Mlle Poulain's Magic.

Last night I watched a YouTube video of clips from the film Amelie (as we have it in English) accompanied by the associated piano piece called Comptine d’un autre été. It was the last thing I heard before going to bed, and as I was climbing the stairs it struck me that my mindset had undergone a radical alteration: my perception of life had swung to the positive and away from its usual position in the mire. 

 

The same thing happened both times I watched the whole film, and so I’m tempted to ponder the question: is there magic hidden somewhere deep in the plot or the character or both? I gather the film is universally popular, and I further gather that its popularity has promoted a tendency among the cynically-minded to enjoy announcing ‘I hate Amelie’ at every opportunity (as I do, I admit, in matters pertaining to Dickens’s Tiny Tim.) But for me, the magic does appear to be there. It’s more than just the ‘feel-good factor’ to which I very rarely succumb.

Or maybe it’s something else. I’ve read that Amélie Poulain is often cited as a prime example of the INFJ character type, and I’m also one of those. So maybe she is pointing me in a particular direction when I say that there is nothing out there that I want. Maybe there is. Maybe there’s an INFJ female somewhere who likes to play irritating, though generally harmless, tricks on the bad guys which I can stand and smile at. All I have to do now is find the means to locate her. 

(The only photo booth I know of in Ashbourne is in Sainsbury’s grocery store. I wonder whether that will do. Sadly, those unfortunates unfamiliar with the film will find the gentle humour contained within this parenthesis meaningless.)