Amelie v. Royal Tenenbaum: FIGHT.

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Since ever Royal Tenenbaums thread that Ethan starts invariably features me pointing out to everyone dogging on it that Amelie is bullshit, I figured there must be something to the comparison.

― Ally, Thursday, 14 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

i haven't actually seen either of these films, but i may be going to see royal tenembaums later this week

― gareth, Thursday, 14 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Both are equally grand.

― JM, Thursday, 14 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Amelie was a bit rub. I expect to adore the Royal Tenenbaums because ethan has impeccable taste in films.

― N., Thursday, 14 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Amelie: a film about twee idiots. I was also going to say "made for twee idiots" but that sounds too cruel.

― Nicole, Thursday, 14 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

all films starring rowan atkinson are rub

― mark s, Thursday, 14 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

"a bit rub"? What does is all mean?

― Nicole, Thursday, 14 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

rub = some weak-ass slang we're breaking in for N.

― mark s, Thursday, 14 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I'm hoping it will RUB off on other people. HA HA HA HA HAH A HAHAHAHA HA AHA HAH HAHHA HA HA HA HAH A HA HAHAHAHA HA AHA HAH HAH

― N., Thursday, 14 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

People like you should be put into prison.

― Nicole, Thursday, 14 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Cool! Will I get crazed, affection-starved women falling in love with me and stuff?

― N., Thursday, 14 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

No, I'm imagining one of those stone turrets that they shut people up in to rot away like in the old movies. Everyone would get on with their lives and forget about you.

― Nicole, Thursday, 14 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

This is a pretty one-sided FITE! RT is prolly my fave U.S. film of 2001 (one of three I can think of at the moment). Anderson’s film(s) has (have) a beautiful unblinking sincerity, an infectious love for his characters despite (becuase of?) their shortcomings and Amélie is all, like the title character, self-satisfied winks and nudges/Jeunet style with a transplanted heart. Now that I think about it, there is a lot about the two – opening sequences/fictionalized versions of real cities*/insularity of ensembles which creates a specific sense of community/resonance of sins of parents in each film that is v. similar -- it’s just that the one succeeds so much more than the other.

* although audiences are probably expected to consider Amélie’s postcard Paris/Montmarte the real thing.

― scott p., Thursday, 14 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

* although audiences are probably expected to consider Amélie’s postcard Paris/Montmarte the real thing.

A French e-mail friend mentioned the film to me recently -- she's a Parisian and she loved it. So I think you need to be allowing for willful suspension of disbelief here...

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 14 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Someone needs to acknowledge Sinker's Rowan Atkinson joke-of-the-year.

― Nitsuh, Thursday, 14 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I was the first person to make the Amelie-Rowan Atkinson comparison and I'll prove it by science if you like.

― N., Thursday, 14 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

This is funny. I saw both Amelie and Royal Tennenbaums back to back... and so far, I still think Amelie came out as the far more enjoyable movie. Whether time will be as nice to Amelie, I dunno...

― Brian MacDonald, Thursday, 14 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

SUrely the Tenebaums would win because there are more of them. And one of them has a tennis racket.

― Pete, Thursday, 14 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Sigh. "Amelie" = movie made for twee indie dweebs, but surely that's the demographic that was defined by Wes Anderson's target audience. "Delicatessen" vs. "Bottle Rocket" FIGHT. I vote for "Delicatessen".

ps. Audrey Tatou is way hotter than Gwyneth Paltrow. FITE!

― geeta, Thursday, 14 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

A French e-mail friend mentioned the film to me recently -- she's a Parisian and she loved it. So I think you need to be allowing for willful suspension of disbelief here

...or, more accurately, you need to be either a completely stoned Hampshire college type, or a fucking moron. I mean, I'm sorry, but I don't bend on this one.

Amelie is only hotter than Gwyneth if you like your women extremely, extremely vacuous and daft. I fear that a bit. Not that Gwyn is some sex goddess herself, unless you like sticks that have fallen from the trees in the dead of winter, but at least she looks like she's got something behind her eyes.

Arrrgh. Modern foreign films = shit.

