15 Most Powerful Movie Performances Of All Time

11. Shirley MacLaine - The Apartment (1960)

While director Billy Wilder will always be best remembered for the comedy classic Some Like It Hot, his boldest and most powerful work was his 1960 comedy drama which showed a darker side to the New York playboy life. Jack Lemmon takes centre stage as the ambitious office worker who, in order to improve his standing, takes to renting out his apartment to his superiors for them to conduct affairs. But the real heart of the film is Shirley MaClaine's elevator operator, whose heart has been broken by an affair with Lemmon's boss, compelling her to attempt suicide.

Such frank presentation of topics like adultery and depression was unusual for the time, and all these decades later the film remains surprisingly raw and emotional viewing. MacLaine's gentle, understated performance, far from the screaming stereotype of a hysterical woman, is what really makes the film work, and gives real poignancy to the optimistic finale, replete with her unforgettable closing line, "shut up and deal."