Review of The Apartment (1960) by G R — 05 Sep 2009

C.C. Baxter (Jack Lemmon) is a nobody working in an office building. If you're very lucky, you're nothing like him. If not, you're like the rest of us: C.C. Baxters, muddling through life and swallowing our pride for small favours. Baxter has somehow begun lending out his apartment to his lascivious superiors, all in the quiet hope of promotion. He eats small dinners late at night, fancies a woman who works in the building's elevators, and that's all there is to his life. It's a grand performance from Jack Lemmon, who appears jolly and exuberant even in the face of life's endless disappointments. But of course, it's all a front. His neighbours think he's a pig, but he's just grateful they think of him at all.

In a fine example of economical screenwriting, the movie begins with Baxter already having to lend out his apartment. There is comic narration at the start, which suggests a rather silly, goofy little comedy. It is misleading. The Apartment is one of those comedies with such well-defined and real-seeming characters that it slips, with no visible effort, into compelling drama.

Suffice it to say, Baxter's would-be girlfriend Miss Kubilik (Shirley MacLaine) winds up at the apartment courtesy of their slithery boss. On reflection, that's really the main body of the plot. The way this affects Baxter's life, and Miss Kubilik's, is funny and tragic, often at the same time. Both characters try to move on from seemingly doomed romances, and both find themselves drawn back. Their relationship ends on a sublime, well-judged note, which doesn't include a wedding or even a kiss. It is all the more effective for its curt simplicity.

The best thing about it is undeniably the two lead characters. Shirley MacLaine seems complex and genuine, and Jack Lemmon plays one of the greatest everyman characters on film. His arc from spineless nobody to triumphant somebody is empowering, feelgood stuff. Like It's A Wonderful Life, this is an oddly uplifting movie, in spite of all sorts of sordid dealings, betrayals and attempted suicides. The film's darkness gives it a ring of truth, and the excellent characterisation of Baxter and Miss Kubilik pulls us through the ugliness.

If I'm being scant on details, it's because I don't want to spoil anything. The Apartment is dramatic, funny and romantic, and that's essentially all you need to know, information-wise.