#amelie.

but this is not a movie.

there is no script to follow, no second takes if they get it wrong. they were not written to fit perfectly like the last two puzzle pieces. there were secrets untold, parts of themselves held too deep for too long, ones that would come out when they least expect it. the future holds too much unpredictability. everything in her wants to slam the door and leave the questions unanswered.

- HE'S DIFFERENT.

amelie's never been one for believing in a happy ending, not for herself. no one in any of the multitude of stories told for centuries came with her particular brand of neuroticism and baggage, a unsettling blend of incessant need to go unnoticed contrasted with the quiet desire to be seen.

nino... he sees her. whether she's ready for him to or not.

and so, she does the only thing she can - SHE LEANS IN AND GOES FOR IT ANYWAY.

If you like horror/mystery visual novels and lesbians, you'll love "Amelie."

I really enjoyed drawing these characters they're all so cute.

Steam link under the cut! ミ☆

the amèlie bergstein renaissance: it's her world and we are just living in it. it's easy to judge when you don't know anything behind the camera, especially when talking about such a cultural icon, but she knows more than anyone how it is to go from the rags to the riches.

born cindy dunne, she was the first child of jane dunne, who was barely 18 when her daughter was born. though she doesn't recall her father, amèlie claims to be of Italian ancestry by his side. she had a younger brother, johnny, whom she spent her childhood taking care of due her mother's troubled nature.

"i don't remember if there was ever a time where my mother wasn't drunk around us. nowadays i kinda understand her: she was very young and alone. it doesn't justify, but... anyway, with lots of men arriving and leaving the house all the time, i learned from a young age that if I had something that people wanted, especially my body in this case, i should give it with no fight. i carried this mentality to my time working in los angeles and new york, part of why it took me so many years to realize that, essentially, the film industry works in an unethical way for women. i always thought it was, somehow, fair of them, because that's what i believed while growing up. you want my body for something? alright. you want me to sleep with this director so I can be in the picture? great. just take it, actually, don't even ask. to this day, i stil struggle believing that nothing that happened to me was my fault, because i never felt particularly ashamed when those things were happening."

she only attended school time enough to learn how to write and read. bergstein ran away from home after her stepfather started to sexually abuse her regularly, hitchhiking until arriving in new york, a place she thought where people wouldn't mind her young age and lack of education. she was introduced to the acting world by her first husband, alan foster, who was 41 at the time and an upcoming filmmaker. they got married in 1974, when amèlie was only 15.

"i'd be on the side of the road, waiting for any truck to pick me up. i didn't have to wait for a long time because i was very young and my face definitely showed it, even if my body didn't match my age. those drivers obviously wanted something in exchange, and never once i blinked because i just thought that's how the world was. that's how i arrived in new york, at 13, almost 14. i met alan on the streets, he was looking for young girls to film a doccumentary about runaways. it's weird, obviously, but how would i know? i remember he was very kind to me, and started showing up everyday and paying for all my hours, so he'd have time to film me more. after two weeks of that, i guess, he said if i married him i'd sleep safe and in a nice house. so i did. a friend of him signed the papers as a my mother, allowing me to marry him. i know it was wrong, you don't have to look at me like that, but he was very nice, alright? things could have been a lot worse."

she has thirteen acting credits as cindy dunne, mostly playing risky teenagers. however, she began calling herself amèlie bergstein by her husband's suggestion, when foster said to think of real name as too common. she claims to have decided her artistic name alone. her first credit as amèlie bergstein belongs to kids in hate, one of alan foster's first movies and also her first leading role. though it had a poor critical reception, kids in hate received a good response from the public and helped launching amèlie's career. she instantly began to appear in more movies and even started to work in television. due to her rising popularity, she divorced from foster in 1976, at 17, to avoid possible scandals. in 1979, she was described in an article for vanity fair as "the most promising star of the decade."

"you know, my first roles were always topless girl, hot girl next-door. when i started doing tv, i had a regular character in one of those soap operas, and she was an innocent hillbilly who lived so far from the cities that she didn't know the men were harassing her all the time. she'd wear tops and tiny shorts. now it's bittersweet to remember that, because i know they were making fun of me. then they decided i should become a little more polished and started giving me other roles, but i was always the hot girl somehow. and i loved it, truly. it was the only time people paid me attention, so be it. i was condemned to be the gorgeous and sexy woman for the rest of my career, and it's a role i play quite well. that's who i have been for my all of my life, actually, so i don't know how to be anything else even in my personal life. i can be jogging, someone will pass by me and i will think 'i bet i can shock them if i start walking in a sexier way'. in the last few years, i've decided to accept, maybe embrace a little, this huge part of me. i'm far from being the perfect victim of the industry, that's the truth."

AMELIE: Guess who is coming to Chicago to be the best bridesmaid in the story of all bridesmaids?