Peering Through the Rear Window

Rating: 10/10 (7 November 2019)

Undoubtedly one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, Alfred Hitchcock has a body of work so classic and influential that it is almost impossible to view the films with fresh eyes. His style has been emulated, parodied, and downright copied so many times that even those who come to his films later in life will find them familiar. His vision as an auteur of film is arguably unparalleled, and Rear Window is among the best of his work.
James Stewart, a regular in Hitchcock pictures, plays Jeff, a professional photographer who is bedridden with a broken leg. Somewhat immobilized, Jeff's vantage point is restricted to his apartment, where Hitchcock keeps the audience's perspective based. After discussing with his nurse that his girlfriend Lisa is "too perfect" for him, she is introduced as an imposing force of beauty played by Grace Kelly, another Hitchcock favorite, her shadow looming over Jeff as he wakes up to the most extreme close-up shot in the movie of her beaming face.
The premise of the plot is simple enough. Without much else to keep him entertained, Jeff peers through his rear window into the lives of his neighbours, who he affectionately gives nicknames such as Miss Torso and Miss Lonelyhearts, until a suspicious series of events lead him to believe that one of his neighbors has killed his wife. Full of red herrings, dealing with themes of voyeurism, marriage and captivity, and featuring his trademark cameo, Hitchcock masterfully conducts every element of Rear Window.
One of the most notable aspects of the film is constrained perspective. Hitchcock uses the limited scope of what can be seen by both the characters and the audience to drive the narrative. This objective goes beyond his selective mise-en-scÃ¨ne, pushing the audience to listen in a bit more closely and strain to see more than they are shown. This technique is used to virtually the opposite effect in Psycho, where Hitchcock challenges convention by killing off the protagonist half-way through the film, and following a variety of characters including the film's villain. While drastically different in terms of style, it is the same level of control over what the audience gets to see that makes them quintessentially Hitchcock.