Thoughts Theorys and Strategems

Thoughts Theorys and Strategems

When I watch Amelie I sometimes feel that 'life is imitating art' the film is full of little paths to explore and like Nino I find myself hunting out information to collect for my Photo Album Some of these are already documented elsewhere on this site such as finding all the places seen in the film or working out an actual timeline of events. On these pages I will explore other paths that I have found myself exploring.

Who was the Girl with the Glass?

We are first introduced the Luncheon of the Boating Party by Renoir in Chapter 5 when Mr Dufayel explains

"I've painted one each year for twenty years. The hardest part is the looks, I sometimes feel like they deliberately change their mood behind my back. … They're eating hare with morels and waffles with jam for the kids...After all these years the only person I still can't capture is the girl with the glass of water. She's in the middle, yet she's outside."

Later the picture is used to discuss Amelie

"They (people in the painting) are long dead but they'll never be forgotten. The girl with the glass Maybe her thoughts are with somebody else. Somebody in the picture? More likely a boy she saw somewhere and felt an affinity with. You mean she'd rather imagine herself relating to an absent person than build relationships with those around her? Maybe she tries hard to fix other people's messy lives. What about her? Her own messy life? Who'll fix that?"

And later still

"So it's this man here, with his hand up? Yes. Is she in love with him? Yes. I think it's time she took a real risk. She might. She's devising a stratagem. She's fond of stratagems. In fact, she's cowardly. That's why I can't capture her look."

The Luncheon of the Boating Party was painted by Renior in 1881 and is now housed by the Philips Collection in Washington and the web-site provides detailed information about the painting. In many ways Renior found the painting as much of a challenge as Raymond, recounting his progress, he complained of being behind schedule, of having to remove a figure "in a word, today I've wiped her out" and of his frustration with this ambitious project "I no longer know where I am with it, except that it is annoying me more and more." Could the woman who he wiped out be the same woman that Mr Dufayel finds so hard to get right? The description reveals the identity of the Girl with the Glass, she is the pantomime actrees Ellen Andree. Renoir painted Ellen several times and it is clear that she was a very beautiful woman

However Renior was not the only painter to feature Ellen in their work. Manet featured Ellen in a full-length portrait of a fashionable young woman La Parisienne painted in 1874 which according to the poet Stéphane Mallarmé was "real like life itself. It should be noted that this was the hight of the Realist Movement, subject in painting now featured not Myths, Religion or Aristoricy but people in 'Real life' the Luncheion Party being a fine example. In someway perhaps Amelie is a Realist film whilst it it has a artistic gloss it does feature 'Real Life' rather than a Hollywood Glitz

But it is Degas whom adds a darker side to the portrayal of Ellen. First in the rather bag woman style pictures L'Actrice and the Portrait of Ellen in a shapeless brown coat

But by far the most dark and sad portrayal has to be his painting ~~ L'absinthe Drinkers ~~ of 1874 now housed in the Musee D'Orsay Paris named after the narcotic drink or Green Fairy seen on the table in front of Ellen (Could this be the insperation for the surreal day dreams that Amelie experiences?)

Degas and his artistic friends liked to get together in cafes. The painting depicts the interior of the Cafe de la Nouvelle Athenes (Could this be the insperation for setting much of the conversation in Amelie in the Two Moulins?) . Ellen is seen sitting next to Marcellin Desboutin, a writer, painter and printmaker. Her expression is glazed and vacant probably a result of the narcotic effect of Absinthe or Green Fairy a Hallucinigenic Drink popular amoungst Artists of the time including Degas, Manet, Gauguin, Van Gogh, Toulouse-Lautrec, and Picasso. Ellen Andree is said to have been angry that Degas had placed the glass in front of her as it gave the impression she was a prostitute, the painting led to an unwanted notoriety, she was referred to as a slut by writer George Moore.

I can help but feel that the Painting was carefully choosen by Jeunet and that it was pureposfully created as a 'clue' for filmgoers to investigate. Then perhaps its like Ninos photographs and there is no great mystery at all.

Having just watched 'The Girl with the Pearl Earring' I would love to see a film based on Ellen, there is such alot of material here and to see the lives of these famous painters portrayed though the life of Ellen Andree would make an excellent film.

An IMDb Readers thoughts

An IMDb reader two62guy highlighted that Raymond works hard on Ellens hair, the grabs below show painting #19 and #20 and what would seem to be a change from Red (as per the orginal Renior) to Black (As per Amelies hair) to quote two62guy "Raymond waited 20 years to meet someone like her". Also is Ellen 'missing' from Luciens version of the painting? I don't think so but note that in his painting Ellen wears blue and takes a Lady Di pose. Remember Luciens fixation with Diana and the arguement "Lady Di! Lady Di! Renior!"

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And here is the #21 painting, seems there might be something in this theory

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