"Of the rapturous reception that Amélie has garnered among fans, Jeunet remembers that "when I was writing it, I was thinking 'who will be interested in this bullshit?'" but, "at the end of the film, we could feel something, it was special, there was something in the air, a buzz, you know?" Many fans feel a deep connection to the character, which he says is, "a dream for every director, every creator. Because you make something so personal and it becomes a huge success, it was a perfect win." Jeunet says that "it's difficult to understand, but there is something about generosity, Amélie doesn’t want anything in return, and I think that is one of the secrets, and it speaks about the little pleasures in life." He also attributes the post-9/11 release in the U.S. to the way in which audiences wanted to connect to a film like this."

"I had two heart attacks, an abortion because I smoked crack while I was pregnant. Besides that, I'm fine. [to her father, who is not paying attention]"

"Q: Why do you think Amélie resonates so well with audiences? Jeunet: We have several strong ideas in Amélie, but the main of course is the story of someone helping other people and not wanting something in return. Amélie does that for free. It's about generosity and I think especially in this crazy world we need some positive stories. Also, everything Amélie loves – like putting her hand in the grains – these small details are touching for everybody."

"FILMMAKER: In Amélie, you are working with locations and exteriors for the first time, but the way you've manipulated the images in postproduction "interiorizes" it all in a way. JEUNET: I tried to work outside as if I was on a stage. We modified a lot of the reality. But it was important that the film take place in the Paris of today, not in some kind of timeless dimension. For example, we changed things on the walls, got rid of graffiti, added signs. We made sure there were modern objects, ugly things in the corners of rooms. Then in postproduction, if we did not like a face in one corner, "Bye-bye people." FILMMAKER: Again, the idea of every frame like a painting. JEUNET: Yes. I hate white skies."

"The titular heroine's search for love and meaning in Montmartre made the world fall for her and the city as viewed through her eyes. Amélie, released in 2001, is one of the UK's highest-grossing foreign language films. But 15 years later, does its director Jean-Pierre Jeunet (pictured below) think he could make the film today given the tragic events the city has faced? "This period is more cynical, especially in France," says Jeunet from his Parisian office. "Fifteen years ago I showed the film in Toronto and the day after the screening it was 9/11. I was stunned like everybody, and I thought – Amélie is finished in the USA. But it was the opposite. People need positive stories, they need something with joy, something light. "Just two days ago it was screening in a theatre in Paris packed full of young people. Everybody had seen the film before – only two people hadn't – but when you have something positive in a story, it's always a success because it's not easy to write a positive story without it being sugary like stupid American films.""

"Jean-Pierre Jeunet's Amelie is a delicious pastry of a movie, a lighthearted fantasy in which a winsome heroine overcomes a sad childhood and grows up to bring cheer to the needful and joy to herself. You see it, and later when you think about it, you smile. Audrey Tautou, a fresh-faced waif who looks like she knows a secret and can't keep it, plays the title role, as a little girl who grows up starving for affection. Her father, a doctor, gives her no hugs or kisses and touches her only during checkups—which makes her heart beat so fast he thinks she is sickly. Her mother dies as the result of a successful suicide leap off the towers of Notre Dame, a statement which reveals less of the plot than you think it does."

"[Mme. Wallace is reading an old letter from her long-deceased husband.] Mme. Wallace: "When my sweet little weasel appears at the station…" Did anyone ever write you like that? Amélie: No. I'm nobody's little weasel [Je ne suis la belette de personne]."

"Little boy: Quand le doigt montre le ciel, l' imbécile regarde le doigt"

"Newsstand Woman: Une femme sans amour, c'est comme une fleur sans soleil, ça dépérit."

"It's better to help people than garden gnomes."

"Eva: Les temps sont durs pour les rêveurs."

"Amelie still seeks solitude. She amuses herself with silly questions about the world below... such as, "how many couples are having an orgasm right now?""

"In such a dead world, Amelie prefers to dream until she's old enough to leave home"

"Nino is late. Amelie can only see two explanations. 1 - he didn't get the photo. 2 - before he could assemble it, a gang of bank robbers took him hostage. The cops gave chase. They got away... but he caused a crash. When he came to, he'd lost his memory. An ex-con picked him up, mistook him for a fugitive, and shipped him to Istanbul. There he met some Afghan raiders who took him to steal some Russian warheads. But their truck hit a mine in Tajikistan. He survived, took to the hills, and became a Mujaheddin. [Increasingly angry] Amelie refuses to get upset for a guy who'll eat borscht all his life in a hat like a tea cozy."

"In the apartment downstairs from Amélie lives Raymond Dufayel; they call him "The Glass Man." He was born with bones as brittle as crystal. All his furniture is padded. A handshake could crush his fingers. He's stayed inside for twenty years. Time has changed nothing."

"Voilà, ma petite Amélie, vous n'avez pas des os en verre. Vous pouvez vous cogner à la vie. Si vous laissez passer cette chance, alors avec le temps, c'est votre cœur qui va devenir aussi sec et cassant que mon squelette. Alors, allez y, nom d'un chien!"

"C'est l'angoisse du temps qui passe qui nous fait tant parler du temps qu'il fait."

"Et de ratage en ratage, on s'habitue à ne jamais dépasser le stade du brouillon. La vie n'est que l'interminable répétition d'une représentation qui n'aura jamais lieu."

"Sans toi, les émotions d'aujourd'hui ne seraient que la peau morte des émotions d'autrefois."

"Vous au moins, vous ne risquez pas d'être un légume, puisque même un artichaut a du cœur."

"I'm always anxious thinking I'm not living my life to the fullest, you know? Taking advantage of every possibility? Just making sure that I'm not wasting one second of the little time I have."

"Mark Ruffalo – Stan"

"Tom Wilkinson – Howard"

"Elijah Wood – Patrick"

"Kirsten Dunst – Mary"

"Kate Winslet – Clementine"

"Jim Carrey – Joel"

"Adults are, like, this mess of sadness and phobias."

"[Quoting Friedrich Nietzsche] "Blessed are the forgetful: for they get the better even of their blunders.""

"[Quoting Alexander Pope] "How happy is the blameless vestal's lot! The world forgetting, by the world forgot. Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind! Each prayer accepted, and each wish resigned.""

"People don’t understand how lonely it is to be a kid."

"I don't need nice. I don't need myself to be it, and I don't need anybody else to be it at me."

"You look familiar. Ever shop at Barnes & Noble?"

"I'm not a concept. Too many guys think I'm a concept or I complete them or I'm going to make them alive, but I'm just a fucked up girl who is looking for my own peace of mind. Don't assign me yours."

"I'm a vindictive little bitch, truth be told."

"I apply my personality in a paste."

"… you stop listening to what is true, and what is true is constantly changing."

"Drink up, young man. It'll make the whole seduction part less repugnant."

"I ditched work today. Took a train out to Montauk. I don't know why, I'm not an impulsive person."

"I loved you on this day. I love this memory."

"I could die right now, I'm just … happy. I've never felt that before. I'm just exactly where I want to be."

"It's all being wiped away."

"Are we like those bored couples you feel sorry for in restaurants? Are we the dining dead?"

"Constantly talking isn't necessarily communicating."

"This is working like gangbusters!"

"Random thoughts for Valentine's Day, 2004. Today is a holiday invented by greeting card companies. To make people feel like crap."

"She was nice. Nice is good."

"I'm constitutionally incapable of making eye-contact with a woman I don't know."