The Apartment
— Daring subject matter for a comedy with an unexpectedly dark side.”
- Director: Billy Wilder
- United States, 1960
Wilder’s comedy about a clerk who lets his bosses use his apartment for trysts in exchange for career advancement has some unusually dark moments but on the whole it’s pretty safe.
It’s not especially difficult to see how this movie broke down barriers in 1960, tackling sexual harassment and gender equality with a refreshing viewpoint at the beginning of a decade in which much more would be done. In doing so, however, some of the requisite plausibility has gone out of the apartment window.
Jack Lemmon and Shirley Maclaine work well together, bringing a special humanity to some horrific office sets that make me immensely grateful for my own workspace.
See also:
Some Like It Hot
Of course it broke the mould in 1959, but today it just seems mouldy.
- Originally published: 15 Feb 2007 in Film
Double Indemnity
A crackling script but surprisingly short on dramatic tension.
- Originally published: 7 Oct 2007 in Film
Groundhog Day
Only Bill Murray could make misery, misanthropy and rejection this funny.
- Originally published: 25 Mar 2007 in Film
Kika
Hair-brained, frivolous and fun. But also incredibly violent.
- Originally published: 27 Sep 2007 in Film
Send Me No Flowers
A ripe comedy about hypochondria, this movie’s too fast to catch cold.
- Originally published: 13 May 2007 in Film
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Hello you, I'm Mike Padgett. I'm not a Princeton curator, Knoxville mayoral candidate, Kentuckian pastor or Arizona journalist, I just share the same name. In fact, I am a consultant working in user experience and information design.
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I'm originally from Yorkshire, England but nowadays I live in Belgium. My current favourite Belgian beer is Black Albert.
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