Plot Intro
C.C. “Bud” Baxter (Jack Lemmon) has a boring job in an insurance firm. To rise through the ranks, he loans out his apartment to his randy, adulterous executives who use it to entertain their various mistresses. This comes to the attention of his director, Sheldrake (Fred MacMurray), who wants to use the apartment exclusively for himself and his mistress, feisty elevator girl, Fran Kubelik (Shirley MacLaine). Unfortunately, Bud and Fran are starting to fall in love too, and Bud must choose between the woman he loves, and the prospects of his career…
As we enter the 1960’s, we take one last foray into black and white films (that is, until Schindler’s List in 1993). When we reviewed Gigi in 1958, I wrote about the slowly increasing resistance to the Hayes Code which prevented nudity and sex-references in movies since the mid-'30s. The Apartment is another marker in this resistance. 1960 was a year right in the middle of the youth revolution and increased liberalism. The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and Woodstock were right around the corner, and The Apartment is, in essence, a sex comedy. It’s a return to the suggestiveness and naughty gender-dynamics of It Happened One Night and whilst romantic comedies rarely get a look-in at the Oscars, it is still a symbol of how standards were starting to become less stuffy and more liberated. Although there’s no nudity, this is a film about men cheating on wives, dismissing the sentimentality and high moral values that permeated Mrs Miniver and The Best Years of Our Lives where married couples slept in separate beds and young couples didn’t dare live together until after marriage. It’s also worth noting that Hitchcock’s Psycho, which unified sex and violence, was also released this year.
And overall, this is a welcome refresher from several weeks of lengthy, stodgy epics. This is one of the more understated of the Oscar winners, in which writer Billy Wilder (also famous for Some Like It Hot) revels in his usual repeated one-line jokes, snappy dialogue which doesn’t mess around, and quick-wit. It is one of those films which has a very noticeably strong script.
But he’s also helped along by the two leads. Lemmon is always reliably charming, and here he is at his most skilled because his character starts off as a snivelling, weak-willed, brown-noser. But we support him because, let’s face it, many of us have felt the need to bend over backwards to forward our careers. MacLaine, for me, is outstanding. She’s like Meg in Disney’s Hercules - feisty and sharp-witted, but vulnerable and kind-hearted. She effortlessly steals the scenes in which she is at her most tragic, but also has an element of fun. She is the modern 60’s woman- short haircut, self-sufficient, and aggressive towards any man who tries to grab her bottom. She’s already a contender for my favourite female performer of this decade.
Two minor issues bring the film down slightly. Firstly, it meanders plot-wise in the second half. The first half balances comedy and tragedy very well. It’s that kind of fun-sad combination that rises a romantic-comedy above just “funny” to the coveted status of “profound”. But the second half starts to deal with suicide and depression which makes it perhaps too heavy on the tragedy and there are some lengthy dialogue scenes that slow the pace. A quick cut-down of scenes could have made the film punchier and half an hour shorter. After all, sometimes less is more. Secondly, the film deals with battling against men in power who think they can keep women wrapped around their finger. This is pertinent in the wake of the various sexual harassment scandals of late-2017, but also uncomfortable because it is noticeably too light-hearted about powerful, lecherous men. Fran is the only mistress depicted in the film who is unhappy in her role as mistress- the others are gossipy, crude and just as bad as the adulterers they are cavorting with. And the men don’t get much of a comeuppance. The attitude is “using sex as a power tool is bad but hey! It happens!” whereas nowadays it would be dealt with in a more serious context.
Despite this, The Apartment is fun and edgy for its time. It boasts some fab acting, and it’s a great side-step from the usual 60’s fare of fluffy, big-budget musicals.
Highlight
MacLaine’s acting is generally the highlight for me. Especially her first scene with the primary villain, Sheldrake, in which she tries to end it with him despite still being in love with him. She is emotive and heartbreaking.
Lowlight
Like I said, the second half meanders slightly and could have done with some serious chopping.
Mark
7/10
Radclyffe Hall was an author who published her novel The Well of Loneliness in 1928. It caused a massive scandal and was declared ‘obscene’ by British courts because it defended ‘unnatural practices between women’ - i.e. it’s a book about lesbians. It’s considered iconic because it was the first of its kind: a published novel about lesbian love. What’s fascinating about it, is that it’s pretty much universally declared an awful book. Radclyffe Hall was apparently a pretty dreadful writer, and so while the book has gained points for breaking new ground, the turgid and overblown writing has gathered its own negative acclaim.
The Apartment feels pretty similar to this for me. It’s breaking extraordinary ground - as Paul says about the Hays Code - the central plot point of an attempted suicide feels shocking, having seen moral and strictly controlled plot subjects for several decades now. We see men casually talking about their affairs - and most importantly receiving no punishment for it. We see women openly vying to be the Other Woman - as one scene makes clear they can get $100 presents, and treated to nights out. And as Mad Men (a much more modern take on the same era) shows, women sometimes could see the benefit in being the adulterer rather than the stay-at-home wife.
So we’re into a new era, and the subjects have got a lot grittier and more real. Baxter (Lemmon) lives in a small apartment and is shown eating ready meals in front of the TV. I think it’s actually the first time we see a character watching TV at home (fun fact: he’s watching Grand Hotel which was one of our films back in the ‘30s!), and there’s definitely an emphasis here on real people living real lives (the office scenes convey the sense of deadly dull corporate work lives - and perhaps proffer a reason as to why people are seeking excitement elsewhere). As Paul says, this is outdated - and the sexism (including talk of ‘I want her, and you don’t any more so I should get her’ - cringe) is painful at times.
But here’s where Radclyffe Hall comes back in. While The Apartment is breaking ground and exciting, I don’t think it’s particularly well put together. While there’s a few laugh out loud moments - and a massive shout out has to go to Joan Shawlee who as another mistress Sylvia delivers some pithy one liners with so much joie-de-vivre that she made us cackle - a lot of the timing falls flat. There’s a scene where Baxter picks up a married woman at a bar, and the camera angles & style of performance make it clear it’s supposed to have Pinter-esque comedy - and yet the timing is slightly off and so the whole thing just feels a bit awkward. Lemmon does good work as a man going from someone you despise, to someone you root for, but he is one of a few that turn in decent performances.
Overall the biggest disappointment for me was Shirley MacLaine. Here is a role that is brimming with opportunity and she turns in a placid, half-bored performance. I’ve got no problems with a quiet performance, but she’s so blank faced that she feels like Anne Baxter from All About Eve - but without the sinister undertones. I kept thinking about how much better it would be with a more skilled actor, and actually thought wistfully of Mercedes McCambridge in All The King’s Men who had a similar character but delivered it with so much more passion and drive that you ended up adoring her.
Not a boring watch, and great for a lazy Sunday afternoon, but I walked away still unsure why this would win the Best Picture Award. I imagine it’s the edgy subject topics, and the little moments - such as when a jealous secretary makes trouble towards the end of the film - that snatched it. Groundbreaking? Certainly. Deserving of awards? Not so sure.
Highlight
I’ve said it already, but Joan Shawlee as Sylvia, coming out of the lift at the office Christmas party delivering the line: ‘either you get a bigger car or a smaller girl’ is perfection.
Lowlight
Shirley Maclaine. She took a part that could have been extraordinary and turned in a passable performance. Just imagine what the likes of Emma Stone could do with that role…
Mark
5/10
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