The Apartment (1996 film): Difference between revisions

The Apartment
The Apartment
Directed by	Gilles Mimouni
Written by	Gilles Mimouni
Produced by	Georges Benayoun
Starring	Romane Bohringer; Vincent Cassel; Jean-Philippe Écoffey; Monica Bellucci
Cinematography	Thierry Arbogast
Music by	Peter Chase
Distributed by	Cinemien
Release date	2 October 1996;
Running time	116 minutes
Country	France
Language	French
Budget	$4.7 million
Box office	$1.1 million

Browse history interactively

← Previous edit Next edit →

Content deleted Content added

VisualWikitext

Inline

Revision as of 10:54, 2 February 2024

The Apartment (French: L'Appartement) is a 1996 French drama film directed by Gilles Mimouni, and starring Romane Bohringer, Vincent Cassel, Jean-Philippe Écoffey and Monica Bellucci.

Plot

Max (Vincent Cassel) is a former bohemian and an amateur writer who gets a job in New York and leaves his girlfriend Lisa (Monica Bellucci), with whom he was madly in love, in mysterious circumstances. After two years, he returns home to Paris, and decides to settle down and gets engaged to Muriel (Sandrine Kiberlain). By chance, he catches a glimpse of his lost love, Lisa, in a café, but fails to make contact with her before she storms out. Determined to meet her, Max secretly cancels his business trip abroad to pursue his lost love. Through a series of ruses and perseverance, he enters Lisa's apartment. Hearing that somebody else has arrived, he hides in her wardrobe.

First, he thinks it is Lisa, as the girl who came to the apartment resembles Lisa from behind. After several misunderstandings, they finally get acquainted. The girl introduces herself as Lisa. The same night, they make love, and their relationship starts to develop. The girl's real name is Alice (Romane Bohringer). During the film, flashbacks are intertwined with the narrative to provide a background for Max, Lisa, and especially for Alice, shedding light on the situation.

The flashbacks show that Alice and Lisa were best friends, living in apartments on the same floor of two facing buildings, and that Alice became obsessed with Max, Lisa's then-boyfriend, from a distance. She restyled herself to look like Lisa while secretly engineering a breakup between them. Lisa is a stage actress and leaves abruptly for a two-month tour, giving Alice a letter to deliver to Max asking him to wait for her; Alice never sends the letter. Max, believing Lisa left because she didn't love him, accepts a job in New York and leaves. Upon her return, Lisa is heartbroken that Max has left her and leaves on a cruise (a gift from Alice) to ease her mind, where she meets a rich, married older man named Daniel.

Lisa is being pursued by Daniel, who might have murdered his wife to get closer to her. For this reason, she avoids her flat and lets Alice use it. To complicate matters further, Alice is dating Max's best friend, Lucien, who is also Max's confidante.

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

In a sub-plot, Alice is seen to be acting in Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream, drawing comparisons between the four lovers in the film and those in the play; it is arguable that the whole film is a rendition of the play.

The film begins and ends in "reality" where Max and Muriel lead a futile, vacuous but bourgeois life in high finance (and the implication being that Muriel is the boss's daughter, thus imitating Egeus' involvement in Hermia's marriage to Demetrius in Midsummer Night's Dream), but almost all the action takes place in a dreamlike trance where the lovers don't really know whom they love. Lucien is always faithful to Alice, and pursues her, but both Alice and Lisa (who, as their names imply, are reflections of each other) initially both love Max, and Max, although madly in love with Lisa, turns to Alice after reading her diary, just before reality dawns and he accepts his fate with Muriel. Lisa returns to her apartment and is confronted by Daniel, who drops a lighter on the floor (covered in gasoline) causing the apartment to explode and blowing Lucien through the window of a café across the street. Alice leaves her life behind and flies to Rome, bidding Max one last farewell glance as he embraces Muriel at the airport.

Cast

Vincent Cassel as Max
Romane Bohringer as Alice
Monica Bellucci as Lisa
Jean-Philippe Écoffey as Lucien
Sandrine Kiberlain as Muriel
Olivier Granier as Daniel
Édouard Baer as Theater Actor

Reception

The film was generally well received by critics, who praised it for its complex plot and stylish direction.^[2] In 1998, the film won a BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language and the first British Independent Film Award for the Best Film in a Foreign Language.

