MovieChat Forums > L'appartement (1996) Discussion > bizarre non-believeable ending *spoilers...

bizarre non-believeable ending spoilers

posted 19 years ago by withnail69
49 replies | jump to latest

I'd been waiting to see this for ages. It was beautifully shot. I loved the transitions from present to past and vica versa. As the film moved along I was totally hooked hoping that Max would get his Lisa. Me and my girlfriend shouted at the screen whenever they were moments from each other.
I was disappointed at the ending. Not because of how it ended but because of the unbelievable aspects of it. For starters Max is supposed to be totally in love with Lisa yet when he finally is told where she will be (furstenberg)betwee n 4 and 5 pm all he says in 'meard' and then he follows Alice to the airport? Why. I didn't find this believeable. He's known Alice for only three days. I just had a thought maybe he thinks that Lisa let him down by just taking off abroad without letting him know and therefore she may do it again. (Alice obviously doesn't give him Lisa's letter cause she wants him for herself). Then Alice (after claiming to have been in love with Max for years) says she's going to get her luggage and appears to head straight for the plane to Rome thus deserting Max as well as her luggage. Then surprise surprise by a huge co-incidence Max's fiance turns up to meet him off his flight (he's supposed to be in Tokyo remember) and Alice sees him and shrugs and smiles and leaves him to get on with his life with his fiance. By the way how is he going to explain to her that he is going to ACTUALLY have to go to Tokyo for this business meeting in a few days? I'd be interested to know your opinions on this please.

[–] Emreka 17 years ago

nice movie, terrible ending...

[–] andrea_m_desmier 17 years ago

I haven't seen L'Appartment, only Wicker Park. By just reading a description of the ending, I can tell why people are confused and didn't like it. It doesn't make any sense! Why would someone chase another person throughout a whole movie, and then end up with the person they were with in the first place, even after a secret confession of undying love?! And why would Alice choose to calmly surrender Max to his fiancee after all the work she did trying to prevent him from being reuinted with Lisa?! For this reason, Wicker Park's ending is much better and much less confusing. I think throughout the whole film, the audience really roots for Matthew to find Lisa and for them to be reunited. Then, at the end, when he sees Lisa crouched on the floor in the airport by her luggage, talking to Alex and hearing her confession about how she's had this secret love for Matthew for the last two years, and that she's been deliberately keeping them apart, Matthew's intercepted by his fiancee, and it's almost like a final snag in the plot before he and Lisa are reunited. You just know that he's so close to getting to her, that's it's almost annoying to the audience (and me in particular) that his fiancee shows up and you find yourself hoping that he'll do something to get his fiancee out of the way to get to Lisa because her plane's about to board and he might lose her forever this time. You're hoping he'll dump her right then and there for Lisa. Granted, I still feel bad for the fiancee because she has no idea what's going on or who this Lisa woman is. All she knows is that she's suddenly being dumped for another woman who her fiance is and has been in love with for the last two years. I can see how L'Appartment's ending could be equally tragic, however. Lisa is apparently killed by the man she was having an affair with, and Max's hopes of finding her and being reuinted are dashed, to say the least.

[–] kooji_kabuto 15 years ago

It really is too much to swallow all those times these people passed one another without seeing each other. That is what angered me, the obvious manipulation in the script.

You're imagining things. There was only one time Max & Lisa passed each other without knowing, outside the airline office.

In this town, I'm the leper with the most fingers.

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] paulfg42 15 years ago

Watching this film, I was reminded of the Bunuel film That obscure object of desire, where the main female role is played by two different actresses, reflecting different aspects of her personality. I wonder whether something similar is going on in this film. The 3 rings representing the different personalities of the 3 women does suggest a parallel. There is also the fact that the women bump into each other, literally on one occasion, are often in the same place or are in the place where another of them should be.

So the ending would be Max finally deciding to settle down with the dependable Muriel.

Works for me, anyway!

[–] safe1978 15 years ago

Heres my take on it although there are some

Max reads her diary and is intrigued by the thought of somebody being so in love with him (hey, who would'nt be a bit) so he follows ALice to to the airport and when he sees her and does feel a special love. However unknown to him, Alice wants Max to follow her to Rome and obsessively search for her like he searched for Lisa as this in her mind would mean that Max loved her as much as he loved Lisa. She therefore leaves her bag with him to give him something to go on and a goodbye kiss to linger in his memory.

Max whilst holding Alice's bag and waiting for her finally snaps back into reality and twigs that Alice is not coming back and he will have to search for her in Milan. I think at that point he has had enough of intoxicating, obsessive love that promised something special but never delivered anything real. He therefore puts her bag down and wanders through the airpot and through chance bumps into Muriel who he finally commits to as their relationship is the most practical, dependable and least damaging for him. When he sees Alice at the end smiling at him he does not hide the hatred he has for all the mind games and broken promises that have taken place between him, Lisa (who is far from blameless and also played games with him) and Alice.

[–] Prom_Queen_Carrie 14 years ago

I loved this film but then the ending made my heart sink. Couldn't stand the Alice (Romane Bohringe)r character. She ruined everyone's lives! She may try to justify it by "I was in love" but it's no excuse for her selfish and evil actions. I did not sympathize with her at all.

And I did not believe for a second that Max (Cassel) would run after her and not Lisa (Bellucci). I think a lot of people watching this movie felt the same way because we're all just dying for Max and Lisa to meet up again and they come sooo close so many times bt alas, it doesn't happen! Frustrating! Poor Lisa!But...I do like that he ends up just taking the normal, easy way out and going for his fiancee who we saw him with from the beginning. Gotta love French cinema!

"I'm f'ing busy-or vice versa"-Dorothy Parker

[–] rikkelk-1 14 years ago

All these ridiculous theories...Max read Alice's diary and realized he had found his soulmate. Two stalkers finding each other. Unfortunately for Max Alice is also somewhat mentally unbalanced.

[–] gmansi 11 years ago

Couldn't stand the Alice (Romane Bohringe)r character. She ruined everyone's lives! She may try to justify it by "I was in love" but it's no excuse for her selfish and evil actions. I did not sympathize with her at all.

We dont need to sympathize with her... she was the bad girl of the movie... lol!

And I did not believe for a second that Max (Cassel) would run after her and not Lisa (Bellucci).

We dont know if Max run into Alice... for starting a relation with her... or for blame her for being and obstacule for Max and Lisa love...

[–] 11 years ago

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[–] latin_buddy 10 years ago

1. About Lisa: 2 years is a awful amount of time, as there is no guarantee they will be able to take their relationship where they left it. Besides, Max knows about Daniel's existence, so he cannot take Lisa's love for granted.

2. About Alice: Max just had two hot encounters with her in the last few days, so for the average man's brain that's more weight that any memories he may have about Lisa.

3. About her fiance: She's in the airport to pick him up from his Tokyo trip.

bizarre non-believeable ending *spoilers*

bizarre non-believeable ending spoilers