I never knew much about Billy Wilder before hearing Cameron Crowe rave about him in interviews and commentary tracks. I still don't know as much as I want about Wilder, and I haven't seen as many of his films as I'd prefer, but when I saw The Apartment for the first time, I understood what Crowe meant.
Watching The Apartment some fifty years(!) after its release, I can't help but think about how brave Wilder and Diamond were to tackle themes of infidelity, adultery, and suicide in 1960, and Lemmon and MacClaine — the everyman and the free spirit — make everything work even better.
The best directors were once writers. They have that instinctive understanding of story. They have that micro-level attention to detail and character. They understand universal themes. The great ones also understand comedy. Cameron Crowe can do it. Billy Wilder did it. Chaplin did it.
I've been trying to do it for 12 years.
Because The Apartment is so brave and real, the film doesn't seem that dated. If you can write a script with universal themes, then your story will never really age.
I felt the same way when I watched Crowe's Almost Famous. Universal themes don't age as quickly as actors, techniques, technology. Universal themes transcend costumes and set pieces (I'm not saying those are insignificant to the craft, of course). Universal themes are really what separates great writers from the rest, and great writing from the slush pile, and great films from their eras.
(This is from Ann Thurber...I just don't have a blog account)
ReplyDeleteLOVE The Apartment--and you are so right about universal themes. We watched (nearly) all of Wilder's films for my Billy Wilder as an auteur class. I have to say that most of them went downhill after "The Apartment." I couldn't quite put my finger on why, but now that you've said it, I think it's %100 theme. Wilder became too involved in his own world of success and inside jokes or self-referencing. He also tried too hard to be "hip" instead of sticking to the themes he did best.
As a side note, if you haven't read Crowe's "Conversations With Wilder," I recommend it. We read it for class and it was a wonderfully funny/insightful look at Wilder via his own words and Crowe's interviews.
(Todd Albin here...)
ReplyDeleteI think Wilder too was very aware of the "atmosphere" that a topic created, and played off of that with the characters. I've always loved the way he allows the characters to be puzzled by what's going on around them...to try and figure it out...allowing the audience to think deeper about it a the same time. What a great way to get people to open up and really look closer at the world around them...
DEFINITELY one of my all-time favorites with The Apartment.