In the opening scene, it shows Amelie doing very typical activities that a child would do. This sets up the viewer to take into consideration Amelie’s youth and innocence. Amelie is shown putting raspberries on her fingers and I remembering doing that as a child, but I would always do that with my sister. The director purposely does this to show how Amelie lives a lonely life and is forced to always do things alone because no one pays attention to her. Another thing that the director makes very apparent is how strict Amelies parents are. Amelies dad shows no love towards his young daughter which is very strange. A father usually has a very special relationship with his first child. The mom is very strict as well, but it is portrayed that she is strict because she cares. Amelie is home-schooled and when Amelie got the answer wrong her mom smacks the ruler on the table. This shows that Amelies mother is strict about her education, but parents are strict about education because they want their children to do well. It seems as if this movie will have a common theme of Amelie struggling to get her dad’s attention and approval and her mom will struggle to balance wanting the best for her daughter and being strict.