Whenever this film was shot on location, Jean-Pierre Jeunet and the crew would clean the area of debris, grime, trash and graffiti, so that the real settings would match the fantastic nature of the film. This was an especially difficult task when it came time to shoot at the huge train station.
Audrey Tautou doesn't know how to skip stones; the stone-skipping scenes were made with special effects.
The main colors in the film (green, yellow and red) are inspired by the paintings of the Brazilian artist Juarez Machado.
The traveling gnome was inspired by a rash of similar pranks played in England and France in the 1990s. In 1997, a French court convicted the leader of Front de Libération des Nains de Jardins (Garden Gnome Liberation Front) of stealing over 150 gnomes. The idea was later used in an advertising campaign for an Internet travel agency.
It was in 1974 that Jean-Pierre Jeunet began collecting the memories and events that make up the story of Amélie.
Jean-Pierre Jeunet: [orphans] Death of Amélie's mother. An orphan is considered to have lost both parents. As Amélie's father is still alive, she is not considered an orphan. However, Jean-Pierre Jeunet often portrays children who have suffered the loss of one or both parents.