Saturday, February 02, 2008
L’Appartement
I’ve been away from the computer for a couple of days, but I made some notes and now have formalized in a blog entry.
Today watched the French film L’Appartement, another winner off of the Guarding 1,000 list. This wonderful Hitchcockian film, as the French seem pretty good at making, is the only feature from director Gilles Mimouni. He mixes themes from several different films, such as Vertigo and Rear Window, in a seamless manner to create a fairly fresh film.
The main actors are all great in roles fairly early in their careers. Vincent Cassel, far from the scruffy character he is typecast today, is a businessman who delays a trip to Japan to try and track down a former lover who he thinks he caught a brief glimpse. The former lover is Lisa, played by Monica Bellucci, who at 32 is stunningly beautiful. The lady he tracks down is the 23-year-old Romane Bohringer. She tells him her name is also Lisa but there is obviously more going on than it seems.
The story plays out in a flashback structure that may be hard for some to follow. The flashbacks go back to the end of the previous relationship, 2 years ago, and continue up until the opening scene when Cassel first spies Lisa. There are a number of questions you have about what is going on but by the end all will be nicely answered. But like many of Hitchcock films, probably not resolved in a way that is good for many of the characters.
Guardian 1,000: 662 seen, 337 remaining.
Today watched the French film L’Appartement, another winner off of the Guarding 1,000 list. This wonderful Hitchcockian film, as the French seem pretty good at making, is the only feature from director Gilles Mimouni. He mixes themes from several different films, such as Vertigo and Rear Window, in a seamless manner to create a fairly fresh film.
The main actors are all great in roles fairly early in their careers. Vincent Cassel, far from the scruffy character he is typecast today, is a businessman who delays a trip to Japan to try and track down a former lover who he thinks he caught a brief glimpse. The former lover is Lisa, played by Monica Bellucci, who at 32 is stunningly beautiful. The lady he tracks down is the 23-year-old Romane Bohringer. She tells him her name is also Lisa but there is obviously more going on than it seems.
The story plays out in a flashback structure that may be hard for some to follow. The flashbacks go back to the end of the previous relationship, 2 years ago, and continue up until the opening scene when Cassel first spies Lisa. There are a number of questions you have about what is going on but by the end all will be nicely answered. But like many of Hitchcock films, probably not resolved in a way that is good for many of the characters.
Guardian 1,000: 662 seen, 337 remaining.
Labels: FilmReview, Guardian1000
# posted by ChrisR @ 11:00 PM 
