The Apartment is a pretty solid read. Billy Wilder owns Melissa Mathison when it comes to screenwriting in my opinion. It was a no nonsense, scarce descriptive, no camera direction script that was easy to read.
Most of The Apartment works when it comes to the story. Wilder balances the themes and plot points very carefully and allows us to smile at what could otherwise be a very depressing movie. Never do you have a sense that something bad will end up happening to the characters you like. This is a comedy after all. One mistake in the writing and the movie could become a serious and unfunny discussion about suicide, bullying, loneliness, and so on. Some people have been complaining that the ending was too abrupt, but I don’t think so. Everyone knows Kubelik and Bud will be together in the end, and you are just waiting for it to happen. When it happens, that’s all you need to see. It’s a happy ending, again, because it’s a comedy.
One of the few things that I believe didn’t work was the entire premise. I mean, didn’t hotels exist in 1960? Didn’t any of these women have a place they were living? Sure that wouldn’t work for the story, but that’s a bit of a stretch for the reader to take. Also you get the impression that Kubelik is settling for someone she doesn’t love in Bud, so the better ending if you feel bad for Bud would be to just end it when he points to that random girl and tells Kubelik that she’s his date for the night.
- Jared Smith2. Not many people seemed to like the ending so far. How would you end it? Would you shorten it like me, keep it the same, or stretch out the ending with Kubelik and Bud?
3 comments:
While plot is a necessary key in any film, I believe character is what ultimately drives a good film, to me at least. If there are one dimensional characters who you don't really give a damn about, then my interest in the film vanishes. Take The Apartment, for example. The basic plot is actually kinda sitcom-y. But I found the story to be quite entertaining only because of the characters, the way the characters carry themselvs, and the way the characters change throughout the script.
Change the ending! Make everyone miserable(see my post)! The jump of Fran suddenly running off to Bud's apartment was too far a leap for me.
When did she have this revelation? I don't know if hearing about Bud quiting his job is enough.
Length-wise, it was real swell.
It can’t be an either/or thing can it? If we use “The Apartment” our guide it might be though. Bud, Fran, and Sheldrake’s character are literally what cause the plot to continue in motion. If Bud wouldn’t have been so weak willed he would have just hung up on Dobish. If he does that, his apartment never becomes a Midtown version of Poconos (a place notorious for extramarital affairs). If Fran wasn’t the type to continue her affair with the Sheldrake, she and Bud might have gone to that play or musical or whatever it was. If Sheldrake wasn’t the type of boss and person that he is, he wouldn’t hold Bud’s promotion over him or have an affair with Fran. The plot of “The Apartment” is almost completely dependant on the character of the people involved in it.
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