Le Grand appartement (2006)

Le Grand appartement is a French film comedy-drama first released in 2006, directed by Pascal Thomas.  The film stars Laetitia Casta, Mathieu Amalric, Pierre Arditi, Noémie Lvovsky and Maurice Risch.  Our overall rating for this film is: mediocre.


Francesca and Martin live in a large Parisian apartment, which they share with their child, Francesca’s sister and grandmother, and several friends.  Charlotte Fallingard, the owner of the apartment, is determined to evict the family so that she can sell her property.   Whilst Francesca fights tooth and nail to keep her home, her husband heads off to Italy to attend a film festival, where he is seduced by the passionate Véronique...

Not for the first time, some poor casting decisions and a cliché-laden script ruin what had the potential to be a respectable film.  Pascal Thomas’ flair for writing and directing sober, well-constructed comedy-dramas is clearly lacking in this chaotic melange of contrived muddle.   It is hard to know which is worse: seeing actors of the calibre of Mathieu Amalric and Pierre Arditi being saddled with caricatured parts that are not worthy of their talents, or  having to endure the spectacle of Laetitia Casta struggle with a role that is way beyond her abilities.  Charmless and confused, this is a film that has little, if anything, to commend it, and is a major disappointment after some of Pascal Thomas’ recent films.

© filmsdefrance.com 2009

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