From under the desk, C.C.("Bud") Baxter (Jack Lemmon) has produced a hatbox, and out of the hatbox a black bowler, which he now puts on his head.
Bud: It's what they call the junior executive model. What do you think?
Fran (Shirley MacLaine), the elevator operator on whom Bud has a crush, looks at him blankly, absorbed in her own thoughts.
Bud (continuing): Guess I made a boo-boo, huh?
Fran (paying attention again): No - I like it.
Bud: Really? You mean you wouldn't be ashamed to be seen with somebody in a hat like this?
Fran: Of course not.
Bud: Maybe if I wore it a little more to the side - (adjusting the hat) is that better?
Fran: Much better.
Bud: You don't think it's tilted a little too much.
Fran takes her compact out of her uniform pocket, opens it, hands it to Bud.
Fran: Here.
Bud (examining himself in the mirror): After all, this is a conservative firm - I don't want people to think I'm an entertainer...
His voice trails off. There is something familiar about the cracked mirror of the compact -- and the fleur-de-lis pattern on the case confirms his suspicion. Fran notices the peculiar expression on his face.
Fran: What is it?
Bud (with difficulty): The mirror - it's ... broken.
Fran: I know. I like it this way - makes me look the way I feel.
"(it) makes
me look the way I feel"
One of the great all-time movie lines - very simple yet very revealing.
ReplyDeleteThat line sums up the entire film. With the exception of the doctor, everyone is broken in it. That's Billy Wilder for you.
ReplyDeleteJeff Kastner- Yes, everyone is "broken" in "The Apartment." Most of the characters are broken in all of Wilder's film. His admirers call him cynical. I just think he created characters he simply didn't like and had to punish - which, I guess, is a form of cynicism.
ReplyDelete