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International Film Critique

Use the following format for your international film critique; answers must be typed below the questions and
all questions must appear in full on your final copy. You can use this document as your template. Pay careful
attention to the required number of words for those questions that have them. Failure to follow the
instructions here and on your syllabus will result in a substantially low grade. Minimal answers poorly written
are a D grade or less. laboration of points! e"cellent arguments! and good writing garner higher grades.
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1) .itle of Film
/melie
2) Year of release)$$$$-**0$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
3) 1anguage of original film) French
4) Director) 2ean 3Pierre 2uenet
5) /ctors)
/udrey .autou as /melie! 4sabelle #anty as 5erogetter! 6ufus as /melie father
6) 5ive a brief plot summary 70,*+-,* words. D8 #8. plagiari9e from the web:;)
/melie </udrey .autou= is a young woman who grew up having no contact with children! she spent
most of her childhood in her room! developing an imagination of this fantasy life. %er mother died of
a frea> accident leaving her with her father who had very little time for her emotionally or physically.
4n the stage of adulthood /melie is very alone and is a waitress at a caf?. @he finds herself
intervening in the lives of those around her because of the strategy of Princess Diana! /melie is
reminded that life can past by so quic>ly. Ahile hearing the news of the DianaBs death the bottle cap
she was holding drops to the ground and this is when she finds a hidden bo" inside the wall! and in
that moment she reali9ed what she needed to do. %oping to bring pure happiness and enCoyment
she sets out bringing people together! returning valuables! and her time spent! leading her too see>
her own happiness as well! truly captivates the cheesy! bright! quir>y and whimsical moments of the
film.
7) Analyze the social and philosophical issues the film addresses. Ma>e sure you include the point
of view of the movie! the conte"t of the movie! what audience the movie is targeting! and why.
<i.e. you should address and reflect upon the DargumentE or DmeaningE of the wor>. .his should
be analysis! not Cust summary of issues in the movie=. 7at least ,** wordsF
4 feel one of philosophical issues in the film is romantic love. /melia has never been in love before!
and through the movie you can sense the urgency. %er childhood she had very little connection with
her parents! her father was a doctor and he thought /melie and a heart problem because any time
she had her chec>up! her heart would race and the reason she said was because she never was
touched hugs >issed by her father only when she had chec>ups. @he longed for the feeling of love.
4t is this that is within her grasp! and yet at that moment seems for /melie so very far away. From
the start you can see that /melie enCoys ma>ing people lives come together in a positive way! but
then its starts to change her than reali9es that she is not happy with herself and has slightly lost
herself when intervening in the others life. @he than starts to focus on her and to have the chance to
meet the man at the train station that she has been fantasying about. .here is a part in the movie
where the guy she longs for drops a photo album! you thin> she would Cust give the photo album
bac> and meet him! well she doesnBt do that she goes another route going through the trouble for
the guy to see her drop the album at the spot she informed it would be. 4 feel this was a way to
show her innocence regarding to love. 4 feel the target audience for this film is for adults! this film
really can be enCoyed by many. 4n the film you get a sense of humor and a seriousness of the way of
life. You see how going out of you way can side tract you from your own happiness but it is within
yourself to discover those true feelings.
8) Ahat is your response to the message of the filmG Ahy do you respond this wayG @how that you
are thin>ing about your own thin>ing here and the biases'assumptions about the world you bring
to your viewing. Did the film change the way you view the subCectG Ahy! or why notG 7at least
-,* wordsF
My response to this film is inspiring. The message I got from the film was to live in the moment an to
appre!iate the little things. "melie starts o#t to $e a girl with no o#tsie !onta!t% when she grows she fins
herself en&oying helping people aro#n her an giving them a $it of fresh air. I !ompare my life to how
fast moving an how we h#man never slow own we always are on the move an trying to get to point "
to point '. (aving this )in of perspe!tive on life we miss o#t on a lot of $ea#ty that s#rro#ns #s. In the
movie "melie shows that $y going o#t of her normal tas) an &#st rea!hing o#t to people there is p#re
en&oyment an f#lfillment. *or e+ample "melie is wal)ing an sees a $lin man awaiting to !ross a $#sy
street% she goes to him an ta)es him in her arms an $rings him to the other sie% she then es!ri$es to
him what is going on aro#n them% mentioning the smell of fresh $rea% the pri!e of fr#it an vegeta$les%
an es!ri$ing the people aro#n % she than $rings him to the station where she then leaves% the $lin men
loo)s #p in the s)y an yo# are &#st impa!te $y the emotion of happiness an emotion that !omes a!ross
his fa!e is really magi!al. I feel the film mae $e open my eyes% I )now that I &#st go with things an
things &#st slip past me. "melie shows that p#re happiness !omes within% we &#st have to $e aware of those
moments.
