From \u00e9migr\u00e9 roots to a titan of modern cinema, penning classics such as Double Indemnity, Some Like It Hot and The Apartment, a new retrospective celebrates the father of film noir\u2019s incredible career<\/p>\n
Like all survivors, Billy Wilder never forgot where he came from or what he had left behind. He was born at the start of the 20th century in Austria-Hungary and died at the start of the 21st in California, the inscription on his gravestone a nod to his most famous line: \u201cI\u2019m a writer but then nobody\u2019s perfect.\u201d Wilder, though, had a habit of of making flawless films throughout his career, a point proved by Almost Perfect, a comprehensive retrospective of his work, running at the BFI Southbank from 19 October until the end of the year.<\/p>\n
Wilder was an inveterate self-mythologiser, a film-maker with a brand long before there were opportunities for promotion through Instagram accounts and chicken shop dates. He told a story of living in Berlin during his fledgling years in show business and being kept awake all night by \u201ca toilet that was on the blink\u201d.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/73ef69088a4b4bbe60f9b262a8d948e716d29b73\/56_0_1388_1111\/master\/1388.jpg?width=140&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=ec635ee583df09ba01af7301377ce0e3\" "\\"\u2018I\u2019m")
<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"