Category: 2024 Blog Posts

In this post I would like to write about the moment in Rear Window where Jefferies, stuck in his wheelchair, can do nothing but watch as Lars Thorwald confronts Lisa, who has snuck into his apartment. This moment, near the final culmination of the film, is intense – it is still uncertain to both the audience and to Jefferies whether or not Thorwald is a murderer, Lisa and Stella have snuck into the garden to dig for evidence, and the neighbor’s dog has been killed. Thorwald has been lured away– they don’t know when he will return.

The height of intensity in the moment of confrontation between Thorwald and Lisa is not uncertainty, but that of realization. Jefferies has been orchestrating this investigation from the beginning. Although his leg is broken, he is near recovery, and at no point during the film has this impacted his standing on any social platform. Lisa still cares for him, is in love with him, and is attracted to him, so he is still a “man”; he is still valued and wanted at his workplace so he is still capable; his war friend and now-detective Doyle still picks up his calls, so he is not unimportant.  But now, the power status of his unnoticed observations of his neighbors is abruptly reversed. Both the audience and Jefferies himself are confronted with the realization that he cannot move; as Lisa cries for his help, he can do nothing but watch and hope that someone else will be able to save her.

It is only in this moment of helplessness that he turns his face away, desperately, into Stella, and then back to Lisa; Jefferies cannot help but watch, just as he has been doing throughout the film.

This is also when the film’s continued use of the answered question and implications rises into one of the culminations of its finale. Will we know what happens to Lisa? Will she be saved? We know that Jefferies cannot save her, but he has been the one driving the film to each new conclusion. With the foundation of the plot destabilized, the fact that nothing has been certain throughout heightens the tension of the scene.

Lisa is saved – is she now in jail? Jefferies can no longer see her, but Thorwald has seen him. The previous scene with Lisa and Jefferies’ helplessness now lends itself to the next. Where before the film relied on what the characters do not know (they don’t know that Jefferies is watching; Jefferies doesn’t know if Thorwald is guilty), now the audience has been confronted with several knowns: Jefferies cannot move, and Thorwald – guilty or not – is dangerous and has been provoked by Jefferies.

The heightened tension in the previous scene ratchets up the tension in the next; the big realization of Jefferies’ lack of control makes the next more terrifying in its looming uncertainty.

           Rear Window’s cinematic interest primarily concerns distance: the physical distance Jeffries cannot walk, the visual distance he supplements using his camera lens, and the emotional distance between him and Lisa at the outset. The film’s technical elements are no different. Rather than use traditional “scary music” in accordance with shocking visual cues to heighten tension, Rear Window uses soothing or peppy music at key dramatic scenes to further exemplify the script’s tension in making the film’s reassuring contradict with the camera’s tense scenes of action and intrigue. In doing so, the audience shares Jeffries’ sense of unease and frustration in getting to the truth despite other elements- be it the music or characters like Doyle- trying to convince him to leave it alone.

Though demonstrated in other scenes, this post will focus on the first scene in which the audience sees Thorwald’s face in closeup shortly after the one-hour mark. Before Thorwald enters the frame, all of Jeffries’ neighbors appear to be improving their lives in some fashion. Miss Lonely Hearts- now also seen in her first close-up- gets ready for a date (Rear Window, 01:01:40). The dancer receives lessons, the instructor heard saying she’s “much better.”  (Window, 01:02:41). Even Jeffries arguably faintly smiles (Window, 01:02:51). Amidst this, soft and sweet romantic music plays, complementing the characters’ emotional ease. Yet, as the music crescendos, Thorwald enters the close-up frame, punctuated by a brief diegetic traffic honking horn (Window, 01:03:17). The soft romantic song continues on, nevertheless. Thorwald’s face appears grim and unfriendly, but maybe not murderous. Even so, his forbidding expression deeply contrasts against the characters happiness and the score’s hopefulness. Like Jeffries, we, the audience, have no way to actually tell if anything else seems off about Thorwald besides the visuals seen by the camera- the score won’t help. Even as the closer angle prominently shows Thorwald’s laundry- perhaps after cleaning bloody clothes- the music gives no stereotypical screech to associate menace with the action (Window, 01:03:43). The audience is not thrilled, but tense, for like Jeffries, we are sure something bad has happened (if only because something not to would be a great anticlimax). But our observations are tenuous just like Jeffries,’ for the normal music assigns a certain normalcy to Thorwald’s action of merely taking his laundry home, so we don’t quite know what to think. This is not the only time this discord happens in the film- Lisa’s later high stakes infiltration of the apartment occurs alongside a calm, somewhat jazzy tune seemingly inappropriate for the apprehension Jeffries, Stella, and the audience feel for her (Window, 01:37:30-01:38:40). Rather than ratchet up the tension with nondiegetic music to accompany scenes of horror, Rear Window creates distance between the camera lens and the music to put us in Jeffries’ shoes. Something is wrong, but can we really trust only the camera lens to tell us so?

MLA Citation

Rear Window. Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, performances by Jimmy Stewart, Grace Kelly. Thelma Ritter, and Wendell Corey, Paramount Pictures, 1954.

The film makes it abundantly clear that Lisa and Jeff’s relationship is at an impasse – divided on the subject of marriage and how to reconcile the demands of their jobs and lifestyles. While the film’s dialogue emphasizes the incompatibility of their lifestyles (a glamorous, pampered life of a magazine editor vs the rugged, difficult life of a photographer), the visual elements contrast their ideological rift on the subject of the future through the portrayal of Lisa’s movement vs. Jeff’s inertia. 

In Lisa’s first scene, after the cliche, slow-motion romantic kisses, Lisa’s true nature is revealed through her movement around the apartment. Confined to his wheelchair, Jeff is a very stagnant figure, content with watching out his window at the world passing by. On the other hand, Lisa is in almost constant motion, turning lights on, visiting different parts of the apartment, shedding and donning layers of clothing and accessories. In comparison, Jeff sits in the dark, stays by the window, and wears the same pajamas throughout the film. While she at first matches his slower energy, leisurely going around the apartment turning on lights, when Lisa remembers that she prepared a dinner, she jumps and begins frantically moving around the apartment. The camera tracks her movement in one continuous shot as she disrupts Jeff’s equilibrium, inviting new people into the apartment and moving around furniture to create a makeshift table. She rearranges Jeff’s space, and there is no later shot of her putting it all back the way it was, as the film does for Stella every time she massages Jeff. Unlike the predictability and status quo of Stella, Lisa is independent enough to do what she wants, taking charge of the space and the shot.

It’s ironic that even though Jeff is an adventure photographer, traveling the world and capturing destruction on film, during the course of the film he is static both physically and emotionally. Confined to his wheelchair, Jeff cannot move around the space of his apartment, content to watch out the window, wear the same clothes day after day, and not move from his stationary spot. This mindset is reflected in his thoughts towards his relationship with Lisa, where he wants to keep things the way they are, refusing to jump into the next step: marriage. On the other hand, Lisa, who is spoken of as a rich socialite uncomfortable with adventure and travel, is actually the one who is in motion, running around Jeff’s apartment and pushing him toward the future, their future. During their fight, this chasm in opinion is revealed: Jeff asks, “Couldn’t we just keep things status quo?” and Lisa responds, “Without any future?” (30:50 – 31:05). Lisa disrupts Jeff’s status quo, and his discomfort with this fact is an evident sore point in their relationship. 

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.