Music plays a huge part in Rear Window. Not only is one of the neighbors a pianist, there is almost always some form of background music occurring even if the pianist is not playing. In the beginning of the movie, a more upbeat version of Dean Martin’s That’s Amore is heard playing from the street. The song plays on as the camera pans around to all the windows around Jefferies’ apartment, giving the audience a peek into their lives and then eventually panning to Jefferies as he romanticizes his neighbors lives through the tidbits he sees through their windows. The song That’s Amore is the epitome of romanticizing life. The title means “That’s Love” and the lyrics portray a person who is so enamored with their lover that everything around them proves how beautiful life is.
The pianist and his music also comes into play later on in the movie. The first scene where the audience meets Lisa, the piano player is practicing a song. Lisa points out how beautiful the song sounds but Jefferies only notices the pianist’s struggle with playing the piece. The pianist’s inability to perfect playing the song is a direct connection to Lisa and Jefferies’ failing relationship. Lisa is seen to try with a lot of failure to try to keep the relationship moving forward, just like the pianist trying to play his song. Jefferies shows to be giving little to no effort on making the relationship work, boiling it down to they are from and belong to two different worlds.
The same song played by the pianist is heard again during the investigation. The piano player is throwing a party and is playing the song perfectly. At the same time, Lisa is once again in Jefferies’ apartment but this time, they are working together trying to find out if Mr. Thorwald truly did murder his wife. Neither of them have realized it, but their relationship, which once was failing, was now doing very well and they both seemed to really enjoy each other’s company, just like the pianist and his song. The music in Rear Window does an excellent job of mirroring the protagonist’s feelings and lives, while simultaneously moving the plot forward in the movie.