Much before Audrey Tautou became a well-known celebrity through the Da Vinci Code; her original ticket to fame was the romantic comedy Amélie, Le Fabuleux Destin d’Amélie Poulain (English: The Fabulous Destiny of Amélie Poulain) the capricious 2001 French box office hit. Apart from winning the French Oscars, the popular César awards; Amélie was also a critical international success, getting nominated for five Academy Awards including Best Foreign Film besides winning several top awards at other global film festivals. In fact, The New York Times still considers it as one of ‘The Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made’.

While much of Amélie’s popularity has been credited to its idiosyncratic storyline and its skilled director – Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Alien Resurrection / City of Lost Children / Delicatessen), equal credit has been attributed to the gorgeous Parisian landscape and the dazzling soundtrack by the celebrated French musician and composer – Yann Tiersen (Goodbye Lenin).

Featuring largely an accordion and piano plus novel interludes of the banjo, harpsichord, bass guitar and vibraphone, Amélie’s avant-garde soundtrack is outstanding European sounding music with elements of bal-musette and contemporary classical, which you’ll relish for a long, long time. And believe us, this is no exaggeration. it’s still so fresh for the ears.

Amélie – Original Soundtrack – Yann Tiersen (in no partiuclar order)

• “J’y suis jamais allé”
• “Les Jours tristes” (Instrumental)
• “La Valse d’Amélie” (Original version)
• “Comptine d’un autre été: L’après-midi”
• “La Noyée”
• “L’Autre valse d’Amélie”
• “Guilty” (Al Bowlly)
• “À quai”
• “Le Moulin”
• “Pas si simple”
• “La Valse d’Amélie” (Orchestral version)
• “La Valse des vieux os”
• “La Dispute”
• “Si tu n’étais pas là (Fréhel)”
• “Soir de fête”
• “La Redécouverte”
• “Sur le fil”
• “Le Banquet”
• “La Valse d’Amélie” (Piano version)
• “La Valse des monstres”

Here’s the Spotify playlist of the entire album.