“L’air d’accordéon, les quartiers villageois, le drapeau français, on peut aussi en avoir peur. La France est quand même un petit pays assez médiocre avec un lourd passé collabo !?

So exclaimed a reporter when asking Jean-Pierre Jeunet about how the public might read his recent release, Le Fabuleux Destin d’Amélie Poulain (2001). Jeunet has said that his overriding goal was to make a positive film that would leave viewers happy, but, despite his good intentions, journalists have seriously questioned the ideology of his film, accusing him of presenting a vision of Paris that played into the hands of the Front National. Calling the motion picture reactionary, retrograde, and reductionist, Serge Kaganski faulted Amélie for retreating to a nostalgic past, for presenting a “loathesome” Paris, “cleansed” of its multiple races, ethnicities, and sexual orientations.” But is the nostalgic view of Paris presented in Amélie an endorsement of the ideology of the Far Right, even implicitly? While it certainly does focus on the celebration of traditional community networks over modern isolation, it does not seem to reject individualism, nor does it endorse exclusion or a “traditional way of life.” In fact, it celebrates the uniqueness and individuality of its characters.

Another recent motion picture that explores similar themes of community and isolation through the eyes of a female heroine is Cédric Klapisch’s Chacun Cherche Son Chat (1996). Chacun is the story of Chlöe, a lonely woman living in the Bastille area of Paris, a neighborhood in transition from working-class enclave to trendy quartier. Chacun is arguably a more “realistic” representation of contemporary Paris than Amélie’s rosy Montmartre, particularly in its diverse cast of characters and its presentation of the social problems inherent in urbanization, but both films use iconic images to portray a certain idea of Parisian life, from concierges and bistros to cafés and markets. While playing on similar notions of “Frenchness,” Amélie and Chacun represent two very different responses to the problem of reconciling traditional notions of French cultural identity with a rapidly changing urban landscape.

The overall goal of my paper will be to examine the visions of Parisian life presented in these two films, in particular, the challenge of portraying diversity, exclusion, and community transformation within the framework of the romantic comedy formula. The paper will build on my prior research into media representations and national identity, most notably in my dissertation (Negotiating Culture: Hollywood and the Renewal of French Cinema, 1945-1954) and my film review of Le Fabuleux Destin d’Amélie Poulain for French Politics, Culture & Society (Spring 2002).