The cultural highlight of my week – “Rear Window”
By: Rosina Moran
Tags: Murder Mystery, Movies, Hitchcock, Thriller, Grace Kelly

The cultural highlight of my week – “Rear Window”

There are a handful of movies which I would watch more than once, several times, again and again because every time I watch the movie it brings me absolute joy with renewed vigour.

Alfred Hitchcock’s movie “Rear Window” is one of my all time favourites. Everything about this movie is incredible.

“Okay let’s start. What’s right with it?”

I love the nostalgia this movie brings to me.

When I watch the movie, i appreciate the quality of the film, the technicolour filter where the vibrancy of the visuals brings the set to life, where the film reaches out to you from behind the tv screens and almost makes you feel like part of the scene.

“What’s the scene?”

James Stewart’s character L.B. Jeffries, a photo-journalist who travels the world, goes into unchartered territories, puts himself in the line of danger to capture important pictures and prominent moments, finds himself in a wheelchair after breaking his leg.

To mitigate his boredom, whilst his broken bones heal, he looks out his “Rear Window” which allows him to look through his neighbour’s “Rear Window” and into their respective lives. Through the windows he sees a cross-section of society, a young newly wedded couple, a buxom dancer, a pianist composing a troublesome melody, a middle aged sculptress, a single lady nicknamed ‘ms lonely hearts’, another couple who likes to sleep on their veranda with a pet dog and at the centre of all the rectangular boxed sized flats and apartments is the couple who are integral to this story.

The verbal exchange between these neighbours are muffled but judging by the tone, body language and all the non-verbal communication it is easy to draw speculative conclusions. They are trapped in an unhappy marriage.

The struggling couple consists of an invalid wife who obviously mocks and is derisive towards her husband. The husband is tired, overwhelmed and suffering. They are in a marriage where the love that must have bought them together is now long gone. The bitterness of being stuck in a loveless marriage is evident for their wheelchair bound bored inquisitive photographer.

In the heat, whilst snoozing in his wheelchair, a sudden quick scream awakens the protagonist, L.B. Jeffries. He thinks nothing of it but then begins to notice the unhappy husband taking trips in the middle of the rainy night. The following day, the wife is no longer present in their apartment. The bed where she usually reclines is neatly made up.

Jeffries starts taking account of various circumstantial evidence, like big knives which he can see the husband cleaning, the bathroom walls which the husband washes down, the trunk which he bounds up in ropes and sends off.

All this is interlaced with Jeffries own relationship issues with his picture perfect girlfriend who he is keen to push away but doesn’t want to altogether lose.

Grace Kelly’s ‘Lisa’ is an absolute vision in beautiful dresses which fan out from the waist. The 1950’s chic Harpers Bazaar glamour and her unlikely but believable attraction to the L.B. Jeffries, who do not care for the finer things in life, brings to the story yet another human angle.

The pull and push of their relationship tugs at the heart strings as her love for him outweighs his misforgivings which he puts down to their differences as she is park avenue glamour and he is living on a shoe string budget looking for the next adventure in foreign lands.

The other woman in his life is his physiotherapist who checks in on him.

“What people really should be doing is go outside of their own apartment and try looking in?” she states, quoting Readers Digest. This is a philosophical question. How would we judge us if we were being voyeurs into our own lives.

Initially these two women dismissed Jeffries suspicions but then they get drawn in. The three of them then work together to solve the mystery.

The set is so beautiful. The New York style apartments, red brick high rise buildings punctuated with the trademark black fire escape ladders. The view of all the neighbours. The people, the personalities, the human frailties, the loneliness, the heart breaks, the conflicts, the concerns, the narratives which are all so familiar and common; all the dysfunctionalities of others which we do recognise in ourselves or could were we to find ourselves in that position.

The voyeuristic view point, the concern of a well meaning individual, albeit with the penchant to be an adrenaline junkie, does not directly witness but using his powers of deduction of all the circumstantial evidence, tries to bring justice to the situation.

The finale is brilliant. As Jeffries finds himself cornered, in his own apartment, by the suspecting murdering husband, he uses his flash lights to visually stun his assailant. One by one the flash lights go off like gun fire.

“Rear Window” is my favourite Alfred Hitchcock film. Everyone must watch. I can’t wait until the next time when I watch it again.