Virginia Film Festival

Oscar-nominated filmmaker Celine Song (Past Lives) curated a selection of classic romance films that influenced her upcoming film Materialists, including The Apartment. The following week, join us for a sneak preview of Materialists, on June 10.

 Link to more info and to RSVP for the June 10 screening

C.C. Baxter (Jack Lemmon) is an office clerk who courts favor with the executives in his office by giving them the key to his small apartment for their extramarital flings. Among them is his callous boss, J.D. Sheldrake (Fred MacMurray), who Baxter eventually learns is using his place to sleep with Miss Kubelik (Shirley MacLaine), the sweet elevator operator the clerk has loved from afar.

When Sheldrake coldly dumps the vulnerable young woman, she tries to commit suicide in Baxter’s apartment, giving the clerk the opportunity to save the woman of his dreams but possibly lose his job.

Inspired by Wilder’s speculation about the rendezvous provider in David Lean’s Brief Encounter, The Apartment is a mingling of sex, farce and suicide attempt and garnered such notices as “a dirty fairy tale” (Saturday Review), “leering and slimy” (New York Telegraph), “slick cynicism and prurient sentimentality” (Dwight Macdonald), while racking up giant box office scores and winning five Oscars.

Restored by Park Circus in collaboration with Metro Goldwyn Mayer.