Apr. 16, 2004 - 8:11 am
i could have sworn i had written a review of The Apartment on here before, but apparently i haven't, so this is a good time for it. it's yet another amazing film from Billy Wilder, one of my very favorite directors. thank goodness at this point he had become fed up with Marilyn Monroe and decided to make fun of her for a moment in this film. not that that's an important element of the story at all, but i just felt like pointing it out.
the story is about a young businessman who works in insurance claims in New York for a large corporation. every day he rides up the elevator to the 19th floor with a beautiful elevator girl who he secretly adores and he goes to his desk among the hundreds of others and works on his figures. one thing makes him stand out though, and it's the fact that he allows the top executives from the company to use his apartment as a love nest that they can take their mistresses to. this fact quickly helps him move up the corporate ladder, but he soon realizes that Miss Kubelik, the elevator girl that he loves is being used as one of the mistresses of the apartment by his very own boss. they both have to come to terms with the life they've chosen and the life that they want for themselves.
this is a beautifully thought-out screenplay and is not at all an ordinary way to set up a love story. especially for the 1960s. but Billy Wilder was always one to push the envelope and challenge cultural standards. just enough to make you love his films.
this is one of the few Best Picture winners that i totally agree with. to think that Elmer Gantry (1960) might have beaten The Apartment makes me shiver.