The Apartment (1996)

A recently engaged man sees a former lover and becomes obsessed with meeting her again.

Director:

Gilles Mimouni

Writer:

Gilles Mimouni

Stars:

Romane Bohringer, Vincent Cassel, Jean-Philippe Écoffey

Won 1 BAFTA Film Award. Another 1 win & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Romane Bohringer	...	Alice
Vincent Cassel	...	Max Mayer
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

Storyline

Max is on his way to Tokyo. He lives in Paris and likes to flirt but has decided to get married. By chance, he seems to have seen Lisa, his greatest love, in a cafe. Max forgets everything, his trip to Tokyo and his fiance. Obsessed with meeting Lisa he finds out where she lives and hides in the apartment. However, a different girl, called Alice, finds Max in the flat. Alice looks quite similar to Lisa, and they have sex. To complicate matters further, Alice is also the girlfriend of Max's buddy Lucien and Lisa is followed by an older man.

---

Plot Keywords:

apartment | voyeur | infidelity | female nudity | female frontal nudity | 

---

Taglines:

A place where passion and destiny meet.

---

Genres:

Drama | Mystery | Romance

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for some sexuality/nudity

Did You Know?

Trivia

The play that features Lisa and Alice is 'A Midsummer's Night Dream' by William Shakespeare.

---

Quotes

Lisa: Do you often stalk people?

---

Connections

References Love on the Run (1979)

---

Soundtracks

Le temps
Music by Jeff Davis
Lyrics by Charles Aznavour
Performed by Charles Aznavour
Courtesy of EMI Music France

User Reviews

Silly French twaddle

A very confusing film with nods to Hitchcock, some very good photography and little else. The plot involves the Hitchcock staples of obsession and paranoia but lacks the ultimate touch of the master - suspense. I was told that this film was a 'must see' and how great it was and how wonderful the structure was and how engaging it all was. Well, do not waste the time because this film is a pretentious, overlong piece of French 'style' - lots of visual cleverness and moody pouting (called great acting when it is in a French film) but little substance. At the end you could not care less what happens to these self-obsessed characters and I must have had a bad day because I could not follow a lot of this. The film uses a fragmented narrative by presenting the sequences in flashback and in no particular order. We are shown scenes several times and with new perspectives each time so we can try to make sense of the story, if one can call it that. I had to resort to looking at the characters' hair in order to figure out when things were happening. There was also a great deal of symbolism - red rose, white rose, red walls, white shirts, long hair, short hair, red shoes and on and on and on until I yelled enough! The symbols, of course, go nowhere and are presented in sledgehammer fashion so that we can marvel at how clever it all is even though it makes no sense. This is "Single White Female" meets French pretension made by a director who has studied too many Hitchcock films but failed the exam.

Details

Country:

France Spain Italy

Language:

French English Japanese

Release Date:

2 October 1996 (France)

Also Known As:

The Apartment

Filming Locations:

Place Vendôme, Paris 1, Paris, France

Company Credits

Production Co:

Cecchi Gori Group Tiger Cinematografica, IMA Productions, La Sept Cinéma

Technical Specs

Runtime:

116 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1