Business executive Odile seeks a new, larger apartment. Her younger sister Camille, having completed her doctoral thesis in history, is a Paris tour guide. Simon is a regular on Camille's tours as he's attracted to her. However, Camille has fallen for Marc, and they begin an affair. Nicolas is also looking for an apartment, since he hopes to eventually have his family join him in Paris.
Direction
Resnais turns karaoke into cinema—every lip-sync reveals hidden longing.
Writing
Jaoui and Bacri's script: five lonely people, zero easy resolutions.
Production
Apartment-hunting as existential dread, shot in honeyed Resnais gold.
Director
Alain Resnais
Pierre Arditi
Claude
Sabine Azéma
Odile Lalande
Jean-Pierre Bacri
Nicolas
André Dussollier
Simon
Agnès Jaoui
Camille Lalande
Lambert Wilson
Marc Duveyrier
Jane Birkin
Jane
Jean-Paul Roussillon
Père
Nelly Borgeaud
Docteur
Jacques Mauclair
Docteur
Jean-Pierre Darroussin
Le jeune homme au chèque
Dominique Rozan
Le grand-père renversé
Jean-Chrétien Sibertin-Blanc
Le jeune homme renvoyé
Bonnafet Tarbouriech
Docteur
Charlotte Kady
Cliente du restaurant
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Resnais had actors rehearse with their songs for months, then shot dialogue scenes separately—so lip-syncs are genuinely performed, not post-dubbed.
Every song is a real French hit from 1935-1965; the film functions as a secret history of postwar French pop that American viewers mostly miss.
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