The film was also a modest hit in France with 55,565 admissions its opening weekend and 152,714 admissions total.^[1] Although the film was never released theatrically in the United States, it was released on DVD on August 22, 2006. The film was remade in the United States as Wicker Park in 2004.

References

^ ^a ^b "L\'Appartement (1996) – JP Box-Office". www.jpbox-office.com.
^ "BBC – Films – review – L'Appartement". www.bbc.co.uk.

External links

L'Appartement at IMDb

[JPBox_Office-1] "L\'Appartement (1996) – JP Box-Office". www.jpbox-office.com.

[test-2] "BBC – Films – review – L'Appartement". www.bbc.co.uk.

[1]

[2]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 {{Infobox film
-| name            = The Apartment
+| name           = The Apartment
-| image           = L%27appartement.jpg
+| image          = L%27appartement.jpg
-| caption         =
+| caption        =
-| alt             =
+| alt            =
-| director        = [[Gilles Mimouni]]
+| director       = [[Gilles Mimouni]]
-| producer        = [[Georges Benayoun]]
+| producer       = [[Georges Benayoun]]
-| writer          = Gilles Mimouni
+| writer         = Gilles Mimouni
-| starring        = [[Vincent Cassel]]<br />[[Monica Bellucci]]
+| starring       = [[Romane Bohringer]]<br />[[Vincent Cassel]]<br />[[Jean-Philippe Écoffey]]<br />[[Monica Bellucci]]
-| music           = [[Peter Chase]]
+| music          = [[Peter Chase (composer)|Peter Chase]]
-| cinematography  = [[Thierry Arbogast]]
+| cinematography = [[Thierry Arbogast]]
-| editing         =
+| editing        =
-| distributor     = [[Cinemien]]
+| distributor    = [[Cinemien]]
-| released        = {{Film date|1996|10|2|df=y}}
+| released       = {{Film date|1996|10|2|df=y}}
-| runtime         = 116 minutes
+| runtime        = 116 minutes
-| country         = France
+| country        = France
-| language        = French
+| language       = French
-| budget          = €4,700,000
+| budget         = $4.7 million
+| gross          = $1.1 million<ref name="JPBox Office"/>
 }}
-'''''The Apartment''''' ({{lang-fr|L'Appartement}}) is a 1996 [[Cinema of France|French film]] directed by [[Gilles Mimouni]] and starring [[Vincent Cassel]], [[Monica Bellucci]] and [[Romane Bohringer]].
+'''''The Apartment''''' ({{lang-fr|L'Appartement}}) is a 1996 [[Cinema of France|French]] [[Drama (film and television)|drama film]] directed by [[Gilles Mimouni]], and starring [[Romane Bohringer]], [[Vincent Cassel]], [[Jean-Philippe Écoffey]] and [[Monica Bellucci]].
 ==Plot==
-Max ([[Vincent Cassel]]) is a former bohemian and an amateur writer who gets a job in New York and leaves his girlfriend Lisa, whom he was madly in love with, in mysterious circumstances. After two years, he returns home to Paris and decides to settle down and gets engaged to Muriel. By chance, he catches a glimpse of his lost love, Lisa ([[Monica Bellucci]]) in a café, but fails to make contact with her before she storms out. Determined to meet her, Max secretly cancels his business trip abroad to pursue his lost love. Through a series of ruses and perseverance, he enters Lisa's apartment. Hearing that somebody else has arrived, he hides in her wardrobe.
+Max ([[Vincent Cassel]]) is a former bohemian and an amateur writer who gets a job in New York and leaves his girlfriend Lisa ([[Monica Bellucci]]), with whom he was madly in love, in mysterious circumstances. After two years, he returns home to Paris, and decides to settle down and gets engaged to Muriel ([[Sandrine Kiberlain]]). By chance, he catches a glimpse of his lost love, Lisa, in a café, but fails to make contact with her before she storms out. Determined to meet her, Max secretly cancels his business trip abroad to pursue his lost love. Through a series of ruses and perseverance, he enters Lisa's apartment. Hearing that somebody else has arrived, he hides in her wardrobe.
