Amélie (Le Fabuleux Destin D'Amélie Poulain)

Amélie (Tautou) is a young Parisian woman who is looking for love, and perhaps for the meaning of life in general. Growing up in a slightly dysfunctional family, Amélie is waiting tables in a tiny Paris cafe and interacting in a curious fashion with her neighbors and customers. Amélie's life changes when she discovers the immense joy of bringing happiness to others through random, anonymous and secret acts of kindness. Her life goes on until she meets an intriguing young man and must discover if she will find the same happiness for herself. Known to American audiences as "Amélie," the original French title is "Le Fabuleux Destin D'Amélie Poulain," yet the on-screen subtitle is "Amélie From Montmartre." Nominated for five Academy Awards®.

Special features include commentary with Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet, a Q&A with Director Jeune, (SD 24;37), a Q&A with the director and cast (SD 05:55), the featurettes "The Look Of Amélie" (SD 12:48) and "Fantasies Of Audrey Tautou" (SD 02:07), screen tests (SD 06:29), storyboard comparisons (SD 0:58), an intimate chat with Director Jeunet (SD 20:48), the "Home Movies" making-of featurette (SD 12:46), a scrapbook, the theatrical trailer, and up-front previews.

First reviewed in Issue 64 as an anamorphically enhanced 2.35:1 DVD. The picture exhibited a color scheme that was warm and well balanced, with accurate fleshtones and deep blacks. Images were sharp and nicely detailed, with pleasing contrast and shadow delineation. The overall appearance was easy on the eyes. There were few distractions in the way of edge enhancement or pixelization. The Blu-ray Disc exhibits a 1080p AVC picture that is absolutely gorgeous and realizes the stylized look intended by Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel. The wonderful picture attributes are gorgeously enhanced in this release, with a lush color palette. Resolution is impeccable with revealing detail in facial features, hair, clothes, and object textures. Contrast is, at times, pushed for effect, but blacks remain deep and solid with revealing shadow delineation. As with the DVD, the Blu-ray picture is perfectly complementary to the quirky storytelling. (Gary Reber)

This film's soundtrack, which was nominated for a Best Sound Oscar®, was presented in Dolby® Digital 5.1 on the DVD. The Blu-ray soundtrack benefits with the lossless DTS-HD Master Audio™ format. The fidelity is terrific, and the soundstage rendering is wonderful with atmospheric effects and the music. The former is sometimes presented in a manner that is remarkably natural sounding. There are often clear and convincing distinctions with the spatial character, when the visuals change between different environments. The important point to be made here is that the use of dimension is certainly exemplary and notable throughout. This soundtrack is also distinguished for the many transient, creative "flash" sonic sequences throughout that fully engage the soundfield, and also sometimes are accompanied by significant deep bass, as well as aggressive surround envelopment. The rendering of sound effects is remarkable, seeming to be trivial by themselves but are very distinctive within the storytelling of the soundtrack. Recording quality is especially outstanding with the music. The dialogue sounds abundantly natural, with good spatial integration. The low end can be quite powerful and extends well below 25 Hz, with selective .1 LFE. This soundtrack production is a remarkable achievement in terms of its creative and technical merits. (Perry Sun/Gary Reber)