The Apartment: 65 Years On

Billy Wilder’s romantic comedy remains hugely entertaining and timelessly relevant

Credit: United Artist/Amazon MGM

Warning: Contains spoilers

Sexual abuse of power in the workplace is a key theme in Billy Wilder’s 1960 Oscar-winning film, The Apartment. Although pushing the censorial envelope at the time, given the restrictions of the Hollywood Production Code, it looked tame just a decade later, compared with the sex, nudity, and rape in the 1969 Best Picture winner, Midnight Cowboy. Yet something strange happened in the intervening decade. To me, Midnight Cowboy’s bleak but poignant tale of friendship between a pair of hustlers feels significantly less controversial than it once did. In contrast, amid the cultural aftermath of #MeToo, The Apartment seems more depressingly relevant than ever.

Not that I’d ever call The Apartment a depressing film. It features lovely lead performances from Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine, with all the wit, pace, and, indeed, romance and comedy that you’d expect from a Billy Wilder romantic comedy. Yet it can’t be denied that, viewed at this point in history, given the endless scandals coming out of the woodwork (here’s yet another recent example), the film highlights just how little the world has progressed in terms of how women are treated in the workplace. Wilder and co-writer IAL Diamond’s screenplay explores this subject entertainingly and to satisfying effect (the guilty party gets a comeuppance of sorts). However, along the way, the film features multiple sharp observations that will continue to ring true for those who have suffered sexual harassment at the hands of abusive bosses.