-First he thinks it is Lisa as the girl who came to the apartment resembles Lisa from behind. After several misunderstandings they finally get acquainted. The girl introduces herself as Lisa. The same night they make love and  their relationship starts to develop. The girl's real name is Alice ([[Romane Bohringer]]). During the film, flashbacks are intertwined with the narrative to provide a background for Max, Lisa, and especially for Alice, shedding light on the situation.
+First, he thinks it is Lisa, as the girl who came to the apartment resembles Lisa from behind. After several misunderstandings, they finally get acquainted. The girl introduces herself as Lisa. The same night, they make love, and their relationship starts to develop. The girl's real name is Alice ([[Romane Bohringer]]). During the film, flashbacks are intertwined with the narrative to provide a background for Max, Lisa, and especially for Alice, shedding light on the situation.
 The flashbacks show that Alice and Lisa were best friends, living in apartments on the same floor of two facing buildings, and that Alice became obsessed with Max, Lisa's then-boyfriend, from a distance. She restyled herself to look like Lisa while secretly engineering a breakup between them. Lisa is a stage actress and leaves abruptly for a two-month tour, giving Alice a letter to deliver to Max asking him to wait for her; Alice never sends the letter. Max, believing Lisa left because she didn't love him, accepts a job in New York and leaves. Upon her return, Lisa is heartbroken that Max has left her and leaves on a cruise (a gift from Alice) to ease her mind, where she meets a rich, married older man named Daniel.
@@ Line 31: / Line 32: @@
 Eventually, the truth begins to unravel in front of everyone's eyes, leading to dramatic and life-changing consequences for all involved.
-In a sub-plot. Alice is seen to be acting in Shakespeare's [[Midsummer Night's Dream]], drawing comparisons between the four lovers in the film to those in Shakespeare, and it is arguable that the whole film is a rendition of the play.  The film begins and ends in "reality" where Max and Muriel have a world weary but sensible life in high finance (and the implication is that Muriel is the boss's daughter, thus imitating Egeus' involvement in Hermia's marriage to Demetrius), but almost all the action takes place in a dreamlike trance where the lovers don't really know who they love. Lucien is always faithful to Alice, and pursues her, but both Alice and Lisa (who, as their names imply, are reflections of each other) initially both love Max, and Max, although madly in love with Lisa, turns to Alice after reading her diary, just before reality dawns and he accepts his fate with Muriel. Alice leaves her life behind and flies to Rome, bidding Max one last farewell glance as he embraces Muriel at the airport. Lisa returns to her apartment and is confronted by Daniel, who drops a lighter on the floor (covered in gasoline) causing the apartment to explode and blowing Lucien through the window of a café across the street. The similarity with Demetrius, Helena, Hermia and Lysander is striking.
+In a sub-plot, Alice is seen to be acting in Shakespeare's ''[[Midsummer Night's Dream]]'', drawing comparisons between the four lovers in the film and those in the play; it is arguable that the whole film is a rendition of the play.
+The film begins and ends in "reality" where Max and Muriel lead a futile, vacuous but bourgeois life in high finance (and the implication being that Muriel is the boss's daughter, thus imitating Egeus' involvement in Hermia's marriage to Demetrius in Midsummer Night's Dream), but almost all the action takes place in a dreamlike trance where the lovers don't really know whom they love. Lucien is always faithful to Alice, and pursues her, but both Alice and Lisa (who, as their names imply, are reflections of each other) initially both love Max, and Max, although madly in love with Lisa, turns to Alice after reading her diary, just before reality dawns and he accepts his fate with Muriel.
+Lisa returns to her apartment and is confronted by Daniel, who drops a lighter on the floor (covered in gasoline) causing the apartment to explode and blowing Lucien through the window of a café across the street.
