Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

The Apartment Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov September 22, 2024

Gilles Mimouni's "The Apartment" (1996) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the release include exclusive new audio commentary by critic Adrian Martin and vintage trailer. In French, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

Gilles Mimouni’s directorial debut is not in any way related to Billy Wilder’s classic film. However, while a very different film, it is just as good.

The narrative is broken into multiple segments, each offering a different look at a complex love story featuring several players, the biggest of which is fate. In one of these segments, Max (Vincent Cassel) is getting ready to board a plane that will take him to Tokyo, where he is expected to finalize an important deal for his company. He is engaged to Muriel (Sandrine Kiberlain) but has secretly met and fallen in love with Lisa (Monica Bellucci), who has recently walked away from another lover. In a busy bistro, while waiting to make a phone call, Max convinces himself that the woman in the phone booth who sounds disturbed and then runs away in tears is Lisa. He attempts to follow her, but she quickly disappears into the overcrowded streets.

In another segment, Max breaks into an apartment he assumes is Lisa’s place and prevents a different Lisa (Romane Bohringer) from ending her life. While trying to reconnect with the real Lisa who has gone missing, Max then allows to be seduced by the suicidal girl, not knowing that she is already in a romantic relationship with his best friend, Lucien (Jean-Phillippe Ecoffey).

In a different segment, Lisa is seen befriending the suicidal girl and soon after revealing to her that she is madly in love with Max. Lisa also plans to start a new chapter in her life with Max, who has asked her to marry him, but not before she does one last gig with her acting troupe in Rome, which will separate her from her lover for a while.

Describing what takes place in other segments will not spoil The Apartment, but it is probably best to avoid addressing the final twenty or so minutes of it because there are some brilliant twists there. It is better to address the two truths that emerge from it. The first is revealed in the title of Pat Benatar’s famous 1983 hit “Love is a Battlefield”. In The Apartment, all characters come to realize that they have to fight to be with the person they are in love with. One of them goes too far, which is the catalyst of all the drama. The second is an older and more complex truth, and it appears to be the one that Mimouni prefers. It is about one’s fate and how one’s free will may be predetermined by the former.

The Apartment is not one of those arty, pseudo-intellectual films that can quickly become unbearably pretentious. It is a conventional romantic thriller that is so brilliantly scripted it becomes thought-provoking in several quite unconventional ways. It forces one to ponder different what-if scenarios and speculate what is right and wrong in situations where both seem closely intertwined. It also forces one to consider how love can dramatically alter the personalities and lives of those lucky to experience it.

The entire cast is outstanding and shares tremendous chemistry. Each character undergoes a dramatic transformation that is defined by contrasting feelings and emotions which must be very authentic for all the joy and pain to appear convincing. They are, and this is what makes The Apartment such a poignant and unforgettable film.

Mimouni’s director of photography was Thierry Arbogast, who lensed Luc Besson’s biggest films. However, The Apartment does not have any of the visual excess present in the likes of The Fifth Element and Léon: The Professional. It is a simple yet strikingly elegant film.

The Apartment Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.63:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, The Apartment arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.

More than twenty years ago, I imported the first French R2 DVD release of The Apartment, which was English-friendly and offered a nice anamorphic presentation of the film. I still have it in my library.

This Blu-ray release is sourced from an older master, which may very well be the same master that was used to source the French R2 DVD release. I do not know if this is the case, but I did some comparisons and plenty of what I saw looks very, very similar, only much better on the Blu-ray. To be honest, I am relieved that it is so because so many French films that are newly restored in 4K are graded very poorly and do not look as they should. The Apartment looks as it should. Yes, certain areas with outdoor panoramic footage tend to expose the limitations of the current master, but I still think that the technical presentation is very easy to describe as good. Most close-ups and virtually all darker indoor footage look very good, boasting nice detail, clarity, and depth. Darker nuances are not crushed, though they can look even better. Image stability is very good. There are no traces of problematic digital corrections. Finally, I did not see any large blemishes, cuts, marks, and other similar surface imperfections. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

The Apartment Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: French DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English subtitles are provided for the main feature.

On the R2 DVD release of The Apartment that I have, the PAL speedup is quite obvious, so it is great to finally have a properly pitched audio track. All dialog is very clear, sharp, and easy to follow. The music sounds wonderful, too, never revealing signs of aging. Can the audio sound better? My R2 DVD release has a French DTS 5.1 track, so perhaps in the future there will be a newly remastered DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. But I am happy with the DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track.

The Apartment Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - presented here is a vintage trailer for The Apartment. In French, with English subtitles. (2 min).

• Commentary - this exclusive new audio commentary was recorded by critic Adrian Martin.

The Apartment Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It is a mystery why an American distributor did not bother to release The Apartment on DVD because it is a wonderful film. I picked up a R2 DVD release of it as soon as one was made available in France, and have revisited it numerous times over the years. The Apartment is a conventional romantic thriller that is so brilliantly scripted it becomes thought-provoking in several quite unconventional ways. It is very elegant, too. Needless to say, I am very happy that it is now out on Blu-ray in America. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.