THE 1950S

Romantic Comedy

The Seven Year Itch - 1955

DIRECTED BY: BILLY WILDER
STARRING: MARILYN MONROE, TOM EWELL

GENRE: ROMANTIC COMEDY

 

PLOT

• About extramarital affairs of men in the seventh year of marriage (hence the name)

• Man with consecutive fantasies of having an affair with a woman (Monroe)

• Richard Sherman has an overactive imagination, and after a meeting with his psychologist, begins to have fantasies of him having affairs with the woman living above him

• He is married, but his wife and child live in Maine, away from him

• In the end, he just goes back to his wife

 

SIGNIFICANCE

• Contains one of the most iconic images of the 20th century

  • Monroe’s white dress blown by a passing train

• The title has come to be used by psychologists to denote declining interest in monogamous marriage in the seventh year of a relationship