Hyde Park Pick: Amélie

Amélie posters are plastered on people’s walls and in countless people's Letterboxd top fours for very good reason.

The film is set in Montmartre, a place which already feels like it’s pinched from a dream, but Jean-Pierre Jeunet heightens its fantastical whimsy and employs delightfully stylised use of colour that Wes Anderson would approve of.

Jeunet’s magical, unique romantic comedy is the perfect feel-good film. Yes, there’s romance, but it’s balanced with enough loneliness that you won’t be left yearning and feeling isolated if you don’t have romance in your own life. There are so many eccentric characters to amuse you as well as reassure you that your own oddities are part of your charm. There’s so much beauty in the film – from its own style to appreciating the art of small moments like cracking a crème brûlée. Your appreciation for even life’s mundanities will become inevitable after watching. And most importantly of all, Amélie is packed with heartwarming kindness. We need films like this where characters devote themselves entirely to acts of generosity – total opposites to the Musks and Trumps of the world. And I don’t know what it is about the accordion, but similar to the banjo and glockenspiel, it’s impossible to feel sad when listening to it, so Yann Tiersen’s accordion-heavy soundtrack also massively contributes to making this the perfect feel-good film.

Childlike wonder and imagination are amongst our greatest resources for happiness. We can escape into the dazzling imagination of Jean-Pierre Jeunet and instantly feel happier. And we can sharpen our own imagination skills, like Amélie does, using her own fantasies for good. For example, sometimes lies aren’t entirely bad when used for good, like when she sends a pretend ‘found’ love letter from the husband who abandoned and broke the heart of her concierge. So, if this anniversary celebration of Amélie brings about a few more fake love letters and a few more ardent fans of the film, the world will be a better place.

And if you’re an artist yourself, feeling discouraged like the character in the film who is constantly trying to replicate the same Renoir painting, it might be good for you to hear one of the greatest scandals of all time: Amélie wasn’t shown at Cannes. Cannes Film Festival selector Gilles Jacob described Amélie as ‘uninteresting’ and considered it unworthy of selection. Baffling! Me and the many, many best film lists Amélie appears on would wholeheartedly disagree. So, keep your ears intact, keep creating. Keep dreaming. And keep watching films as inspiring as Amélie.

Amélie is showing at HPPH from Fri 10 Apr. You can book tickets here.