Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain

photographed by: caro ramirez (website | blog | flickr); inspiration: le fabuleux destin d'amélie poulain (2001)

Starring Avalonne Hall.

When I was a kid, I loved playing with super glue with my fingers and spinning coins, although I didn't put raspberries on my fingers and eat them one by one, I wish I had thought of that. Suffice it to say, Amélie Poulain was a girl with her head in the clouds. She is a fantastically imaginative and wildly dreamy girl, with a cute angled bob and short bangs. She had her own way of perceiving the world: Amélie has no boyfriend, she tried once or twice, but the results were a letdown. Instead, she cultivates a taste for small pleasures: Dipping her hands into sacks of grain, cracking crème brûlées with a teaspoon, skimming stones on St. Martin's Canal.

Like Amélie, I have no boyfriend and I do enjoy the small pleasures in life, even though I also thoroughly enjoy reading 11,002 Things To Be Miserable About (since misery loves company). I do appreciate the small things in life and try to pay attention to the details. I, too, dip my hands into sacks of grain when I wash the rice, I don't eat crème brûlée, so I wouldn't be cracking them with teaspoons, but I love popping bubble wrap and tearing up paper and cardboard and I love skimming stones (something I learned to do when I was at camp at the age of nine). I loved taking photos for fun when I was a child and now my life revolves around taking photos.

Life's funny. To a kid, time always drags. Suddenly, you're 50. I guess in my case, I'm 22. Often I wonder how time flies by so quickly without any warning. When I was a child, an adolescent, all I wanted was time to fly by, so I can finally go to college and study film. Now it's my last semester, only three months before graduation and it has hit me. I'm going to be a real adult now. I'm going to have a find a job and start earning my own money. Three months left and then reality will finally hit me. I don't have time to spare, time is really fleeting. I'm 22 and before I know it, the next time I sit down to think, I'll be 50.

Amélie suddenly has a strange feeling of absolute harmony. It's a perfect moment. Soft light, a scent in the air, the quiet murmur of the city. She breathes deeply. Life is simple and clear. A surge of love, an urge to help mankind engulfs her. Amélie is such a wonderful human being, she makes me want to be a good person. Her naivety and charm are so endearing. This movie makes me want to cry. It makes me want to learn French again, because I really want to speak French fluently. The past weeks have been so enlightening and liberating, I feel the same sense of harmony that Amélie feels. I don't want this feeling to end.

Although, this beautiful film has given me hope to be free and imaginative, I can't help but to address a small feeling of loneliness deep inside my heart. Amélie was enchanting, adventurous and mischievous, but deep inside, she knew she used her wild imagination as a way to mask the fact that she's really truly lonely, after the death of her mother, her father's subsequent withdrawal and isolation from other children growing up. I feel a deep connection to her character and I hope one day, I can meet someone and have the courage to put myself in a vulnerable place again and start a relationship with another human being.

Amélie has taught me to be a fun-loving, goodhearted, kind spirited, imaginative, free, courageous and brave young woman. She has reminded me to enjoy the small pleasures in life. Now I feel like eating crème brûlée and raspberries one by one off of every finger, collect and skim stones, take photos at old photo booths, read, watch old movies! I had completely forgotten about the traveling gnome! Once I start traveling the world, I want to do my own series of a traveling toy or stuffed animal, we'll see. Last June, when I met Katrina of Pugly Pixel, I got a photo with Adeline's globetrotting doll named Ada, it was adorable.

Merci Amélie, Jean-Pierre Jeunet et Audrey Tautou, thanks for reminding me to love and enjoy life. A massive thank you to Caro (website | blog | flickr) for taking these photos. I hope you enjoy these photos, because I had a lot of fun perfecting my Amélie mischievous smile, we had a blast taking these photos, in my room and on Maiden Lane (we definitely garnered some attention). Thank you so much to Annie for inviting me to be one of the guest bloggers to write a post about a French Icon for her blog Time Enough for Drums. And of course, thank you to my amazing family and friends for being the most loving people in the world. I have to remind myself to be thankful every day for the people that are in my life, you guys make life worth living.

Without you, today's emotions would be the scurf of yesterday's. - Hipolito, The Writer

Want to look like or learn how to be like Mademoiselle Amélie Poulain? Click here.