My favourite Hitchcock

Rating: 10/10 (19 March 2020)

I love this film. I love the cinematography, the plot, the characters, and the interactions between characters. Doyle is so thoroughly annoying; despite the fact that they almost never speak, Miss Torso, the pianist, and Miss Lonelyheart feel just as real and round as characters like Lisa, Jeff, or Stella (I appreciate the blunt delivery of her thoughts). When considering the villain (Thorwald) does not speak for most of the film, I am impressed by how much can be conveyed through body language. Plus, when Thorwald confronts Jimmy Stewart at Jeff's apartment and the defenestration scene is preceded with Jeff defending himself via camera flashes, I could not help but chuckle at how perfectly silly this ending was.
This was the first Hitchcock film I ever watched and remains my favourite to this day.
An interesting choice about which I am not quite sure how I feel is the ending, however. Lisa is an amazing woman. She is fearless, smart, quick on her feet, and elegant. This is true from the beginning, though. I don't think Lisa changes all that much from the first scene she is on stage till the last. What evolves is Jeff's perception of Lisa. At the beginning, Jeff sees Lisa as fragile. On multiple occasions, he brings up socioeconomic status and seems to associate Lisa's love of expensive clothes with her supposed inability to handle the harshness of the real world Jeff is used to in his line of work; it's easy to discern that he is relatively more sensitive about money.
The last scene starts with Miss Lonelyheart at the pianist's apartment as the pianist puts on a record. I don't remember all of the lyrics, but it's essentially a slow, romantic piece about a woman called Lisa. As the music continues, the camera pans, and we eventually see Jeff facing away from the window. He appears to be dreaming. The camera then pans right as we see Lisa next to him, reading "Beyond the High Himalayas" until she is convinced Jeff is no longer awake. She then puts the book down and picks up an issue of Bazaar.
This is the first time Lisa is not wearing a dress or a skirt, but rather trousers and an overall more practical-looking attire. It's implied that she is now more in tune with Jeff because she is tougher because...trousers and book about geography? My issue with this ending is that it implies certain preferences, like Lisa's choice of fashion and reading habits inherently make it impossible for her to not be fragile. On the contrary, I would argue that her continued interest proves that her overall kickass nature does not have anything to do with what she is wearing. I don't think certain interests automatically (dis)qualify a person from having certain personality traits. I also don't think a relationship where one party puts on a facade to appease the other is healthy or could last long and remain an enjoyable relationship for both.