Amelie - Original Soundtrack > Reviews > Beret, Beret Good.

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Definitely a cut above the rest
Lyrics	Thought-provoking
Quality and consistency of tracks	A couple of weak links
Value for Money	Excellent

Advantages:	Beautifully encapsulates the film
Disadvantages:	You'll drive people around the bend listening to it !

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Brief film overview:
Amelie lives in France, she is a happy person who yearns to improve the lives of those around her. What follows is mystery, intrigue, surrealism of only the highest French order...

This bouncy soundtrack begins with a few staccato pieces, merged together with classicly French-sounding instruments. The first, 'J'y suis jamais alle', is a great opener that sets the scene, and is then furthered in beauty by 'les jours tristes', which is bound to lift your spirits. It sounds something like gliding over the French continent and being able to watch the hustle-bustle without actually smelling of cheese yourself.
'La valse des vieux os' is duetted on the accordion and evokes images of tres, tres French men standing on the cobbled Parisian streets, playing for playing's sake. This CD is about fun (after all, Amelie looks to brighten the lives of all those around her) and the tracks reflect it.

There's a nice mix of instruments from the outset (carillon, banjo, mandolin, accordion- would it even be French without it? and piano) which alters throughout the CD so that it never gets tiresome. As I mentioned, some pieces are similarly-themed, but are then moved forth with a vengeance onto greater heights of splendour. An example being the inclusion of an orchestra and piano version of 'la valse d'Amelie' (the waltz of Amelie), all of which give entirely different perspectives on her life- as a waltz is likely to do! Spinning around in all directions...
This works both within the CD for coherence purposes, as well as in the film itself to tie all the scenes neatly together in a pretty little romanticised package.

The union of sound and vision was complete when the film director's (Jean-Pierre Jeunet) production assistant put on one of Yann Tiersen's CDs as they were driving. By that evening, he had bought all of his records and had decided to meet him.
It could thus be said that Yann Tiersen plageurises his own work in this soundtrack. I would probably comment on the preferences of the director- Tiersen was more than likely including a few of his past tracks in response to a particular request from Jeunet.

At the beginning of track 3, a musical box/ tinkling bell sound heralds the beginning of 'la valse d'Amelie', which then breaks into a violin/ orchestrated piece, and moves us into a most beautiful piano tune 'comptine d'un autre ete' (nursery rhyme of another summer).
The only thing I can comment on at this point is that the songs could be pinned to any part of the film, really. There's never much of a flash-back to events or recalling the thrills and romances of the cinema screen in particular. Having said that, though, this soundtrack IS Amelie through and through. It seems more a description of her, than of the movements of the film itself- which is good.

Track listing: (long track listing!)
1. J'y suis jamais alle
2. Les Jours Tristes (instrumental) - not performed by Tiersen, but by the Ensemble Orchestral Synaxis and Christian Quermalet on Drums
3. La Valse d'Amelie - the main theme of the movie
4. Comptine d'un autre ete: l'Apres Midi
5. La Noyee
6. L'autre Valse d'Amelie
7. Guilty - old song not composed by Tiersen
8. A Quai
9. Le Moulin
10. Pas si Simple
11. La Valse d'Amelie (orchestral version)
12. La Valse des Vieux Os
13. La Dispute
14. Si Tu n'etais pas La (Frehel) - another non-Tiersen song
15. Soir de Fete
16. La Redecouverte
17. Sur le Fil
18. Le Banquet
19. La Valse d'Amelie (piano version)
20. La Valse des Monstres

Two vocal pieces, 'Guilty' and 'Si tu n'etais pas la', the first one dating from 1931, the 2nd from 1934, are two of my favourites and are bound to get your granny and grandad (if they're old enough and still living) welling up and singing toothlessly along.

The only one I dislike is 'le moulin' (the sheep). As you'd expect, it starts slow and rather stupid, but then redeems itself later when it moves into the realms of the piano.

If you like more melancholy songs, 'sur le fil' will fulfill this inner yearning. Slow-ish and based on the lower notes of the piano (continuous bass-clef undertone), it occasionally transgresses onto higher notes. Bewitching.

This is getting pretty long now! So...

Conclusion:
Buy this if you like French music.
And Amelie.

This is music to paint effervescent pictures to, or drive down the road like the sexy, slightly crazy fool d'amore that you are!

 

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Amelie plays Zorro