7 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Max is on his way to Tokyo. He lives in Paris and likes to flirt but has decided to get married. By chance, he seems to have seen Lisa, his greatest love, in a cafe. Max forgets everything, his trip to Tokyo and his fiance. Obsessed with meeting Lisa he finds out where she lives and hides in the apartment. However, a different girl, called Alice, finds Max in the flat. Alice looks quite similar to Lisa, and they have sex. To complicate matters further, Alice is also the girlfriend of Max's buddy Lucien and Lisa is followed by an older man.
Starring: Vincent Cassel, Monica Bellucci, Romane Bohringer, Jean-Philippe Écoffey, Sandrine KiberlainForeign | 100% |
Drama | 58% |
Romance | 50% |
Mystery | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.63:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.66:1
French: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
English
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
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".
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).
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.
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.
(Still not reliable for this title)
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