Amélie, the 2001 French hit, is finally coming back to Blu-ray in the U.S.
This week, Sony Pictures Classics released a special, steelbook edition of Amélie. The 2001 film, which bought both director Jeanne-Pierre Jeunet and star Audrey Tautou international acclaim, is a stylish and eccentric romantic comedy that originally came to the U.S. on the coattails of the ’90s indie film movement. While it was beloved by audiences and boasts a 90% “fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes, it was one of those titles that went out of print in the U.S., and started being sold for exorbitant prices on secondary market sites like eBay. Now, it’s back in Blu-ray and should be relatively easy to find at brick-and-mortar retailers like Barnes & Noble as well as online sellers like Amazon.
Shot in 2001, Amélie‘s bright and engaging color palette was achieved using 35mm film, not digital photoraphy. In general, movies shot on film upconvert better to a higher resolution, since digital photography can create digital artifacting when you go up, which then needs to be smoothed out, either manually or using AI. In the case of Amélie, the movie’s Blu-ray transfer looks great, bringing the vibrant colors and eccentric shot choices to life.
The film features a commentary track by director Jeunet, in which he immediately warns viewers against “ruining the poetry and spirit of the film” by listening to him wax on about how he accomplished camera tricks. That’s joined by a number of features that have been available on prior prints of the disc, including screen tests, Q&As with the cast and crew, some featurettes, and looks at the film’s storyboards and “the Amélie scrapbook.”
The only new feature on the disc is a “Jean-Pierre Jeunet Looks Back,” in which he (and the garden gnome from the movie) speaks to camera about the making of Amélie, and recalls some stories that are fun, but have likely already been in circulation for a while if you’re a big enough fan to have listened to interviews.
The commentary and other bonus features are in English, whereas the film is French with English subtitles.
While the Blu-rays were selling for as much as $100 at one point, DVDs have never been especially hard to come by; the movie came out and became celebrated during a time when video stores were still prevalent, so the DVD and even some VHS copies ended up in Blockbuster and other chain video stores, driving up supply and making standard-resolution copies fairly inexpensive even when the film was out of print.
Amélie is the kind of movie where most of its target audience may already own it – despite its great reputation, it’s hardly a movie that everyone is “expected” to own. Nevertheless, this new Blu-ray is well worth its price tag if you don’t have a copy of the movie in HD already. The disc is packed with bonus features, and it knows its audience well – this movie was popular, but it’s still an art film, and the bonus features approach it that way and treat the craft that went into making Amélie seriously.
