A thrilling, audience-involving film directed by cinema auteur, Alfred Hitchcock.

Rating: Null/10 (22 April 2003)

(SPOILER) `Rear Window', starring James Stuart as L.B. `Jeff' Jefferies and Grace Kelly as Lisa Carol Fremont, is a film that wraps the audience around its central theme of fulfillment. In fact, through the use of both subjective camerawork and mise en scene, the audience actually becomes part of the movie, and thus part of the theme, as well. `Rear Window' is a masterpiece of a film, a movie that leaves the audience with a powerful drive for personal fulfillment and a reminiscent sense of both understanding and knowing each character. `Rear Window' stresses fulfillment as the main theme, as the need for fulfillment plagues each of the characters within their enclosed world of 32 apartments and a courtyard. Happily, in the end of the film, all characters seem to obtain the personal fulfillment that they have been seeking throughout the movie. L.B. `Jeff' Jefferies (James Stuart), for example, desperately craves the solution to a potential murder mystery. In the end, he reaches fulfillment as he discovers the murderer and solves the case. His girlfriend, Lisa Carol Fremont (Grace Kelly) wishes that Jeff would settle down with her. In the end, it appears as if their relationship has strengthened and her dream might come true. Additionally, the characters outside of Jeff's rear window also strive for fulfillment. For example, the musical composer (Ross Bagdasarian) repeatedly attempts to write a successful score, and manages to finally do so in the end of the movie. Miss Torso (Georgine Darcy) hopes to find a suitor that she likes. In the end, she finds one. Additionally, Miss Lonelyhearts (Judith Evelyn) seeks true love, and is granted this happiness in the end of the film. Even murderer Lars Thornwald (Raymond Burr) is granted some sense of fulfillment as he finally disposes of his plaguing wife, (although we never do discover his motive). Seemingly, the desire for fulfillment on behalf of the characters not only motivates their actions, but also categorizes their emotional and physical statuses at the end of the film. Thus, fulfillment is the theme of `Rear Window'. The theme of fulfillment is reflected in several scenes in `Rear Window'. It is discovered, perhaps in the most poignant revelation, with Miss Lonelyhearts. In the final scenes of the movie, we discover that for once, Miss Lonelyhearts is not eating alone (or eating with an unsatisfactory guest). Indeed, she has found a mate, the musical composer from a nearby apartment. Through the window, the two happily interact with each other in the composer's studio apartment. Miss Lonelyhearts is definitely no longer lonely. Thus, she has become fulfilled. In another poignant scene, we discover that Miss Torso has found a suitable partner, and through the window we discover her happily (and romantically) involving herself with her newly discovered love. She also has met with personal success and her desires have been fulfilled. Fulfillment (as a theme) is present in several of Hitchcock's movies, in fact. It appears vividly in `North By Northwest' (1959) and in `Suspicion' (1941). Typically, the audience never becomes involved with the central theme of a movie. However, genius and auteur Alfred Hitchcock directed `Rear Window' in hopes that the audience would relate to the theme. Hitchcock masterfully succeeded uniting the audience with the film by employing the two crucial camera techniques of subjective camerawork and mise en scene.
Subjective camerawork is employed through most of the movie, for the film consists of a series of events that Jeff sees through a rear window in his apartment building. The use of subjective camerawork allows the audience to familiarize with the characters, become part of their lives, and thus sympathize with the desire (and theme) of fulfillment on the characters' behalf. Through the rear window, the audience can clearly see exactly what the voyeur (Jeff) sees. The members are made to believe that they are interacting in this small courtyard world, and thus are part of the world. In doing so, the audience makes associations with the characters and it is cognizant about the characters' desires for fulfillment. One scene in which subjective camerawork is quite obvious is when Jeff thinks he sees the Thornwald murder take place. This scene best demonstrates subjective camerawork, because the audience member understands that the murder is a mere possibility, perhaps a figment of Jeff's vivid imagination. The viewer recognizes that the murder has been seen merely through a pair of eyes, and is thus from a subjective viewpoint. The use of mise en scene allows the audience member to associate the courtyard with a sort of world. By using very elaborate shots that encompass the dimensions and proportions of the courtyard, the audience member reaches understanding about the operative world in which the characters live. As a result, they can better associate with the characters and their desires, and thus the theme of fulfillment becomes quite poignant for the viewer- they are working within the characters' environment, as well. One scene that best illustrates mise en scene is the opening scene in which the camera spins and spirals through the courtyard, examining each corner of the tiny enclosed world. From this shot, the audience derives a sense of the spatial integrities of the courtyard, and they can better operate within the characters' world. Truly, Hitchcock's great film, `Rear Window', deftly maneuvers the audience to relate to and understand each of the characters. It's a masterpiece that destroys the barrier that typically segregates the audience from the film, and creates a bond between the visual medium and the viewer that lasts poignantly in the viewer's heart.