parallels between this and Amelie

You hit some but there are more parallels waiting to be discovered and here are some of them -

Walking in spite of a tremendous obstacle.

Amelie - She took willing steps in spite of a shy, introverted impairment. For example, when she came to the porno shop and she stood transfixed on the number "10" outside the door until her feet took over and carried her into the "jungle". Continuing her walk remained an ongoing struggle.

AVLE - Manech's first question and words to Millie, "Does it hurt when you walk?" Notice she never, ever gave him a spoken answer and yet she never stopped answering that question! She never stopped her walk for him. And so it didn't hurt - so long as her steps were for his sake.

Trails -

Amelie - "Follow the blue arrows, Msr Quincampoix." It was all trails, everywhere.

AVLE - While Mildred walked one trail, Tina Lombardi followed a parallel trail, bringing us to another parallel...

Light -

Light is a constant in Amelie. The "orange-colored day" - and look at the canopy above the fourteen visible people bathed in orange light from above in The Luncheon of the Boating Party (Renoir's painting reproduced yearly by the Glassman, Raymond Dufayel)! Notice how the blind man looks up and sees orange light, how little Amelie towards the film's beginning in that beautiful wordless montage is at times ablaze with orange light, and little Amelie and little Nino both use mirrors to reflect light, and so very much more.

AVLE - Everything is light. The movie begins with light on a buried and forgotten church wall, the film opens up on January 6th, the day of Epiphany, the day the "Light was revealed unto all the earth", Manech is a lighthouse keeper's son, his first night with Mildred begins with a game involving light - igniting the matches - and his wound he was tried and convicted over he brought on himself with a light, 3 year old Mildred when confronted with her parent's memory chanted a puzzling phrase we can understand with light while those taking care of her missed it's true meaning. - on and on and on - but something else - Tina Lombardi, on that parallel road with Mildred, walks in darkness every time doing her work in tunnels and at night and that brings up another parallel...

Contrasting light with darkness!

AVLE - Tina's walk versus Mildred's walk. Tina walks in darkness for revenge and death while Millie walks in light for love and life.

Amelie - There is a contrast here as well but it is hidden. You have to understand that when Amelie sits in the theater and tells us 1, She likes "to turn around and look at the faces in the dark" and 2, "Notice what no one else sees", and 3, "She hates it when drivers do not watch the road" (trails), she is actually telling us three instructions for watching the movie Amelie! Talk about breaking the fourth wall!

And yes, there is an extremely dark side and a contrast in Amelie - notice how absolutely every new step Amelie takes in her life begins with death! Examples - The blue bug getting flattened, an empty table with a wind, and a lonely man erasing his friend's name from a book marks the moment of her conception and the first time she makes contact with Nino after she learns his name he is a skeleton. Right after that we see her imagining herself as dead with countless inconsolable mourners. In fact, there are too many examples to list here. But both films link light with life and darkness with death. Notice how Tina's dark walk ends with the widow-maker and her body shoved into a closed box and Millies' walk ends in a sunny garden.

And another parallel that is interesting - Rebuking the Catholic Church!

Amelie - Three rebukes:

One - how her mother died after prayer.
Two, the line of Catholic clergymen blocking Nino and not reacting when he tried to overtake the mystery man with red shoes, and
Three, at the end we see 14 Cardinals practicing their backhand in Montmarte's highest point - the Sacre Couer. Why?

Because from that vantage point the Cardinals could look out over a population in need of far more than a Cardinal with a practiced backhand. From there one can realize the vast population in need of willing feet. But the Cardinals do not see, they do not walk, and that brings us right back to Amelie's feet and Millie's limp.

AVLE - Two rebukes, I believe. The impatient priest on the phone and the sad parting when Millie runs and reaches the road thinking she will see Manech drive by and instead finds a priest driving by which leaves her sad and in a bit of a faith predicament, and a little dustier.

Anyway, there's five or six parallels to start with but it's only scratching the surface. We've a Very Long way to go, A Very Long Engagement if you will, before we have begun to actually understand the extent of the depths of Jeunet's themes his genious lays before us in these two incredible movies.

Look where no one else is looking and see what no one else sees.