Login
Through his rear window and the eye of his powerful camera he watched a great city tell on itself, expose its cheating ways...and Murder!
James Stewart: L. B. 'Jeff' Jefferies
Rear Window is Alfred Hitchcock's analytical approach of setting a story in a confined place. Rear Window is famous for it's technical approach and camera usage; it had a giant set, occupying the biggest studio on the lot, with and extra level excavated to provide a life-sized, four-story set. Hitchcock also uses many more cuts compared with previous projects, using the shot-reaction-shot technique with L.B. Jeffries (Jimmy Stewart) as he uses cameras and binoculars to observe the goings on outside the rear widow of his apartment.
The main theme of Rear Window is privacy; how far those standards extend, and what individuals do when they think they are secure in the privacy of their own space. Jeffries, a magazine photographer trapped in his apartment with a broken leg, turns to the view out his window to while away the hours until his cast comes off. His only contact with the outside world arrives in the form of his nurse, Stella (Thelma Ritter), and female friend Lisa Fremont (Grace Kelly); a rich socialite who has a romantic interest with Jeffries.
Hitchcock played with audiences by having them play the role of voyeur along with Jeffries; he knew that human nature compels us to keep staring, even when polite society tells us to look away and mind our own business. By capturing our interest with a variety of characters and a portion of their lives; Miss Lonelyhearts, Miss Torso, etc. Hitchcock creates an interesting character study as well as his usual thriller routine. We are only allowed to see what Jeffries views, bits and pieces presented out of context, and we are left to make our own theories about what these segments entail in the overall lives of these characters.
The main focus of the story is Jeffries suspicion of Lars Thorwald, who occupies a second-story apartment across from Jeffries'. He notices Thorwald's strained relationship with his wife, then her sudden disappearance. A number of events that could be related follows. As he pries more and more into Thorvald's life, he gets closer and closer to the man himself; climaxing in Lisa's entry into Thorwald's home to search for clues, and the mano-a-mano confrontation between the Jeffries and Thorwald at the film's end.
The film is not a typical study of voyeurism, because of Hitchcock's choice of Stewart to play the photographer Jefferies. Stewart is the decent and normal everyman; not a twisted and perverse peeping tom. If the photographer was played by Robert Mitchum or William Holden; men who have played darker, more morally ambiguous characters in their career, maybe the film would have resulting in having a different meaning. With Jimmy Stewart however, we can be assured that Jefferies is studying his environment and not becoming gratified with what he's viewing. That being said, his viewing becomes close to an obsession when he believes a murder has occurred; but not quite to the unhealthy degree as the obsession he portrayed in another Hitchcock classic, Vertigo.
Obviously Rear Window is a classic, and it is still relevant to today. The lack of air conditioning during the film's heat wave forces people to leave their windows and blinds open; where as today they would most likely be out of view. The relevance is in the relationship between the 24/7 cable news, 'Americas Most Wanted', video and photo obsessed society of today, that voyeurism and the public's desire to provide breaking news is applicable. In this era; we are all like 'Jeff' Jefferies, and that is what makes Rear Window more than merely a quaint period drama.
By the movie's conclusion, resolution has been achieved for most of the characters in the film; the truth about Thorwald is revealed, Miss Torso's husband arrives back from war, the couple that sleeps outside is training a new puppy, Miss Lonelyhearts and the musician with the studio apartment have linked up romantically. Even pessimistic Jeffries; bound yet again in his apartment with two broken legs, has found resolution, finally accepting Lisa as an equal. As Rear Window closes, the shutters on the window are drawn; he doesn't need them anymore because Jeffries knows everyone including him, the neighbours and us the audience, has a happy ending.
10/10
