The Seven Year Itch (1955)
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A lonely publishing executive struggles with his desires and imagination while his wife is away for the summer.
The story
Richard Sherman is a middle-aged publishing executive in New York City whose wife and son have left him alone in the city's heat. While reading a book about men being driven to extra-marital affairs in the seventh year of marriage, he meets a commercial actress who has subleased the apartment upstairs. Richard's imagination runs wild with fantasies of the woman, leading to a series of awkward interactions. Despite his internal guilt and the 'Seven Year Itch' of waning interest in his marriage, he finds himself increasingly drawn to the alluring presence of the woman upstairs.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
Richard Sherman is a middle-aged publishing executive in New York City whose wife Helen and son Ricky are spending the summer in Ogunquit, Maine. While reading a book by Dr. Brubaker claiming men are driven to affairs in the seventh year of marriage, he meets a commercial actress who has subleased the apartment upstairs. Richard experiences several fantasy sequences involving his wife and various women. After a woman from upstairs accidentally knocks a tomato plant onto his chair, Richard invites her for a drink. She turns out to be a naïve television toothpaste spokeswoman. After a series of interactions, including a clumsy moment on a piano bench where Richard grabs at her, he asks her to leave out of guilt. However, his resolve weakens as he hears his wife is spending time with a writer friend. He takes the woman to a movie and later invites her to stay the night. The next morning, Richard has a dream where he assaults the man he imagines is having an affair with his wife. He wakes up and tells the woman she can stay in his apartment while he leaves for two weeks in Maine.
- First release year
- 1955
- Runtime (minutes)
- 105
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Billy Wilder
- Writers
- George Axelrod · screenplay; Billy Wilder · screenplay
- Cast and characters
- Marilyn Monroe · The Girl; Tom Ewell · Richard Sherman
- Genres
- romantic comedy
- Themes
- adultery; boredom; familial values
- Tone and mood
- romantic comedy
- Premise and plot tags
- romance; comedy; apartment life
- Source material / true-story basis
- George Axelrod's 1952 play
- Reception
- The film was a major commercial success and received generally positive reviews, though some critics noted the limitations of the Production Code.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 7.2/10 · scale: 10 · review count: 32
- Awards and nominations
- AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs · No. 51 · 2000 · included; The New York Times Guide to the Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made · included · 2002 · included
- Production trivia
- It contains one of the most iconic pop culture images of the 20th century.; The film was made under straitjacketed conditions due to the Hays office.; Marilyn Monroe's then-husband, Joe DiMaggio, was on set during the filming of the dress scene.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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