L'Appartement

A chance encounter in a Paris café puts young exec Max (Cassel) on the trail of the girl he loved and lost. He bids goodbye to his fiancée, pretends to go on a business trip, and sets off in search of the elusive Lisa (Bellucci). Flashbacks and reminiscences with his best pal (Ecoffey) reveal the story of a passionate near-thing, while the present is complicated by the enigmatic Alice (Bohringer, simmering). The double narrative melding past and present is managed with nonchalant grace, and a leavening sense of its own ridiculousness. Hitchcock echoes through this realm of obsession, voyeurism and desire. Moreover, writer/director Mimouni toys pleasurably with the tricks of celluloid illusion: masks, mirrors and colour-coding deliver a self-consciously heightened experience almost woozy with its own playfulness. A smart, sexy, and effortlessly cool first feature.