Middle of the Night

In this forward-thinking drama, a widowed businessman becomes involved with a much younger employee at his textiles factory.

Jerry Kingsley (played by two-time Academy Award winner Frederic March), a recently bereaved Manhattan textiles manufacturer, is encouraged by all around him to take a new wife. What his family and buddies don’t expect is that the 56-year-old man’s affections will land on Betty Preisser (Kim Novak), the 24-year-old divorced receptionist who works at his factory. Even as the two tentatively pursue this May–December romance, they soon grasp the complexities of sharing the relationship with their families and friends.

Marilyn Monroe had originally campaigned to play Betty after seeing the Broadway production on which the film was based, but the role instead went to Novak, keen to prove her acting chops and break free of the bombshell image Columbia Pictures had created for her. Adapted for the screen by playwright Paddy Chayefsky (Marty) and shot in striking black-and-white, the emotional performances from March and Novak – who cites it as her favourite turn – devastate. Premiering in Competition at the 1959 Cannes Film Festival, where Novak’s appearance on the Croisette was among the event’s most documented, Middle of the Night is a deeply human and compassionate portrait of people reaching for connection in a world determined to judge them for it.

Content: Melbourne International Film Festival