The Apartment - Billy Wilder

Eminently watchable - over and over. Each delicious moment of acting and visuality. The sincere emotion on the face of Shirley MacLaine - the unbearable obnoxiousness of Fred Macmurray - the electric mania of Jack Lemmon - so acrobatic. But is it too silly, too unreal? I can’t imagine a real C.C. Baxter —- I just see Jack Lemmon. 

 Underneath is a negative characterization of the big city. When I first saw bits of this film earlier this year, the normalcy and frequency of furtive, recreational sex astonished me. And it was always high ranking men with low ranking women. It’s also surprising that both romantic leads had attempted suicide. What an awful place for young people to work. Things only look up - and the only true romance can begin - when both have quit their job. With no plan B.

 Their transformation was made possible by Jews. Wilder wants us to know them as compassionate, responsible , generous, competent. None of the adulterous playboys is  identifiable as Jewish - and the very worst has a Christmas tree at home. The landlady is Jewish - and she only raised the rent after installing an air conditioner. One might also note that paintings by distinguished Jewish modernists like Chagall and Rothko are up on the wall. ( Wilder was a serious collector). More significantly, the physician who saved Fran’s life is Jewish- he doesn’t charge a dime - and he’s even named Dreyfuss - in a nod to European anti-semitism. He also instructs Calvin ( his seriously Christian, but never used first name) on being a “mensch”. He is an island of morality in a sea of turpitude. 

 Officially qualified as a Jew myself - I’m partial to this ethnic propaganda - but as a film viewer, I have to say it’s nonsense and diminishes the inner truth of the movie.  Sure some Jews are like Dr. Dreyfus - but some are like Jeffrey Epstein as well.