+Alice leaves her life behind and flies to [[Rome]], bidding Max one last farewell glance as he embraces Muriel at the airport.
 ==Cast==
 * [[Vincent Cassel]] as Max
-* [[Monica Bellucci]] as Lisa
 * [[Romane Bohringer]] as Alice
+* [[Monica Bellucci]] as Lisa
 * [[Jean-Philippe Écoffey]] as Lucien
 * [[Sandrine Kiberlain]] as Muriel
-* [[Olivier Granier]] as Daniel
+* Olivier Granier as Daniel
+* [[Édouard Baer]] as Theater Actor
-== Reception  {{anchor|Critics|Box office|DVD|Remake}} ==
+== Reception {{anchor|Critics|Box office|DVD|Remake}} ==
-The film has generally been received positively by critics who praised it for its complex plot and stylish direction.<ref name=test>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2000/12/05/lappartement_1997_review.shtml BBC review]</ref> In 1998 it won the [[Bafta]] award for the best film not in English language  and the first [[British Independent Film Awards|British Independent Film Award]] for the best film in a foreign language.
+The film was generally well received by critics, who praised it for its complex plot and stylish direction.<ref name=test>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2000/12/05/lappartement_1997_review.shtml|title=BBC – Films – review – L'Appartement|website=www.bbc.co.uk}}</ref> In 1998, the film won a [[BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language]] and the first [[British Independent Film Awards|British Independent Film Award]] for the Best Film in a Foreign Language.
-The film was also a modest Box Office hit in France gaining 55,565 admissions its opening weekend and 152,714 admissions total.<ref name="JPBox Office">http://www.jpbox-office.com/fichfilm.php?id=3787</ref> As well as in other parts of Europe such as in the Netherlands where it gained 30,164 admissions. Although the film was never released theatrically in the United States, it was released on DVD on August 22, 2006.
+The film was also a modest hit in France with 55,565 admissions its opening weekend and 152,714 admissions total.<ref name="JPBox Office">{{Cite web|url=https://www.jpbox-office.com/fichfilm.php?id=3787|title=L\'Appartement (1996) – JP Box-Office|website=www.jpbox-office.com}}</ref> Although the film was never released theatrically in the United States, it was released on DVD on August 22, 2006. The film was remade in the United States as ''[[Wicker Park (film)|Wicker Park]]'' in 2004.
-The film was remade in the [[USA]] as ''[[Wicker Park (film)|Wicker Park]]'' in 2004.
 ==References==
@@ Line 53: / Line 57: @@
 ==External links==
 * {{IMDb title|0115561|L'Appartement}}
-* [http://www.cinemademerde.com/Essay-Lappartment%20Wicker%20Park.shtml L'Appartement on Wicker Park: Detailed comparison between original and remake. ]
-{{BAFTA Best Foreign Language Film}}
 {{A Midsummer Night's Dream}}
+{{BAFTA Best Foreign Language Film}}
+{{BIFA BestForeignFilm}}
 {{DEFAULTSORT:Appartement}}
 [[Category:1996 films]]
-[[Category:French films]]
+[[Category:French drama films]]
-[[Category:French-language films]]
+[[Category:1990s French-language films]]
-[[Category:1990s drama films]]
+[[Category:1996 drama films]]
+[[Category:Films set in apartment buildings]]
 [[Category:Films shot in Madrid]]
 [[Category:Best Foreign Language Film BAFTA Award winners]]
+[[Category:1990s French films]]

v t e British Independent Film Award for Best International Independent Film
Foreign Language (1998–2002)	The Appartment (1998) All About My Mother (1999) Kadosh (2000) In the Mood for Love (2001) Monsoon Wedding (2002)
English Language (1998–2002)	Boogie Nights (1998) Happiness (1999) The Straight Story (2000) Memento (2001) Lantana (2002)
International (2003–present)	City of God (2003) Oldboy (2004) Downfall (2005) Caché (2006) The Lives of Others (2007) Waltz with Bashir (2008) Let the Right One In (2009) A Prophet (2010) A Separation (2011) The Hunt (2012) Blue is the Warmest Colour (2013) Boyhood (2014) Room (2015) Moonlight (2016) Get Out (2017) Roma (2018) Parasite (2019) Nomadland (2020) Flee (2021) The Worst Person in the World (2022) Anatomy of a Fall (2023)