L'appartement (1996)

I'd read good reviews about this movie before watching and was a bit disappointed when it turned out not as 'spectacular' as I had expected, as always happens when we have too much expectation. I also don't like the ending.

Vincent Cassel [Everytime I see him, in my mind there is always a close-up picture of his father in L'armée des ombres, when Jean François decides to sacrifice himself] plays Max, an executive in a computer business. He is about to marry Muriel when he thinks that he has seen his former girlfriend Lisa (Monica Bellucci). Max tells his friend Lucien (Jean-Philippe Écoffey) that 2 years ago Lisa suddenly disappeared after Max asked her to move with him to New York. In fact it was not fate that separated Max and Lisa, but a third person's jealousy.

To find Lisa this time, Max even neglects his work. When at last he finds her apartment, it is not his Lisa - but another Lisa (Romane Bohringer) who lives there. The movie goes to a series of flashback to explain how this can happen.

The conclusion is rather strange to me. Although at first I wanted Max and Lisa to have a happy ending, I realized that if it was like that, then this would be a usual romantic drama. However I think Max is not that keen to the other Lisa. The love between Max and Lisa, although they haven't met for 2 years, seems stronger - perhaps because it's Vincent Cassel and Monica Bellucci - a couple in real life. Max seems unsure, doesn't know what to do, and after a series of failure to meet Lisa, he perhaps believes that his destiny lies with the other Lisa. It's quite nice that Muriel wins in the end - although I don't know if Max will keep the other Lisa for a mistress.