On September 3rd 1973, at 6:28pm and 32 seconds, a bluebottle fly capable of 14,670 wing beats a minute landed on Rue St Vincent, Montmartre. At the same moment, on a restaurant terrace nearby, the wind magically made two glasses dance unseen on a tablecloth. Meanwhile, in a 5th-floor flat, 28 Avenue Trudaine, Paris 9, returning from his best friend's funeral, Eugène Colère erased his name from his address book. At the same moment, a sperm with one X chromosome, belonging to Raphaël Poulain, made a dash for an egg in his wife Amandine. Nine months later, Amélie Poulain was born.
NARRATOR
It's better to help people than garden gnomes.
AMÉLIE
Without you, today's emotions would be the scurf of yesterday's.
HIPOLITO
The fool looks at a finger that points at the sky.
SACRÉ-COUER BOY
With a prompter in every cellar window whispering comebacks, shy people would have the last laugh.
NARRATOR
At least you'll never be a vegetable - even artichokes have hearts.
AMÉLIE
We pass the time of day to forget how time passes.
HIPOLITO
Life's funny. To a kid, time always drags. Suddenly you're fifty. All that's left of your childhood... fits in a rusty little box.
DOMINIQUE BRETODEAU
A woman without love wilts like a flower without sun.
NEWSSTAND WOMAN
Times are hard for dreamers.
EVA
So, little Amélie, your bones aren't made of glass. You can take life's knocks. If you let this chance go by, eventually your heart will become as dry and brittle as my skeleton. So go and get him, for pete's sake!
RAYMOND DUFAYEL
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