Train Station Scene

I was watching Amelie once when I remembered a scene in the train station. (By the way, Amelie is an excellent magical realism film. Try it out. You might be surprised.) It's the scene where Amelie tells Nino to be at the photo booth at 5:15 and it is there that he figures out the mystery of the "ghost." Amelie sees him scrounging around for torn, discarded photos under the booth and she tentatively walks towards him. Before she reaches him, however, a cart towing luggage passes between them and Amelie stops and turns around. She closes her eyes and stands there for a minute, looking scared and conflicted. It seems to imply that she is still afraid to face Nino and the "reality check" that he represents. Of course, by the time the luggage cart rolls by and Amelie turns around, Nino is gone and the entire train station is suddenly devoid of people.

I sat there watching that scene and thought, "That scene represents my life." The scene was a surreal reflection of how my life felt suspended in that moment. I looked at how Amelie stood there, paralyzed and forlorn, her chance gone again. I contemplated how that seemed so much like what I was doing lately. Having things pass by me and not saying a word. Not taking a chance. Not approaching and seizing the moment. I suppose the train station is symbolic, too. Maybe representative of how trains take people places and Amelie just went to this waiting station not to go anywhere physically, but to go a new direction in her life. To meet someone. Meet someone at the intersection of so many different worlds. While everyone else was rushing off to catch a train or go about their business, she was a person standing still. A solitary bird in an ocean of moving, changing tides. In the scene, it was mostly she who was still. Her and Nino. AND SHE DIDN'T END UP MEETING HIM. She didn't meet the person she set out to meet. By the time the luggage cart passes, Nino is gone. Everyone is gone except for Amelie. Another chance gone by. Another moment lost.

Okay, I am taking this too far. I am probably taking this one scene too seriously. I mean, come on. It's three seconds on a screen. What about the rest of the movie? Well, I suppose I'll have to watch it again and find out.