Jean-Pierre Jeunet's "Amelie" is a delicious pastry of a movie, a lighthearted fantasy in which a winsome heroine overcomes a sad childhood and grows up to bring cheer to the needful and joy to herself. You see it, and later when you think about it, you smile.

Paris is the city of love, at least for those who don't live in the city. But there is always the hint of romance in the air in the streets, and that's exactly the idealized image of the city Jean-Pierre Jeunet evokes in Amélie. Now, as we just said, because Amélie lives in Paris, it's not the city of love for her—yet, anyway. For most of the movie, she spends time trying to help everyone else find love… though she does eventually find it herself.

Few experiences compare with the sense of anticipation that hums through a movie theater when the lights fade and a film begins. In recent years few features have warranted such a buzz of expectation. Amelie (Le Fabuleux destin d’Amelie Poulain) is one that does. Adjectives like magical and charming can only approximate its ability to create an appealing fantasy world.

Right from the start Le Fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain, or Amélie as it's now called in the U.S., was a runaway hit in France—the film has managed to sell seven and a half million tickets, which translates into roughly $40 million at the box office, a sum rarely achieved by French films at home.

’ve known about Amélie (2001) for a long time, but only recently decided to sit down and watch it after a co-worker of mine said it was one of her favorite movies. This French film follows a woman named Amélie Poulain from her mother’s tragic (if rather darkly comedic) death in her youth to her adult life coping with her reclusive father and waiting tables at the Two Windmills café.

“Luck is like the Tour de France. You wait, and it flashes past you. You have to catch it while you can.” So says Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s tour-de-force Amelie, a film for which the timing couldn’t have been better.

His films may not always work, and it’s unlikely he’ll top the huge popularity of his crossover smash “Amelie,” but there are few filmmakers operating on the level of pure imagination and whimsy as Jean-Pierre Jeunet. And yet, even if a lazy comparison might be to call him a French Wes Anderson, the filmmaker has shown some arguably more flexible muscles.

A ten-year-old prodigy secretly hitches a ride on a freight train to receive an award at the Smithsonian for his cartography work.

This filmography is not intended to be a comprehensive list of this artist’s work. Instead it reflects the films this person has been involved with that have been reviewed on this site.

Jean-Pierre Jeunet best to worst

Every once in awhile you find a film that makes you just feel good. The spell that a film can have on its audience can be a powerful one. As someone who loves a good film, I find it rare to find one that has ALL the qualities I search for in a film: heart, comedy, a good message, and just plain sweet. After watching Amelie I left the classroom just feeling all warm and fuzzy. It was a film that hit on all cylinders, for me.

The film Amelie (2001) brings to life a world of whimsy, color and innocence. The trick to the construction of this beautiful diegetic world is the mise-en-scene. The mise-en-scene of a movie encompasses four aspects: setting, costuming and make-up, lighting and staging. Each element is important and carefully constructed, coming together to create a whole even greater than the sum of its parts.