A tale of modern urban life, where
connections are becoming increasingly hard to establish, it focuses on a few
characters around a New York big insurance company (an accountant, an elevator girl, and a few
others). It starts with a nod to King
Vidor’s “The Crowd”, courtesy of set designer Alexander Trauner, and a
narration of facts and figures, quickly establishing the dehumanisation of the workplace,
just before we focus on CC Baxter, a slightly ambitious average Joe (played by
Jack Lemmon). Nothing would distinguish him from the rest of the office except
for two things: one, he is single (i.e. lives alone) and two, he rents a very well
located apartment. Combined, these means it’s easy for he to loan his apartment
to his philandering bosses.
Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond’s script is a
masterclass in scriptwriting. It’s economical, character driven, true to
character and funny and heartbreaking. An all-in-one example is the Christmas
party sequence. In just a few shots, Lemmon’s character learns the about the
mysterious identity of his boss’ lover. There’s no exposition, no big drama,
just a few shots, a clue given earlier and you end with a character completely
heartbroken yet unable to give away his feelings. Deservedly, it got them an
Oscar for best original screenplay, which Wilder also complemented with a best
director and best film – the last competitive Oscars he would get (he only got
another nomination, for “The Fortune Cookie”’s script).
Of course it helps that his three lead
actors (Shirley MacLaine, Jack Lemmon and Fred MacMurray) are absolutely
astonishing. MacMurray plays slimmy, arrogant and self-assured with perfection:
just look at the perfection of his twin scenes, with MacLaine and Lemmon,
seducing one and the other (in different ways, with different goals), by
telling one how much he loves her and that he will divorce his wife, and to the
other, by playing macho and saying how MacLaine is just only another fling and
he has no intention of divorcing his wife after all. One of the most reliable
leading ladies’ leading men of the 1930s and 1940s, I always feel he was
treated unfairly (e.g. not getting an Oscar nomination for this), something he
contributed to by stating that only Wilder made him act. I disagree: not only
was he always good fun in his Paramount years (well, at least as far as I have
experienced) but in Sirk’s “There’s Always Tomorrow” he is as good as in here
or in “Double Indemnity”.
Lemmon – Wilder’s Everyman – is also spot
on. Funny and hurt, Full of joy and heartbroken. He handles with the same grace
the Christmas sequence I mentioned above, and for instance, the
spaghetti/tennis racked scene later on. Or his reaction to TV advertising –
looking forward to an ever delayed showing of “Grand Hotel”.
But it is MacLaine that wins my heart. With
her face alone she tells all the layers that Wilder doesn’t put into words –
her barely hidden contempt when presented with the $100 bill; her confused
apologies when she figures out that it’s Lemmon’s apartment; and in the final
sequences, from the bar up to that brilliant line which ends the film (and Wilder and/or Diamond
were so good at those) and leaves open most things to
come. As for the Oscars, well, she put it best herself: "I thought I would
win for The Apartment, but then Elizabeth Taylor had a tracheotomy".
The supporting cast is also brilliant,
particularly the quartet of executives who use the apartment, the doctor’s wife
and the telephone girl. I am less convinced by the blond girl and the doctor –
although he was the one secured a nomination for best supporting actor.
I think I also need to put a word here for
two of my favourite technicians in the cinema ever: set designer Alexander Trauner
and cinematographer Joseph LaShelle. Both had a long career. Both became Wilder
regulars afterwards (particularly Trauner, with both working in “Irma La Douce” and
“Kiss me Stupid”) although Trauner had previously designed the sets for
“Witness for the Prossecution”. Both have a body of work that puts them at the
height of their professions, and both got Oscar nominations for this. If
Trauner’s amazing apartment got him a just reward (Lemmon’s apartment is one of
the most realistic sets I have ever seen, from the TV to the Ella Fitzgerald
LPs), LaShelle got passed over. In a perfect world they both would have won.
As Wilder put elsewhere, nobody’s perfect.
And I have a couple of issues with the film. The neighbours’ reactions being
one of them – how can they be completely oblivious to the fact that Lemmon
isn’t really having all those women? Nosy as they are, they should have found
that out long ago. Another is the timeline of events prior to the film:
MacLaine only joined the company a few months before, but there is the hint in
some of the dialogue that she’s been there for years. Surely there are plenty
of hints on that front. But these little quibbles don’t distract from near
perfection.
