Search - L' Apartment on DVD

L' Apartment

Actor(s): Romane Bohringer, Vincent Cassel, Monica Bellucci, Jean-Philippe Ecoffey
Director(s): Gilles Mimouni
5

Movie Details

MPAA Rating: R
Content Advisory: Brief Nudity, Adult Situations, Not For Children, Sexual Situations
Movie Release: 1996
DVD Release: 08/22/2006
Format: DVD - Color,Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV
Audio Tracks: French, Spanish
Subtitles: English, Spanish
SwapaDVD Credits: 1
Number of Discs: 1
Run Time: 1 hrs 56 mins
Studio: Lions Gate
Members Wishing: 14
Genres: Drama, Romantic Drama, Romantic Mystery

DVD Synopsis

With a plot more tangled than a spider's broken web, this French drama follows the romantic obsession of Max (Vincent Cassel), a young corporate hotshot who leaves his successful new world behind to search for his elusive lost love Lisa (Monica Bellucci). His mad quest begins after he accidentally overhears Lisa's melodic voice speaking in the phone booth next door. But before he knows it she is gone. Still, he is so elated that he abandons his plans, lies to his fiancee, and after leaving his luggage with his pal Lucien (Jean-Philippe Ecoffey), sets off to find her. The hunt leads to a fabulous apartment, where he saves a girl from a suicide thinking that she is Lisa. But this girl, Alice (Romane Bohringer) is as drab and mousy as Max's Lisa is beautifully feline. Max becomes involved with Alice, unaware that she also dates Lucien. Meanwhile the real Lisa attempts to break free from her obsessive rich lover who may have murdered his wife. For this reason, she continues to avoid her apartment, which she has generously loaned to Alice. When these characters collide, the stage is set for a tragic denouement. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Actors

Romane Bohringer - Alice
Vincent Cassel - Max
Monica Bellucci - Lisa
Jean-Philippe Ecoffey - Lucien

Member Movie Reviews

S A A. (Learned2Heal) wrote on 12/8/2008...

3 of 3 member(s) found this review helpful.

Now *that* is one helluva great mystery movie. I had to watch it 4 times to figure it out and even then, I needed help from the IMDB discussion boards. Near as I can tell, on those discussion boards only one person has managed to figure out the correct plot to this movie. When I read her/his post is when the AHA! dropped. I went back to watch it again and, sure enough, the poster was right. That was the only explanation of the plot that made sense and held it all together.

This is a superb movie, with great actors. Vincent Cassel strays from his usual bad-boy image and becomes a relatively clueless, befuddled guy, chasing a former lover who remains elusive. Monica Bellucci (Cassel's wife in real life) is gorgeous and definitely worth the chase. However, I have to disagree with Sandra Brennan (AMG reviewer) on two points:
1. Alice (Romane Bohringer) is far from drab and mousy. She is mysterious and enigmatic and very attractive.
2. Lisa loaned her car to Alice, not the apartment. She thinks the apartment is dangerous, that's why she won't go there herself. Alice goes there without permission, because she happens to have the key.

If you enjoy a well-made, maddeningly convoluted mystery, this movie will put you into seventh heaven.