,) Ahat cultural differences did you notice in the film <philosophical outloo>! humor! architecture!
customs! clothes! cities! weather! food! music! dancing! lifestyles! etc.=G Ahat did you learn
about history! economics or politicsG <.here are always differences; loo> for them=. 7at least -,*
wordsF
In this film I noti!e "melie portraye as a little girl% she ha her hair !#t as if her mother !#t it% her so!)s an
!lothing wo#l $e something of what a !hil wo#l wear. -he ha this .#ir)y sense of h#mor an a simpli!ity
nat#re. "lso the other !hara!ters ha a !hara!teristi! that wo#l ma)e them stan o#t from the rest of the
worl. I feel with these etails $ro#ght #pon this fantasy life% $#t also $eing part of everyay life. In the film it
shows the eath of /rin!ess 0iana% whi!h I fo#n very interesting% I was a !hil with this happene an I
really never saw her eath to $e as in the movie. (ere in the states it was very sa an was in the meia%
however in the movie showe people on the streets $aling their eyes o#t. This helpe me reali1e how
important /rin!ess 0iana was to her people an how she impa!te them.
12) Ahat techniques did the filmma>er use that were different from what you see in the films you
normally watchG .hin> about lighting! dialogue! atmosphere! setting! music! and how the
filmma>er might play upon your own biases! etc.70,* wordsF
The te!hni.#es #se in this movie was the reason yo# were a$le to !apt#re the p#re essen!e of the fantasy
with reality per!eption. The amo#nt of etail of ea!h element of the film !onveye the #nreality% #sing the
lights% m#si!% an the everyay life s#rro#nings. "lso what I fo#n to $e very ifferent was the iea of
lo!ation of the film. In the film the lo!ation was in /aris however I !o#l not tell if it was in toay3s time or
perhaps $a!) in the ay. The filmma)er !hose only a !ertain fo!#ses of lo!ations that $eing the !af4%
apartment% train station an the o#tsie mar)et. 5at!hing I felt that "melie an her friens6!owor)ers were in
this small !omm#nity possi$ly. This was really interesting to me most movies I !an pinpoint right from the
start of time perio. They show the event of the strategy of /rin!ess 0iana that ini!ating time perio wo#l
$e 1,,7% however with the style of fashion an the way of s#rro#nings I felt wo#l $e $a!) in the 1,52s.
11) Discuss how what you saw in the film relates to one of the assigned readings or class
Discussions we have had. He specific: 70,* wordsF
.he way 4 see this film to relate to reading or class discussions is basically on the subCect of
romantic and passionate love. 4n the film /melie doesnBt Cust come out and say she is in love with
this guy! however through her actions! you get the sense of her wanting this feeling of being love. 4n
class discussions we have tal>ed about how far people would go to prove their love! or the things
love ma>es people do. Hefore she was Cust a young girl lonely Cust going with everything. .hen
/melie has to weigh a handful of issues) to deal with reality! as it is! or to attempt to evade it; to
place primary emphasis on her own life! or on the lives of others; to have the courage to pursue a
relationship with the person she loves! despite being e"tremely shy! or to remain a coward++and a
lonely one at that.
12) Ahy do you thin> 4 assign an international filmG
4 thin> the reason you assigned the international film was to have us see people in a new life!
cultural! or maybe a different time period. .o me watching this film in French really helped me
sense the emotion and made me analy9e the conte"t more. .his film probably wouldnBt of been
a movie choice for me since it is in French 4 normally would over loo> this film! however 4 am
really glad 4 too> that time and watched it! movies was actually great and informing! 4 felt it to be
very inspiring with a humor with it.

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