The Michelle Apartments

The Michelle Apartments is a Canadian black comedy film, directed by John Pozer and released in 1995.[1]

The Michelle Apartments
Directed byJohn Pozer
Produced byStavros C. Stavrides
Written byRoss Weber
StarringHenry Czerny
Mary Beth Rubens
Daniel Kash
Peter Outerbridge
Nancy Beatty
Maria Vacratsis
Music byMark Korven
CinematographyPeter Wunstorf
Edited byDavid Ostry
Production
company
Distributed byCineplex Odeon
Release date
  • September 7, 1995 (1995-09-07) (TIFF)
Running time
91 minutes
CountryCanada
LanguageEnglish

The film stars Henry Czerny as Alex Hartwell, a government auditor sent to the small town of Walton to review the books of a chemical company. When his hotel room is mistakenly given to another client, he is forced to take a room in the Michelle Apartments, where he is drawn into a romantic attraction to his neighbour Madeline (Mary Beth Rubens), whose husband Dean (Daniel Kash) is in prison. When Dean is released and comes home to find Madeline and Alex kissing, events spiral into a murderous chaos.[2]

The cast also includes Peter Outerbridge, Nancy Beatty and Maria Vacratsis.

The film premiered at the 1995 Toronto International Film Festival.[3]

Critical response

For The Globe and Mail, Rick Groen called the film a northern gothic spin on Something Wild, and wrote that "the menace pulls up considerably short of skin-crawling suspense, while the sex lacks any real steam (unless you count a mild flirtation in the laundry room). These gaps may well be deliberate - Pozer's idea of comic dissonance - but the yuks just aren't there."[4] Jay Stone of the Ottawa Citizen lambasted the film, writing that "This is independent cinema at its worst: self-indulgent, incompetent, charmless, empty. Needless to say, taxpayers helped fund it through the Ontario Film Development Corp. and Telefilm Canada. If this is the best we can do, maybe it's time to pull the plug and let Disney take over altogether.[5]

Peter Birnie of the Montreal Gazette reviewed the film more favourably, writing that "The Michelle Apartments is unnecessarily busy, especially in cafe scenes cute enough to bounce into a Bounty ad, but there's still strong impetus to Pozer's strange vision. Lynne Stopkewich designs a town of Orwellian disproportions, Peter Wunstorf photographs it all in shades of gaudy menace and Mark Korven's music makes this address arch enough to be fun."[6]

Awards

The film received two Genie Award nominations at the 16th Genie Awards, for Best Sound Editing (Paul Shikata, Tim Roberts, Andy Malcolm, Paul Germann, Steven Munro) and Best Original Score (Korven).[7]

References
  1. Peter Birnie, "Pozer's on to something with his offbeat projects". Vancouver Sun, September 13, 1995.
  2. Paul De Lean, "Atmosphere is key to The Michelle Apartments". Montreal Gazette, April 12, 1996.
  3. Rob Salem, "Exciting Canadian films anticipated at festival 20th anniversary series includes unprecedented 12 debut features". Toronto Star, July 26, 1995.
  4. Rick Groen, "Film Review: The Michelle Apartments". The Globe and Mail, January 12, 1996.
  5. Jay Stone, "Film deserves all the neglect it's getting". Ottawa Citizen, February 12, 1996.
  6. Peter Birnie, "Design strengthens strange Pozer vision". Vancouver Sun, October 10, 1995.
  7. "Lepage leads Genie nominees". The Globe and Mail, November 8, 1995.
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