by Adam Ritchie, Contributing Writer
There is a vast and brilliant world out there for cinephiles — a seemingly endless cavern of film that we can spelunk to our heart’s desire. A benefit of being a film lover is that more often than not, these caves have already been explored for us. Our film-loving pioneers have already shone their light into the dark recesses of film history and laid bare the treasures for all of us to see. I hope the following article leads you safely to a true treasure that I recently discovered.
The legendary Billy Wilder directs and co-writes The Apartment, starring Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, and Fred MacMurray. Lemmon plays C.C. “Bud” Baxter, a go-getter hoping to climb the corporate ladder by loaning out his apartment for management to conduct their extramarital affairs. Early on, we can see the stress this creates for Bud as he juggles the bookings and demands of his superiors, as well as his nosey neighbors thinking he is the local Don Juan due to the revolving door of female companions they hear through the walls. Contrarily, Bud is a lovelorn loner that has a secret crush on elevator operator, Fran Kubelik, adorably played by Shirley MacLaine.
After receiving glowing reports, Bud has a meeting with the personnel director Sheldrake (Fred MacMurray). He implies an imminent promotion if he can use Bud’s apartment tonight. Bud shows some apprehension as he has already promised the apartment to someone else, but Sheldrake offers him tickets to a show. After some juggling of the schedule, Bud asks Fran to the show, and she agrees to meet him later that evening.
Spoilers ahead.
Seeing how smitten Bud is for Fran, I was a heartbroken when it is revealed that Sheldrake wants to use Bud’s apartment to meet with Fran. She ultimately decides to meet him with the idea of ending it for good. However, Sheldrake promises to leave his wife for her, and Fran, believing him, fails to break it off. Fran later learns that she is not the only one Sheldrake has had affairs with, and lets him know what she knows during another meeting at Bud’s apartment. Sheldrake tries to convince Fran he does love her, but he leaves her at the apartment alone as he heads back home to his family for Christmas.
Bud, now aware that Fran is the woman Sheldrake is cheating with, heads to a bar to drown his sorrows, eventually allowing himself to fall for the graces of another woman and bring her back to his apartment. He soon notices Fran asleep in his bed, only to discover she has overdosed on sleeping pills in an attempted suicide. He swiftly sends the woman home and calls his neighbor (a doctor) over for assistance. Together they manage to revive Fran, who then spends the next couple of days recovering in Bud’s apartment under the watchful and caring eye of Bud.
Having not seen hardly any Lemmon movies, this was my first real taste of him as an actor, rather than a name. He legitimately blew me away with his performance here. Because of how brilliantly Lemmon shines off the screen, a key strength of The Apartment was how easily I fell for, and empathized with, its leading characters. The other main strength is that the script is so tightly directed and edited that not a drop of schmaltzy saccharine sweet or cliché crowd pleasing plot leaks from a single frame. Each relationship and outcome is well earned.
Especially since The Apartment is a rom-com, you may be able to see where the film leads, but the way we get there is some of the most satisfying filmmaking you will ever see. Being nominated for 10 Academy Award is no mean feat; winning five (including Best Picture and Best Director) is equally as impressive. Lemmon and MacLaine are both adorable, and their on-screen chemistry has you aching for them to end up together.
The moment the end credits rolled, or maybe even before, I had decided this was an instant entry into my all-time top 10 films, and it is certainly my favorite first watch of 2021. I am as smitten with The Apartment as Bud was with Fran. This is a huge recommend from me.
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