This story of an innocent young lady started out as a huge hit in France, where audiences raved about its magical and enchanting spell.

Amelie is a shy woman with a taste for all of life's small pleasures: immersing one's hand in a sack of grain, cracking the crust of a crème brulée with the back of a teaspoon or skimming stones on the Canal Saint Martin.

Amelie, beautifully played by Audrey Tautou, is also a daydreaming waitress in Paris, surrounded by eccentrics in her Montmartre neighbourhood.

One night she discovers an old box of childhood treasures hidden beneath the floorboards in her flat.

Anonymously, she returns the mementoes to their rightful owner and watches from a distance as his life is transformed by the discovery.

Here begins her odyssey: a series of inventive plans to straighten out other people's lives.

As if by magic, Amelie begins to transform the lives of her ordinary neighbours - mostly for the better, if they've earned it, and occasionally for the worse, if they deserve it - but she always hides behind a veil of mystery and anonymity.

This works for her until she meets an intriguing young man named Nino.

Now the question is: will she have the courage to do for herself what she has done for others?

A few critics have labelled this film 'sugary', an idealised portrait of modern-day Paris - but most audiences have found it a wonderful, sentimental and heady tale.

The film is directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Delicatessen, City of Lost Children), whose mind is clearly overflowing with amazing ideas.

Amelie has been a mammoth hit in its native France, where it has been single-handedly credited with lifting the home-grown film industry out of the doldrums.

A great anchoring performance from Audrey Tautou amidst old-fashioned sentiment and state-of-the-art visual effects.

Natalie Stone