Mr. Baxter is lonely, depressed and rather lazy. Instead of actually working hard, he rents out his apartment to his several bosses so they can sleep with women, and as a thanks for this, he gets promotions and money. It works out for him and he gets a promotion, but then something surprising happens.
One day he finds a broken pocket mirror in his apartment. He assumes it's one of his boss's mistresses, and returns it to his boss. Later that day when he talks to his romantic interest Ms. Kubelik about his promotion, he wants to see how a hat he just bought looks on him, and asks to use Ms. Kubelik's pocket mirror. But when he opens it, he notices it is broken, and the exact same he found in his apartment. He asks why she has it broken, and she answers: "So it makes me look how I feel".
There is so many layers of genius in this moment. The writer could have had Baxter recognize the mirror when he found it, but placing it during the height of his happiness results in an emotional gut punch for the ages. And don't even get me started on how the broken mirror is a metaphor for how Mr. Baxter and Ms. Kubelik view themself.
This moment is a version of a screenwriting technique called "The Lubitsch Touch", which was first invented by master screenwriter and director Ernst Lubitsch. But it was perfected by one Billy Wilder. He described it as a "superjoke", which is basically that there is one satisfying joke that is topped right afterwards by an even bigger and more satisfying joke that you don't expect. And The Apartment is filled with these extravagant superjokes, and that's because the screenwriter and director for the film was Billy Wilder himself.
Billy Wilder is a giant of cinema. He is easily one of the greatest of all directors, and certainly the greatest of all screenwriters. His films varied between cynical and funny. He has directed and written some of the darkest dramas ever made, like Sunset Boulevard, Double Indemnity and Ace In The Hole, but also directed Some Like It Hot which is according to AFI the greatest comedy of all time. What makes The Apartment his magnum opus is that it is the perfect mix between these two types of movies.
The key to The Apartment's greatness is of course the screenplay. It's in my book a contender for the greatest screenplay ever written. Every single line does something, either making you laugh, moving the plot forward, etc. Every single motif comes back later, and it always does in perfect fashion.
The Apartment is also maybe the most tragicomic film ever made. Baxter's loneliness and feelings of being stuck in the corporate machine is the core of the film. The scenes where Baxter is working features some amazing cinematography and set design. It feels like the number of desks is neverending. In the beginning, Wilder finds comedy in the absolute tragedy of the film, but then the film spirals into complete tragedy.
The Apartment is a romantic comedy, which is a genre of film I have always been critical of, but The Apartment is an exception. The way it deals with it's themes of depression, loneliness and the corporate machine is surprisingly mature for a comedy. In the end, it's how Baxter and Kubelik both feel lonely that makes them connect and fall in love, and it's in the end the solution to their loneliness. It's wonderfully poetic and romantic, and there is hardly any ending that makes me happier.
You have probably noticed by now, but The Apartment is one of my favorite films. It's tragicomic as hell in the beginning, but if that ending doesn't bring happy tears to your eyes, I don't know what will. It truly transcends it's genre and becomes a perfect example of what happens when everything that should be good in a film comes together to create perfection. I don't hesitate in calling The Apartment one of the greatest films of all time.
Conclusion:
The Apartment is a masterpiece of cinema. A giant towering achievement of pure art. A film where you can find true perfection. A must-see if there ever was one.
10/10
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