History Headscratchers / Amelie

* Will Madeleine Wallace find out her husband's letter is a fake?
She could decide to sue the postal service and then find out they never sent her a letter of apologies and the belated letter.

** It's actually fairly common, particularly among people who have had a sheltered upbringing. This troper is very similar and has no disorders to speak of. Introverts tend to have active imaginations anyway, and Amélie seems to be naturally kind and open-hearted enough to want to help people. It genuinely is just how she is as a person. As the above troper said, not everything that isn't "normal behaviour" needs a FreudianExcuse.

** Nothing; she's just a bit of a shy, socially awkward introvert with an active imagination. It's not ''that'' unusual. I suppose if you have to pinpoint a cause we can suggest that her parents, also being rather eccentric and idiosyncratic people, instilled her with a few quirks due to their upbringing, but it's not like her issues particularly demand a FreudianExcuse. She's just a bit of an oddball, she's not a SerialKiller or anything.

* They made a movie that takes place in one of the most ethnically diverse sections of Paris, one dominated by black and North African immigrants, and the only non-white character is a simpleton who's constantly being mocked and used for comic relief? [[YiddishAsASecondLanguage Oy Givalt]].
** I assume you're talking about Lucien, who was a sympathetic character despite the comic relief. I got the impression he was supposed to be Eastern European. There are black and non-white extras in the background, but it's true, there aren't any non-European main characters. As to that, I can only say it's probably based on how Jeunet thought of Montmartre during his childhood, when it would have been less ethnically diverse -- which isn't an excuse, but is an explanation.
*** Well, Jamel Debbouze is Algerian or otherwise Arabic... Certainly not eastern European...
** To paraphrase the words of Creator/RogerEbert, the movie takes place in a version of Paris that only exist in imagination or in romantic dreams. Racial diversity is the least of its deviation from reality.
*** [[UnfortunateImplications So this delightful magic wonderland only has white people?]] Not a huge improvement.
*** In [[UnreliableNarrator Amélie's]] delightful magic wonderland it does. Yes I realize the PotHole is slightly incorrect, as Amélie doesn't narrate, but we see her viewpoint.
** One might be being overly sensitive to this issue. I sincerely doubt that the filmmakers were making a statement on race. Relax. [[MST3KMantra It's just a movie]].
*** There's a reason why we call it Unfortunate ''Implications''.
*** Maybe we ought to start calling it Unfortunate Inference.
*** Maybe some people are less likely to see the implication because it doesn't affect them personally. Nevertheless, if they weren't *trying* to make a statement, they made one anyway by creating a Paris that doesn't reflect reality.
*** The movie has a Paris with talking photographs and desk lamps, a character watching a newsreel of her own imaginary life, sex in a public restroom so loud it LITERALLY shakes the walls of the whole cafe, and a literal roaming gnome and it's insufficient ethnic diversity that doesn't reflect reality?
*** Montmartre is ethnically diverse now. But if you talk to actual Parisians, they will tell you this movie shows the city in a very retro way. The characters are not real people, but more like symbols of certain aspects of humanity. You could replace the whole cast with African or Asian actors and it wouldn't mean a thing, would change nothing in the story. This eastern European troper with strong Jewish ancestry has no problem relating to French cast in a movie like this.
*** Or maybe they weren't implying anything and simply didn't think about it during casting?
*** While I also wish there were more African or Asian actors, I can understand some of the reasons for what they did. It's possible that there just simply weren't enough African or Asian actors auditioning for the roles. Let's face it, would you rather have an inexperienced Asian or African actor play the part or someone with more experience? No matter how talented you are, experience carries much more weight. Especially when the actor or actress is very well known.
*** The film's perceived racism (a negative racism, one based around not depicting something) is one of the reasons why it was not that well reviewed in France.
** Apparently, just because there isn't a black person in there means RACISM.
*** It's more a matter of, by way of analogy, if you made a movie set in Harlem that didn't have any black people in it. Especially if White Harlem were presented as a magical fairyland. You can certainly agree, but at least acknowledge that there is more to this claim than just "there isn't a black person in there" -- incidentally, though many Americans like to forget this, there are races other than black and white.
** Can we deal with the fact that most American movies are at least as bad?
*** If this means "you shouldn't indict this film alone, when it's evidence of a much broader pattern," great. One the other hand, if it means "the fact that American films are bad with race should excuse non-American film for being bad with race," that's another thing entirely.

* Can we deal with the fact that most American movies are at least as bad?
** If this means "you shouldn't indict this film alone, when it's evidence of a much broader pattern," great. One the other hand, if it means "the fact that American films are bad with race should excuse non-American film for being bad with race," that's another thing entirely.
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** If they work the same way as in the [[UsefulNotes/Britain UK]], it's easily explained. Firstly, all phone booths have a number, or else they wouldn't be able to connect to the telephone network. Frequently this number is displayed inside the booth for engineers and reporting malfunction booths by their number. Secondly, you don't have to pay to use a booth to call a public service -- normally this takes the form of calling the emergency services, but what's very important here is that ''other phone booths count as public services''. Thus, with a little snooping around and absolutely no money, you can call a phone booth from another one, as Amélie did.

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** Nothing; she's just a bit of a shy, socially awkward introvert with an active imagination. It's not ''that'' unusual. I suppose if you have to pinpoint a cause we can suggest that her parents, also being rather eccentric and idiosyncratic people, instilled her with a few quirks due to their upbringing, but it's not like her issues particularly demand a FreudianExcuse. She's just a bit of an oddball, she's not a SerialKiller or anything.
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