#44: Rear Window

Rear Window (Hitchcock, 1959)

Maybe the most famous Hitchcock movie, Rear Window takes place almost entirely from a perspective within the main character's apartment. He's a journalist who spends all his time in poor countries with harsh conditions. But now he's got a broken leg, and he's trapped inside his apartment. The film takes place long before the internet age, but in terms of social norms it's eerily predictive of it. He lives in a big apartment complex all of which have windows open to a huge courtyard. His neighbors all watch each other but never interact with each other. They all live their own separate lives, watch and be watched, with a tacit feeling of superiority and contempt for them, and the one with the telescope, he feels in control of them all.

That's the psychology of the movie, but the main plot revolves around a murder. When he's watching one of his neighbors, he sees him fighting with his invalid wife. Then, he falls asleep, wakes up later, and hears a scream. Throughout the night, he sees the husband leaving the apartment several times. He comes to the conclusion that he murdered his wife, and tries to enlist his friends and associates to help him prove it. They try to convince him he's imagining things. He starts to lose his feeling of control and superiority, and his isolation and helplessness is exposed.

The murder plot of the film makes it entertaining and accessible, and the psychological themes make it interesting as well. It's also cinematically interesting in the way the behavior of the neighbors is presented from a distance, controlling the viewer's perspective and knowledge to the perspective and knowledge of the main character.

Rating: **** 1/2 / 5

84/100