Middle of the Night

An affair begins between a fifty-three-year-old widowed garment manufacturer and a twenty-four-year-old woman who works in his company. Both of them know it makes no sense; the real matter is how the people around them, meaning two families, react. The film is not interested in the scandal of the age gap. It is interested in the cost of loneliness: he is afraid of being alone, she is afraid of falling into another wrong marriage. The film does not vindicate either of them. The form comes from the theatre: long scenes, interiors, and conflict that advances through talk. The New York apartments and workplaces are shot almost like documentary. The source is Paddy Chayefsky's play, and he wrote the screenplay too. Chayefsky would later be known for Network; the language here comes from the television drama tradition, ordinary people speaking in ordinary sentences. Delbert Mann directed. Fredric March plays the manufacturer and Kim Novak the young woman. Who it is for: viewers who like fifties American chamber drama and Chayefsky's dialogue. Who it is not for: anyone expecting romance. This is not the sweet side of an affair but two people constantly belittled and constantly defending themselves.