L'Appartement

Infobox Film
name = L'Appartement


image_size = 200px
caption =
director = Gilles Mimouni
producer = Georges Benayoun
writer = Gilles Mimouni
starring = Vincent Cassel
Monica Bellucci
music = Peter Chase
cinematography = Thierry Arbogast
editing =
distributor = Cinemien
released = flagicon|France 2 October, 1996
flagicon|Australia 13 February, 1997
flagicon|UK 5 September, 1997
runtime = 116 min
country = France
language = French
amg_id =
imdb_id = 0115561
budget =

"L'Appartement" is a 1996 French film directed by Gilles Mimouni and starring Vincent Cassel, Monica Bellucci and Romane Bohringer.

Plot

Max (Vincent Cassel) is a former playboy who decides to settle down and get married to his boss' sister, Muriel. By chance, he catches glimpse of his great lost love, Lisa (Monica Bellucci) in a cafe but fails to make contact before she storms out. Determined to meet her, Max cancels his business trip abroad to pursue her, finds out where she lives, then hides in her apartment.

However, when a different girl returns she suspects Max of being a burglar and begins to attack him. Max calms her down and is shocked at her remarkable resemblance to Lisa. The girl's name is Alice (Romane Bohringer) who claims to be a nurse and not know who Lisa is. Though the two become romantically linked, Max is still obsessed with Lisa.

Flashbacks are intertwined with the current narrative which provide us with backstories for Max, Lisa and Alice, shedding further light on the present situation. We learn that Alice and Lisa are in fact best friends, and that Alice had become obsessed with Max from a distance, restyling herself to look like Lisa while secretly engineering a break up between them.

Meanwhile, Lisa is being pursued by an obsessive rich lover who may have murdered his wife to get closer to Lisa. For this reason she avoids her flat, and instead loans it to Alice. To complicate matters further, Alice happens to be dating Max's best friend, Lucien, who acts as the confidant for Max.

Eventually, the truth begins to unravel in front of everyone's eyes leading to dramatic and life changing consequences for all involved.

Reception

The film has generally been received positively by critics who praised it for its complex plot and stylish direction. [http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2000/12/05/lappartement_1997_review.shtml BBC review] ]

The film was remade in America as "Wicker Park" in 2004.

Cast

*Vincent Cassel - Max
*Monica Bellucci - Lisa
*Romane Bohringer - Alice
*Jean-Philippe Écoffey - Lucien
*Sandrine Kiberlain - Muriel
*Olivier Granier - Daniel

References

External links

*imdb title|id=0115561|title=L'Appartement
* [http://www.cinemademerde.com/Essay-Lappartment%20Wicker%20Park.shtml L'Appartement on Wicker Park: Detailed comparison between original and remake. ]

###@@@KEY@@@###succession box
title=BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language
years=1997
before="Ridicule"
after="Central Station"