'Amélie,? 'In The Bedroom? share surreal, dreamy quality

"Amlie"

Directed by: Jean-Pierre Jeunet

Starring: Audrey Tautou

Rated: R

"In The Bedroom"

Directed by: Todd Field

Starring: Sissy Spacek, Marisa To-mei, Tom Wilkinson, Nick Stahl

Rated: R

This week we take a look at two distinctly different films that nonetheless have a few common bonds. It's mostly a matter of "feel."

Both "Amlie," from stylish French di-rector Jean-Pierre Jeunet, and "In the Bedroom," the directorial debut from actor Todd Field, possess a surreal, dreamy quality that can be quite soothing in one case ("Amlie") and somewhat disturbing in the other ("In the Bed-room").

Jean-Pierre Jeunet (along with then co-director Marc Caro), first came to Am-erican attention with "Delicatessen" a post-apocalyptic black comedy that made cannibalism seem sort of funny. Next came the wild ride of "City of Lost Children," a film so visually stunning and cleverly crafted it should be a staple of everyone's DVD collection. Jeunet then went solo and made his American debut with "Alien Resurrection," a film not particularly warmly received by critics or fans.

The director has gone back to the French cinema and broadens his scope with the sweetly fascinating "Amlie."

Played by Audrey Tautou whom I will refrain from referring to as a "gamine" since she's been described that way in 99 percent of the articles I've read Amlie is a quiet young waitress who lives on the brink of a fantasy world she created while growing up as an isolated only child.

Hearing the news of Princess Di's de-mise changes her life. This change DOES come about because of the tragic news but not in the way one might expect. Jeunet has always played with the concept of synchronicity, or seren-dipity, or whatever you want to call it when one event leads to another and another. He's always followed the little, seemingly disconnected, routes.

Amlie decides she will devote her life to making good things happen for the people around her without their knowing about it. She sets about this task with much vigor, and a favorite part for me is the one sort of "naughty" routine she goes through to see to it the gruff grocery store operator gets what he deserves.

Along the way Amlie discovers there are things she'd like to do for herself, so she concocts a scheme for this as well.

"Amlie" is extremely sweet without ever being sappy, has a lot of the visual camera play that has been present in Jeunet's previous work and (there's something to be said for this next fact) is the most successful film in the history of French cinema.

The film has an exclusive engagement at the Springfield 8 and hopefully is still running. Do not miss it.

On the other side of the coin is a decidedly less "feel good" but equally worthy film from first-time director Todd Field.

"In the Bedroom" is one of those mo-vies that languishes over the feelings and emotions of the moment, drawing the viewer into its world as it does. The film brings to mind the same emotional territory visited in Atom Egayan's "The Sweet Hereafter," and like that film it dwells not so much on the tragedy of the victims but on the feelings of those who are left behind.

Set in a New England fishing village, the film at first revolves around the summer romance between Frank Fowler, son of the local doctor, and soon-to-be-divorced Natalie Strout, an older woman with two young sons. Her jealous, spoiled, rich kid of a husband enters the picture and sets off a chain of events that the typical Hollywood film would deal with in quite a different manner. Field goes about telling the story quietly, almost painfully so, and focuses on emotion rather than action.

This film is hard to review because one shouldn't know too much upon entering its world.

With that in mind, suffice it to say that Sissy Spacek is at her best here, and she already has won the acting prize at the Sundance Film Festival and a Golden Globe for her performance. She will surely be an Oscar contender.

Tom Wilkinson ("The Full Monty") plays his Maine doctor so smoothly one forgets he's a "veddy British" stage actor. And Marisa Tomei, despite the fact that she has actually won an Oscar, should consider erasing her past and making "In the Bedroom" a starting point for her new career as a serious actress.

Field makes an impressive debut with a film that is quietly devastating and will haunt most viewers long after the final credits roll.

(Jim Wunderle works at Associated Video Producers and is a Springfield free-lance writer and musician.)