Le Choc {The Apartment}

March 18, 2016

Last night I watched Le Choc and there were so many great apartments/sets that I knew I had to take screenshots for the Apartment series on Silents & Talkies. For some reason I was laboring under the delusion that this had been a pretty in-depth, ongoing series, when in reality I did a whopping total of two Apartment posts back in 2009. Oops.

So I'm officially bringing this sad little series back to life today, and I plan on finally doing posts on the other apartments I mentioned at the end of my post on Sunday in New York. I also have a work-in-progress list of apartments I'd like to live in on Letterboxd right here (the title is supposed to be a clever nod to the movie The Apartment but I don't think it really worked very well...?) Eventually I'd like to do posts on all of the movies on that list, complete with screenshots.

Ok, let's get to Le Choc! This is a French crime film from 1982. Alain Delon plays an assassin who faces some dangerous setbacks when he attempts to retire from the business. Catherine Deneuve is the Hitchcock-heroine who gets inadvertently pulled into his perilous world. First of all, I enjoyed the HECK out of this movie. It's not necessarily the best movie ever made, it's not even Alain Delon's best crime film. But it was fun and suspenseful, with some fantastic dark comedy sprinkled here and there. It's violent, but in a very Alain Delon way -- casual and cool. Hypothetically, if I had to be killed by an assassin, I'd want those sad icy eyes to be the last thing I see.



In general the 1980's are my least favorite decade as far as fashion, decor, and hair styles are concerned. Alain Delon (and Catherine Deneuve, at one point) wears the most godawful pair of yellow tinted sunglasses in this film, but for the most part the decor and style here seems to be the most timeless that the 80's had to offer. Delon's wardrobe consists mostly of plain sweaters with slim-cut cords and a crisp navy pea coat. And he has an apartment to match his classically cool vibe. With the exception of a raw-sienna-heavy color palette and some slightly-too-puffy 80's furniture, this bachelor pad is pretty epic.





Like almost every other movie apartment I fall in love with, this has a nice split level thing going on. There's a geometric staircase that overlooks the rest of the living area. I love how there are inset lighted shelves for displaying pottery. This is basically the complete opposite of the apartment inhabited by Delon's more famous assassin character, Jef Costello from Le Samourai (although I actually love that sparse little room as well.)







My absolute favorite part of this apartment is the circular seating area, with a built-in circular bookshelf above it. Add to that the round coffee table, round light hanging overhead, and the carpet with circles radiating away from the seating area. It's all just so perfect. Also, the glowing thing behind the man in the last photo is (at least I *think* it is) a jukebox. Whoa. I'm very much using my imagination here, but I'm pretty sure it would be wired to speakers that play music all throughout the apartment.





The next apartment belongs to Delon's business adviser, who has the most beautiful atrium-like home. There are animals everywhere (At one point Delon is covering his face with a tissue to show how much it must smell like a zoo, even if it looks more like a greenhouse.) She even has a pet tiger! My favorite part, though, is that giant glass wall that seems to overlook some kind of courtyard. And even though I'm not personally a giant fan of wicker, all of the wood and plants in this home just look so cozy and chic to me. (Also, note the yellow sunglasses make an appearance here.)



Last but not least is this exquisite indoor pool belonging to Delon's boss. In middle school I remember we got to design (on paper) our dream homes in wood shop and one of the first things I did was to add an indoor swimming pool. I also had a water fountain in the entryway... I'm a sucker for indoor water features, apparently.

This room just looked so awesome to me. I love the roof that appears to be made entirely of glass with a circular shade? And isn't this basically an infinity edge pool before that was a thing? Also, like the previous apartment, I really love all of the plants.

Well, that about wraps things up! I think I'm going to do Come Blow Your Horn next, that's been one of my favorite movie bachelor pads for at least 10 years now... I can't believe I still haven't taken screenshots and posted them here!

You can view the other two posts in my Apartment series right here.

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