbit. At this time, she had a rabbit. And I remember in the casting room, a guy came, it was Tchéky Karyo, a big star in France and he is in the photo book. I said, “Come, come Tchéky, let’s make a picture.”
I understand the score was also a twist of fate – is it true you realized what the music could be from randomly slipping in a CD in your car?
Jean-Pierre Jeunet: Usually, I change the musician for every films and for this one, it was special because Yann Tiersen doesn’t like cinema. He composed the music of two or three movies [“Goodbye Lenin” and “The Dreamlife of Angels,” among them]. That’s it. And he said, “I don’t care. Take everything you want on my CDs.” He’s so talented and he composed maybe 15 pieces of music and it was “La Valse d’Amélie.” But with my editor, it was so difficult to find the best pieces of music because everything was working, so it was difficult to choose. Everything was perfect, so it was a kind of miracle, the mix between the pictures and the music.
This has had such an impact on people over the years. Are there any particularly great stories you’ve heard?
Jean-Pierre Jeunet: Oh yes, I have plenty of stories and sometimes they’re sad stories. A couple wrote me, “We lost a daughter. She was a waiter in Montmartre, like Amélie. We would like to meet you.” Then sometimes some people are so involved, it’s very weird. The other day at my office, a couple knocked at the door with a little girl who was five or six, and I opened the door and they told me, the little girl watches Amélie every day, and she couldn’t believe it was me because it was so realistic for her.
When you lived in Montmartre across the street from some of these locations, such as the cafe, is this like a time capsule now for you?
Jean-Pierre Jeunet: They still give tours. People are going in front of the cafe all the time. It’s full of Japanese girls, don’t ask me why. And sometimes it’s funny because I am unknown on the cafe, watching the people and they don’t know it’s me. Let me tell you one amazing story. I had an appointment with Jodie Foster. It was for “A Very Long Engagement” at the cafe and we were waiting for a taxi outdoor. A guy came with a camera to take a picture of the cafe and [a girlfriend], but we were between and we did not know if they recognized us or not. And the girl said, “Can you please move” to Jodie Foster and me? [laughs]
“Amélie” opens in wide release on February 14th. You can find it at a theater near you here.