L'appartement (1996)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

Gilles Mimouni

Writer:

Gilles Mimouni (writer)

Release Date:

27 July 1996 (Japan)

Genre:

Drama | Mystery | Romance

Plot:

Max is on his way to Tokyo. He lives in Paris and likes to flirt but has decided to get married. By chance...

Plot Keywords:

Buddy | Apartment | Airport | Nonlinear Timeline | Actress

Awards:

Won BAFTA Film Award. Another 1 win & 2 nominations

Cast

Romane Bohringer	...	Alice
Vincent Cassel	...	Max
Jean-Philippe Écoffey	...	Lucien
Monica Bellucci	...	Lisa
Sandrine Kiberlain	...	Muriel
Olivier Granier	...	Daniel
Paul Pavel	...	Jeweller
Nelly Alard	...	Madeleine
Bruno Leonelli	...	Alain Beccaria
Tateo Isaizaki	...	Japanese Businessman
Tsuyu Shimizu	...	Japanese Interpreter
Ricardo Mateo	...	Cafe Waiter
Vincent Nemeth	...	Barman
Bruno Fernández Vella	...	Video Technician
Juan Carlos Martín Alonso	...	Video Technician

Also Known As:

Flash-back (El apartamento) (Spain)
L'appartamento (Italy)
The Apartment

MPAA:

Rated R for some sexuality/nudity.

Runtime:

116 min

Country:

France | Spain | Italy

Language:

French | English | Japanese

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

UK:15 | USA:R (DVD) | Finland:K-15 (2006) | South Korea:18 | Australia:M

Filming Locations:

Estudios Los Angeles, Madrid, Spain

Company:

Cecchi Gori Group Tiger Cinematografica

Movie Connections:

References Vertigo (1958)

Soundtrack:

Le temps

Formidable!

This is an astonishing film: a romantic thriller with a convoluted but perfectly constructed and devastatingly symmetrical plot, brilliantly buttressed by the use of recurring visual motifs. Everything in it is beautifully filmed: the women, the apartments; but more amazing is the devastating juxtapositioning of images, almost every scene has echoes of another. This is a story told in light, in colour, in many almost-parallels. Every time I watch it, it fills me with delight.

The acting is great too. Romane Bohringer is stunning as a woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown: everything about her changes with her mood. Vincent Cassel plays a very different role to his part in La Haine; but no less excellently: shifty and sympathetic at the same time. And Monica Bellucci - ah!, Monica Bellucci, well, put simply, she plays (is?) the world's most perfect woman. There's one small scene about three quarters of the way through where she does nothing more than smile; yet in that instant, says more than hours of Hollywood junk.

One cannot do justice to this film without at least mentioning the superb, sequential climax: sad, shocking, ironic and subtle in turn. But if one moment captures the brilliance of this work, it's the scene at the start of this fabulous denouement, the prospect of which has been teasingly laid before us throughout the entire story. Yet when the moment comes, it is handled so delicately, so briefly, so deftly, that on reflection it makes you gasp. Only a director of staggering confidence would dare to underplay this vital point. But the confidence is justified. Cinema doesn't come much better than this.