― Ally, Thursday, 14 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

how can gwyneth be so cool in tenenbaums and so annoying in everything else? did they dope her up or something?

― ethan, Thursday, 14 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

They put her in panda eyes, Izod dresses, fur coats--she chain smokes and has a monotone voice--how else could they have made her cooler?

― Mandee, Thursday, 14 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Fur eyes and panda coats.

― Otis Wheeler, Thursday, 14 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

i think the izod dresses did it for me.

― ethan, Thursday, 14 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

my girlfriend was a teenage tennis champ and has tons of those but I can't convince her to wear them UNLESS we're actually playing tennis, which sucks because she kicks my ass completely and soul-crushingly.

― fritz, Thursday, 14 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

did she have one of those racket-stringing things like richie does in the movie too? those are the coolest. i want to be richie tenenbaum.

― ethan, Thursday, 14 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Not that I know of. I can ask her if you like.

― fritz, Thursday, 14 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Ooh-err, etc.

― Dan Perry, Thursday, 14 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Amelie's a children's movie for adults. It's all about suspension of disbelief. I think it's just one of those things you have to just relax and let yourself enjoy (I finally saw it last night).

― DAn Irons, Thursday, 14 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

A children's movie for adults = Star Wars. A children's movie for morons = Amelie.

Fur eyes and panda coats.

For some reason that makes me think of Liam Gallagher.

― Ally, Thursday, 14 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

RT: i larfed non-stop and so did dr vick

― mark s, Tuesday, 19 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

N sezs: "I was the first person to make the Amelie-Rowan Atkinson comparison and I'll prove it by science if you like."

Ahem, may I refer you to this thread for proof of Nick's wonky science. I mean, not that it matters or anything...

― Andrew L, Tuesday, 19 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I think several groups of culturally-alert hipsters had been independently noticing that Amelie looks like Mr Bean. The reason for this being either a) resonances in the morphic field following the initial joke, or b) the fact that Amelie looks like Mr Bean.

― Tom, Tuesday, 19 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

please let it be a)

― gareth, Tuesday, 19 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

if (a) then by science (cf rupert sheldrake passim), amelie and bean did NOT remotely resemble one another till someone "noticed" (and/or lied because it seemed funny)

― mark s, Tuesday, 19 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The case for the defense:

http://www.ie-commerce.net/library/posters/500213.jpg http://www.das-erste.de/bean/bean.jpg

― Graham, Tuesday, 19 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

B-but Graham I was (originally) talking abt the UK movie poster, not the French one. I think the English poster does use the same pic, but they touched it up in such a way as to make poor old Audrey look (even more) like a bean-faced goon.

― Andrew L, Tuesday, 19 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Pfff.

http://www.ie-commerce.net/library/posters/788370.jpg

― Graham, Tuesday, 19 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Graham that is the worst "defence" I have ever seen. SHE LOOKS LIKE MR BEAN.

― Tom, Tuesday, 19 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Does not!

[Is that better?]

― Graham, Tuesday, 19 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

perhaps the sheldrake effect has not yet reached manchester: its mechanism is after all poorly understood

― mark s, Tuesday, 19 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Graham that is the worst "defence" I have ever seen. SHE LOOKS LIKE MR BEAN.

I guess she does, if you look at the picture sideways and squint. I mean, okay, there are vague similarities in the punchable smile. I admit this. Vague similarities != spitting image. Also, while I haven't seen the movie, I haven't seen a single clip of it where she even remotely resembled her picture on the movie posters.

― Dan Perry, Tuesday, 19 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

mr bean does not have a 'punchable smile'!

― ethan, Tuesday, 19 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Andrew, it was seeing your comment on that thread that originally made me think "I pointed that out to people months ago! This could be my 'gaydar'"

― N., Wednesday, 20 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

five years pass...

lol @ 2002

― gershy, Monday, 4 June 2007 06:32 (eighteen years ago)

hahaha. wtf?

― andi, Monday, 4 June 2007 08:28 (eighteen years ago)

simpler times

― blueski, Monday, 4 June 2007 09:03 (eighteen years ago)

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