L'Appartement

It has almost become a staple of contemporary French cinema that any road of sinister coincidence and betrayal should inevitably lead back to a menacing character portrayed by the typically villainous Vincent Cassell. However, Cassell equally knows how to play the hapless victim, as seen in this early effort in his career, when he finds himself entangled in a web of misfortune and deceit in L'Appartement. When fleeting happenstance sees him cross paths with an old flame (Monica Belluci as the enchanting dame, the role that saw her typecast as such) only to lose her again, the unassuming protagonist soon engages with the noirish world of a Hitchcockian thriller as he toils and struggles to track down the elusive one that got away. With more twists than a night on the lash with Chubby Checker and M. Night Shyamalan, this is slow burning, understated and, although a pastiche in itself, has been pilfered from tirelessly since its creation. No extra frills on this re-release, but well deserving of another run around the block... a bit like the one that Cassell gets. [Dave Kerr]