Amélie

Jean-Pierre Jeunet, along with former collaborator Marc Caro, is better known as a purveyor of nightmarish excursions into the fantastic - Delicatessen, City of Lost Children, Alien: Resurrection. But this romantic comedy drama enchants and beguiles with a nostalgic optimism thanks to its glorious visuals and ceaseless invention. Audrey Tautou is guaranteed iconic status as Amélie, the Montmartre waitress whose selfless joie de vivre leads her to improve the lives of her friends and neighbours. She only takes a break from her role of good fairy to pursue Mathieu Kassovitz, the handsome loner who collects rejected photo-booth snaps for his album of forgotten smiles. It has to be conceded that complaints of uncosmopolitan conservatism made against this film have some justification. But as a love letter to the City of Light - filmed at locations all around Paris yet retaining the stylised magic of a movie set - this is as deliciously romantic and ingeniously mischievous as cinema gets.