Renee Michel

Renee Michel is a concierge at number 7, rue de Grenelle, an apartment building catering to wealthy families. Renee has an idea that wealthy people expect their concierges to be unintelligent, common people. For this reason, Renee has carefully constructed her appearance and the appearance of her loge to fit with this idea. However, Renee is in fact a very intelligent woman who enjoys to read literature and philosophy. Among her favorite novels is Anna Karenina by Tolstoy.

When one of her tenants dies, the apartment is sold. This is the first time in Renee's twenty-seven years at the building that an apartment has been sold rather than passing down to a family member. Hence, there is a great deal of excitement surrounding the new tenant, Kakuro Ozu. When Renee meets Kakuro, she quotes the first line from Anna Karenina and is surprised when Kakuro recognizes it and...