FUSSY IN KRAKÓW: FILM AMÉLIE – HOW FOOD CONNECTS KIND PEOPLE

Welcome to the first part of my new series: food in art and literature. I'd like to start with "Amélie" – my favourite film about love, loneliness and, of course, food.

I'm sure you all remember the famous food scenes, such as Amélie's delight in cracking crème brûlée or the way she ate raspberries off her fingertips. Actually, the topic is so vast that one could write a whole book about food and drink in this film. But this time I've decided to focus only on how food helps the characters (especially the nice ones) connect with others, proving that Julia Child was right – "People who love to eat are always the best people".

Eating in France is a form of a social ritual. Friends and families gather around the table, munching at French delicacies, sipping wine and enjoying each other's company for hours on end. This social function is visible in the film in the café where Amélie works as a waitress. In Des 2 Moulins café on Montmartre in Paris, patrons drink kir (white wine with crème de cassis, or blackcurrant liqueur) and mauresque (anise–flavored liqueur called pastis mixed with almond syrup) and have long discussions about love, life, and latest gossip.

In stark contrast to this lively place, there is a melancholic scene of Amélie cooking pasta only for herself. She looks out of the window and notices her neighbour, 'The Glass Man', who also has dinner in absolute solitude. Fortunately, after a while the two become friends and spend time together eating speculoos (Dutch ginger biscuits) dipped in mulled wine. (By the way, it seems to be a peculiar choice of snacks for a hot summer, don't you think? ;))

The Glass Man also connects people over a meal in another, more metaphorical way – each year he paints a copy of Renoir's “Luncheon of the Boating Party” and every time he paints different dishes on the table. “They look quite happy there”, says Amélie. “They should be”, he replies. “This year they had hare with morels. And waffles with jam for the children”. :)

Luncheon of the Boating Party, Renoir, 1880-1881, source: wikipedia

Love for food also helps some of the characters win over new friends, especially in the case of a mentally challenged Lucien. Working for the greengrocer, Lucien treats every fruit and vegetable like a precious treasure that should be handled with respect and gentleness. Amélie, who herself appreciates small pleasures, such as plunging her hand deep into a sack of grain, understands his childlike need to take delight in everyday life. That's why there's a thread of understanding between these two characters, both of whom dislike Lucien's surly, philistine boss, Mr. Collignon.

Similar joie de vivre (and joie de manger) characterizes Dominique Bretodeau, a man who used to live in the same house as Amélie. Every week Bretodeau buys a fresh chicken at the market, roasts it and savours the most delicate pieces of meat. However since the split with his daughter many years ago, this weekly ritual serves as a painful reminder of his loneliness. But thanks to Amélie's intervention, he decides to reconcile with his daughter and towards the end of the film we can see a heart-warming family reunion: Dominique carves a roasted chicken but this time he doesn't eat the best morsels himself – he gives them to his little grandson. Once again food becomes a means of showing love and affection.

And the most moving scene in the whole film is the baking scene. At the end of the film, Amélie makes her famous plum cake (identified by some bloggers as kouign-amann), fantasizing that she prepares it for her sweetheart, Nino. When she notices that she's run out of yeast, she imagines Nino running to the shop downstairs, buying yeast and quietly coming back home to surprise her. When she realizes that it is a cat, not Nino, who has actually entered the kitchen, she bursts into tears. However in some magical way the cake baking really brings Nino to Amélie's apartment and the whole story has a happy ending. I only wonder if Amélie and Nino have finally managed to bake and eat the plum cake? ;)