Rear Window Film Class Review

Rating: 8/10 (6 February 2018)

The rear window was a very good film. I sat by right with Jeff wondering if Lars was the killer. I felt helpless and trapped when poor Lisa was caught snooping around the apartment with no one there to help her. I felt as though she was calling out for me, and I couldn't do anything. Just sitting there witnessing the events, just like Jeff through his window. Hitchcock can achieve this remarkable state of suspense through the types of camera shots he chooses to take throughout the film.
The majority of the film is point of view, specifically from Jeff's point of view. The three part shot that Hitchcock employs captures the viewer and places him in the wheelchair. Scenes of Jeff peering through the window, then cutting back to see what he is looking at. When we see it we can form an opinion and a reaction for ourselves, then the shot moves back to Jeff where he is showing us what his opinion of the events are. It could be a subtle smile or an investigative glare, but we are right there smiling or glaring along with him. This connection fuels the tone for the rest of the movie because Jeff is in a wheelchair. The wheelchair confines him, makes him look through the windows. Since we connect with Jeff we also feel confined, helpless at times peering through the screen.
The use of the windows and sound also create that feeling of what if. What if Lars didn't kill his wife? What if we are watching something private that was not meant to be seen? The windows are full of private moments, scandalous and humorous moments alike. Who is to say the investigating we are doing is right? These people only allow us to see windows into their lives, with little context. If we are wrong about Lars then are we now the bad people? This doubt was brought to life by Doyle, the police officer. He did not take much interest in the window unless it was the ballerina dancer. He seemed to have an answer for evert conspiracy that Jeff throws at him. It seems to us the Jeff, and the audience with him is just cruising down a dead-end street. Instead of being super sleuths we are degraded to no more than creeps that stare at people through the window. This is all brought about by the suspense generated in the film. The highs and lows we experience, and this could not be done without the windows.
What creates the suspense and wonder is not what is shown to us. It is created the parts we can't see. The division of the scene by the windows and buildings. Characters in the same house even seen disjointed by the separation. Lars and his wife in the beginning did not seem that close because we rarely saw them in the same window. We could tell that their relationship was strained. Another effect the windows have is that we never see the whole scene much like we never really know the whole story until the end when Lars confronts Jeff in his own home. No more looking through the windows to find out what happens at that point, we can see the whole scene. Much like what the windows did visually the use of sound does auditorily. Laughter and screams can be heard clearly but no other context can be heard. Are we watching an argument? Playful banter between a husband and wife? We cannot draw a solid conclusion on the topic because we do not have all of the information much like Jeff when trying to find Lars guilty of killing his wife.