Quest to get through all 100 of the AFI Top 100 (10th Anniversary Edition) in a calendar year. I'm in a cycle of 10 films that I've seen before...more about the rules here.
On with the show...
Film 32
32. "Rear Window" (AFI Rank #48)
The above photo is a little smaller than I usually like to include in these things, because it captures the entire set outside of L.B. "Jeff" Jeffries' window. It's a microcosm of what the film is about, and I've put it here because it matters the most to our understanding of the film.
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and starring Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly, "Rear Window" purports to be a thriller about a man discovering that one of his neighbors has perhaps killed his wife. But there is so much of this film that is about anything BUT that, that it's a cheap insult to call it a thriller. When we are introduced to Jeff, we learn that he is a photographer, and that he's had a very unfortunate break (heh) while getting an extraordinary photograph of a car race wreck...and the shot is of the wheel that is flying towards his position on the track...that winds up breaking his leg. Trapped in his apartment for the past 6 weeks, Jeff, we learn, has been spending his days as a voyeur, watching the world outside his window as a kind of...soap opera...with different characters, different struggles, and different triumphs. The characters are all given names, none of which are actual names, but names that Jeff has given them as he studies their lives. Whether it's the beautiful, if morally questionable "Miss Torso," the ballet dancer across the way, or the sad "Miss Lonelyheart," the spinster whom we watch make dinner for two, then watch invite that imaginary date into the room, then watch her have a conversation with that date, eventually to break down and drink herself to sleep, we get glimpses into their lives, yet never know them enough to actually care about their names.
And this, ultimately, I think, is the point of "Rear Window." Squeezed into a small space in a neighborhood, how much do we really know about those we share space with? How much do we allow them to know? How much do we reveal without knowing it? The story is incidental to this. Jeff is stuck in his apartment. He's studying people, and one of his neighbor's behavior suddenly becomes very sketchy. So, Jeff, perhaps a little fueled by what has to be representative of our own quest for entertainment, begins filling in the details about what has to have happened. He is convinced that the man in the apartment has killed his wife, chopped up her body, and is getting ready to leave town. As this process goes along, those closest to Jeff become embroiled in his conclusions, and support his search for the truth in regards to this story. Even as more and more of Jeff's story is proven false, he sticks to it, perhaps to the point of obsession. He even lets his girlfriend, a perfect woman in just about every way, walk out the door because of his unwillingness to let it go.
I keep saying the story is incidental. It is. More satire than thriller...this film...to me...is about voyeurism/privacy from both sides of the binoculars. We are left, when Jeff is finally confronted by the (turns out his fantasies were right and the guy is an) actual killer, we get a great moment, when the killer asks why Jeff is doing this...of..."Yeah. What the hell? Jeff's an asshole!" It's a great moment, and really sums up the theme of the film.
For me, there are two moments that define the film. The first occurs when one of the neighbors' dog is killed. The way that Mrs. Fire Escape goes about screaming at the neighbors, people she should know, but never calls by name, just shouting at them...as if they are complete strangers...which they are. It's a great moment, one that shows our disconnectedness from those closest to us.
Then, we get the other moment. Jeff is being dangled out the window by the killer. We see all these nameless characters rush to their windows, perhaps to watch, but given the camera effect put on it (the characters move in a slightly sped up fashion), I like to think perhaps to feel sympathy/connection/a sense of wanting to help. It's that sense that we felt on September 11, 2001, when we all, no matter what our individual circumstances, wanted to be close to all around us. That Hitchcock shows this moment among so many others showing the way we keep ourselves apart is a testament to his genius.
Few other things. Jimmy Stewart plays guys named "Jeff" twice on the list of the top 100, and both are given their nicknames based on their last names. Doesn't mean anything, but it is funny.
I watched this accompanied. One of the great questions we had...why doesn't Jimmy Stewart actually PHOTOGRAPH anything, rather than just looking through the lens? Good question.
Lastly. The acting in this is really top notch. Thelma Ritter, as Jeff's nurse, is especially brilliant. Grace Kelly is anything but vapid, Raymond Burr is menacing when he needs to be...and all the neighbors are so great, so honest, that it's hard to imagine any of them were "acting." The scenes with Miss Lonelyheart are notably heartbreaking. At the center of this, though, is Stewart. One can imagine that a one set piece film could be made incredibly boring if the wrong actor were there. That we are always drawn to Jeff is a testament to not only Stewart's appeal on film as a movie star, but to his prowess as an actor. The man could really make us believe.
Here are Ebert's thoughts. I'm on the same page with him, but he is much more eloquent.
Watch this film. Do it.
No comments:
Post a Comment