The Apartment (1960)

Billy Wilder’s then-risqué romcom, with Jack Lemmon and Shirley Maclaine finding love amid corporate New York’s sea of sexual deception.

Following the popular and critical success of his gender-bending farce Some Like It Hot (1959), Wilder reteamed with screenwriter I.A.L. Diamond for this darker comedy set in the world of nine-to-five corporate New York. Jack Lemmon was again on hand, this time as lonely office bottom-runger C.C. Baxter, who goes after promotion by allowing his seniors the use of his apartment for their extramarital liaisons. Meanwhile, he hopes to catch the eye of the sassy elevator girl, Fran Kubelik (Shirley Maclaine).

Deliriously funny, The Apartment is also shot through with Wilder’s customary wit and cynicism, creating a bleak vision of estrangement in the modern working city. Celebrated art director Alexander Trauner designed the cavernous open-plan office. The film won five Academy Awards, including best picture and best director.

“I’m still not sure if it’s really a romantic comedy or a heartbreaking film about loneliness. Maybe it’s both...” Simon Duffy

“Imagine being as good at anything as Jack Lemmon is for every second of this tragicomic masterpiece.” Helen O’Hara

“This is a movie that will never age. A painstaking, heartbreaking, perfectly funny portrait of Western society.” Ilaria Feole

“Comedy gets short shrift in lists of this kind; sometimes it looks too easy to create. Billy Wilder made it look easy and yet you know it was hard. The Apartment has a lot to say about heterosexual love but manages to say it while commenting on class.” Oris Aigbokhaevbolo

1960 USA
Directed by
Billy Wilder
Produced by
Billy Wilder
Written by
Billy Wilder, I.A.L. Diamond
Featuring
Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Fred MacMurray

Ranked in The Greatest Films of All Time poll

Sight and Sound

Who voted for The Apartment

Critics

Kaleem Aftab
UK
Oris Aigbokhaevbolo
Nigeria
Rose Baker
UK
Annie Berke
USA
Marten Blomkvist
Sweden
Serge Bromberg
France
Maya S. Cade
USA
Roberta Ciabarra
Australia
Jonathan Coe
UK
Tóth Csaba
Hungary
Simon Duffy
UK
Ilaria Feole
Italy
Neil Fox
UK
Hannah Gatward
UK
Federico Gironi
Italy
Houshang Golmakani
Iran
Adam Gonet
UK
Paula Guthat
US
Kevin Harley
UK
Jessica Kiang
Germany
Gábor Köves
Hungary
Isaac León-Frías
Peru
Ross Maclean
UK
Geoffrey Macnab
UK
Roberto Manassero
Italy
Linda Marric
UK
Agustín Masaedo
Argentina
Paolo Mereghetti
Italy
Robert Mitchell
UK
Mehelli Modi
UK
Bogdan Movileanu
Romania
Mark Naglazas
Australia
Lawrence Napper
UK
Ian Nathan
UK
Michael Newton
Netherlands
Helen O'Hara
UK
Andrew Osmond
UK
Marcin Pieńkowski
Poland
Alistair Ryder
UK
Mark Salisbury
UK
Nicolas Schaller
France
Ben Stoddart
UK
Sean Welsh
UK
Esther Zuckerman
USA

Directors

Richard Ayoade
UK
Asghar Farhadi
Iran
Michel Hazanavicius
France
Paul Kelly
UK
Sharon Maguire
UK
Lulu Wang
USA