A multi-layered voyeuristic masterpiece

Rating: 10/10 (29 July 2011)

Rear Window is about an immobilised man Jeff who is restricted to his apartment and spies on his neighbours through boredom. He is sure he witnesses a neighbour called Thorwald murder his wife across the courtyard and is thereafter determined to prove he is right. He enrols the help of his girlfriend Lisa to help him solve the puzzle.
Rear Window is one of Alfred Hitchcock's biggest critical and commercial successes of the 50's. Starring James Stewart and Grace Kelly (introduced with a glorious dream-like slow-motion kiss), it followed the template of his earlier films such as The 39 Steps where it combined suspense, comedy and romance. It is also one of his most purely cinematic movies. The story is told by imagery whenever possible such as the opening pan where we see all the neighbours, then the bandaged Jeff and the contents of his apartment – in this brief bit of camera work we learn much about Jeff's situation without a word being spoken. The camera POV almost never leave's Jeff's apartment. We observe the people across the courtyard but we only faintly hear them at best. The film relies on an optically subjective narrative, where we see what Jeff sees, and we see how he reacts. The issue of voyeurism presents the film's moral dilemma. Is it right to spy on your neighbours? Obviously Jeff uncovers a murder so his actions seem ultimately justified but there is an underlying darkness to his motives. It could be reasonably argued that Jeff subconsciously wants Thorwald to have murdered his wife so that he has an exciting murder-mystery to solve that will alleviate the daily boredom of recovering from his broken leg.
Rear Window is a film about looking. It reflects the cinematic experience itself. Jeff passively watches other lives unfold from a fixed position in a similar way to how we the audience watch movies. The neighbours could almost be said to represent different genres of film – the musician (the musical), Miss Lonelyhearts (the melodrama), the elderly couple with the dog (domestic comedy), Miss Torso (soft-core erotica), the newlyweds (social realism), the Thorwalds (murder-mystery). At the very least, his neighbours over the courtyard represent a microcosm of the society of a big city. Moreover, the scenes from the other apartments offer alternative possibilities to Jeff's own bachelor life – loneliness (Miss Lonelyhearts), the restrictions of marriage (the newlyweds) and, at a horrific extreme, domestic homicide (the Thorwalds). The roles that the immobile Jeff and the active Lisa are reversed over the court with Thorwald and his bed-ridden wife. Much of the romantic thread of the film concerns Jeff's reluctance to commit to Lisa, and unmistakable parallels can be drawn between them and the Thorwalds.
Rear Window in other words is a multi-layered masterpiece. An experimental visual exercise, a romantic drama, an examination of the cinema watching experience; and of course a witty, supremely acted and immaculately directed thriller. Much more than meets the eye!