Filmbrain's Screen Capture Quiz: Round 17, Week 7

When I saw Jean-Pierre Jeunet's Delicatessen back in 1991 I (along with just about everybody else) thought, now there's a director worth watching. His following two films, La Cité des enfants perdus and Alien: Resurrection were both ultimately disappointing, yet each not without their own merit. (I actually quite like his neo-absurdist entry in the Alien franchise.) Yet it was his fourth feature, Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain (aka Amelie) that shot him to super-stardom. Most of the planet fell head-over-heels for doe-eyed Audrey Tautou and the film's overly-romantic whimsy and cloyingly precious situations, but not I.

More than just an irritant, Amelie engages in a bit of crypto-fascism -- behind its sugary-sweet veneer lies a vision of an idealized France (featuring an all-white heterosexual Montmartre) that fits snugly into the politics and ideology of Le Pen and Le Front national. (Serge Kaganski spells it out in this piece from Libération, alas, in French only.) But I digress.

As much as I loathed Amelie, I was willing to give Jeunet another chance, even though his follow-up was once again built around the waifish Anime figure. Yet even with all its flaws, I admit to having a soft spot for the love-conquers-all-ness of Un long dimanche de fiançailles (A Very Long Engagement), the source of last week's quiz. That's the always-wonderful Denis Lavant, who has a small part as the tragic Six-Soux. Congrats to all that guessed it.

This week: possibly my favorite film of the round. This one is a bit more difficult, but at the moment there are way too many people with perfect scores. Name the film. Submit your answers to this address. Good luck!

Comments

[Noel Vera]

Ah. Not a big fan (after Amelie, I--well, I think he needs his Caro). Is prolly one reason why I didn't recognize it.

[iconista]

Thank God. Someone else who didn't like Amelie! I was beginning to think I was alone.

[Anhedoniac]

Oooh, no. There are tons of Amelie bashers out there, myself included. Decidedly not a lonely position.

[Noel Vera]

For the record didn't like Engagement either. Only post Caro Jenuet I do like happens to be written by (or at least scriptdoctored by) Joss Whedon--Alien Resurrection (basically my favorite of a not very impressive franchise).