Violence against a character is essential in developing a character. Violence is often portrayed in film through intense chase scenes or messy breakups. In The Apartment, Billy Wilder develops Fran Kubelik and Mr. Sheldrake by using relational violence. While meeting for Christmas Eve, Mr. Sheldrake is a lousy date, only giving Fran a one-hundred-dollar bill as a gift; however, Fran gifts him a record of Sheldrake’s favorite song, which had been played on an earlier date; it is a meaningful gift. This moment, as pointed out by Flannery O’Connor in Mystery and Manners, is a “violence that is strangely capable of returning… characters to reality and preparing them to accept their moment of grace” (112). The moment of grace Fran is preparing
