The Apartment story
The Apartment is a 1960 American romantic comedy film directed and produced by Billy Wilder from a screenplay he co-wrote with I. A. L. Diamond. Jack Lemmon stars as an insurance clerk who, in hopes of climbing the corporate ladder, allows his superiors to use his Upper West Side apartment to conduct their extramarital affairs. He becomes attracted to an elevator operator in his office building, unaware that she is having an affair with the head of personnel.
25 total · 2 choice · 14 major · 9 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| character metamorphosis | choice | The story builds up to Baxter realizing that there is more to life that climbing the corporate ladder. In the end he resolved to follow Dr. Dreyfus' advice by giving up chasing money and status and settling for a quieter life as a "mensch" (i.e., a human being). |
| romantic love | choice | The story turns on Baxter and Fran falling in love. Fran struggled to fall out of love with the married corporate executive Jeff Sheldrake. |
| choosing between lovers | major | Fran ultimately chose Baxter over her long-time love interest, Jeff. |
| coping with having a bad reputation | major | Baxter had quite the reputation as a rake around his block because of the astounding array of different women that would frequent his abode at night. Although most of the women were there to bed other men, Baxter keenly enjoyed being thought of as a womanizer. |
| despair | major | Fran was ashamed of herself for carrying on with a married man, yet she struggled to find the strength to walk away from him. Fran's love for a married man who repeatedly offered insincere assurances became a tremendous burden. So much so that she attempted suicide by overdosing on sleeping pills. |
| extramarital affair | major | The plot centers on Baxter allowing five corporate executives at the New York insurance company where he worked to use his ideally located apartment for entertaining their various illicit liaisons. A main storyline concerns an affair between a young elevator operator, Fran Kubelik, and a married corporate executive, Jeff Sheldrake. |
| growing as a person | major | The story builds up to Baxter realizing that there is more to life that climbing the corporate ladder. In the end he resolved to follow Dr. Dreyfus' advice by giving up his shameless lifestyle and becoming a "mensch" (i.e., a human being). |
| love triangle | major | At the center of the story is a love triangle between Baxter, Fran, and Jeff. |
| monogamy vs. single life | major | This code era production compared and contrasted life as a bachelor with that of a married man, and as per code came down on the side of matrimony. |
| neighbor and neighbor | major | Baxter's neighbors in the apartment complex were convinced that he was some sort of playboy who was sleeping with a different woman every night. |