Rear Window

*There’s an intelligent way to approach marriage. Intelligence. Nothing has caused the human race so much trouble as intelligence. Modern marriage. No we’ve progressed emotionally. Baloney. Once it was see somebody, get excited, get married. Now it’s read a lot of books, fence with a lot of four-syllable words, psychoanalyse each other, until you can’t tell the difference between a petting party and a civil service exam. * A film that’s confined to just the living room of a studio apartment and the lives of a select few in the surrounding apartments but manages to make maximum use of it all. A true masterpiece from Hitchcock. All the many films largely set in apartments we see these days inspired by this film is obvious. Through the voyeurism of L.B. Jefferies (James Stewart) the film weaves together the different personal lives of the neighbours in his apartment community and gradually leads us into the main plot. Then each of the lives juxtaposed against each other and the main plot and come together at times supplementing the narrative stylistically. The movement of camera around the apartment blocks closely resembles an individual’s point of view, especially key in this voyeuristic heavy film allowing it to be natural and allows the audience to share in the voyeuristic gaze, whether of the sexual dancer, the lonely woman, the moody musician or the suspected murderer. Grace Kelly plays her character with such grace and curiosity as she gradually gets a feel for the danger of Jefferies life, and seeks his approval. So in many respects the film largely reflects the male gaze, viewing woman as fragile sexual bodies. Thelma Ritter as Stella delivers her witty quips and snarky remarks in such a natural way like she was just meant to play these working class roles, like also in Pickup on South Street. Delivering much of the humour in this mystery drama. A personal annoyance I have is the lack of resolution between Jefferies and Lisa’s relationship, we see it truly bud as the intrigue and stakes are raised but no true resolution. Even the minor side plots of the other neighbours and their lives gets a sort of resolution or beginning for some. A true classic from the Hitchcock oeuvre and a film that just has it all: humour, romance, sensuality, intrigue, mystery, action, conflict, humanity. But what’s most extraordinary is that it all happens in the confines of a small apartment. *You’ve got a hormone deficiency. How can you tell from a thermometer? Those bathing beauties you’ve been watching haven’t raised your temperature one degree in a month. *