Film Review: Rear Window"

A life of peeping

? ——Interpretation of the movie "Rear Window"

? Content introduction:

? Photographer Jeff's accident He broke his leg and had to recuperate in a wheelchair. Bored, he took up a new hobby: observing his neighbors through the windows. He accidentally observed the salesman entering and leaving the apartment three times on a rainy night. The salesman's sick wife disappeared the next day. The salesman then hid the saw and knife, tied the box with a rope and took it away. A series of abnormal behaviors aroused Jeff's vigilance. Jeff speculated that a case of killing his wife and hiding her body had occurred across the street. No one believed it at first. After the puppy was killed, his girlfriend began to believe Jeff's words and actively helped him find evidence. Finally, with the help of detective Duoyou and the caregiver, the murderer was successfully caught. Jeff, who was nearly in an accident, broke his legs again and could only lie down in the apartment to rest. The whole movie has a unique perspective, clear clues, ups and downs of the storyline, distinctive characters, outstanding personalities, profound themes, and an intriguing ending.

Artistic features:

1. Suspense and causes:

The plot reflects the distinctive characteristics of Hitchcock's movies: the protagonist has an "obsession" - ——Peeping. At the beginning, the carer discovered that Jeff was peeping on his neighbor and reminded him that some people were sentenced for peeping. This creates suspense for the audience 1: Jeff is peeping, will he be discovered and sentenced?

From the conversation between Jeff and the caregiver, it can be known that Jeff does not want to marry his beautiful, generous and popular girlfriend Lisa. He regards marriage as a horror and repeatedly said that the two of them are not suitable. ? This leads to suspense 2: What kind of woman is Lisa?

? With the appearance of Lisa, the contradiction between the two people's careers, personalities and outlook on life became highlighted. Lisa left angrily, leaving people with suspense 3: Will the two break up? Will Jeff choose one of the neighbors across the street (the sexy ballerina or the woman on the first floor with whom Jeff drinks from across the street?)

Lisa appears again, hoping to get to know Jeff In his heart, what Jeff is most concerned about at this time is that the salesman opposite will transport away the box that may contain evidence? Where is it going? Lisa, who was originally not interested in her neighbors, also began to become suspicious of the salesman, and the two began to have similar topics. This leads to suspense 4: Did the salesman kill his wife and hide her body? If so, where was the wife's body transported?

? The appearance of detective Doyo gives people hope and at the same time plunges them into a bigger mystery. The results of Doyo's investigation show that the salesman's wife was not killed. This is all Jeff's subjective guess. . But Jeff's words are also reasonable, which creates suspense 5: Is the salesman's wife still alive? If so, where is she? How to understand the salesman's abnormal behavior?

? The killing of the puppy brings the plot to a new climax, resulting in suspense 6: Who killed the innocent puppy? Why didn't the salesman care about this? With the in-depth observation of Jeff and Lisa, new questions arose. 7 If his wife was still alive, why did she leave her handbag at home? Why did the salesman take out the wedding ring from his bag?

After Lisa entered the salesman’s room, the audience’s hearts were in their throats. Suspense 8: Will Lisa be discovered? Was Lisa's life in danger after she was discovered?

? Jeff is exposed, the salesman comes to the door, Jeff can't move, and his predicament is even more worrying: What should Jeff do? Will the salesman kill him? ......

? There are several reasons for suspense: 1. Suspense due to ignorance; 2. Suspense is generated as Jeff's perspective advances because of concern for the plot; 3. Constant switching and jumping The shots, dim light, and brewing tension all make the plot suspenseful.

2. The world of voyeurism and its meaning in Hitchcock’s movies:

Performance of voyeurism: 1. Jeff peeks into the lives of his neighbors out of boredom; 2. Out of concern The fate of the characters is professionally voyeurized using telescopes and telephoto lenses of cameras; 3. The professional voyeurs mentioned in the play who were sentenced for voyeurism; 4. The audience follows Jeff’s perspective to voyeuristically observe different lives; 5. The director uses the film to The lens provides insight and voyeurism into the complex human nature in society.

? Filming from a voyeuristic perspective in the movie can be understood as observing the world through "other people's eyes." The connotation of voyeurism represents calmness, objectivity, and multiple perspectives. This is the characteristic of Hitchcock's movies. : The plot is full of suspense, making the audience always curious and anxious about the fate of the protagonist. As the plot develops, the audience's guesses are all wrong, and the results of the film convince us. Behind this suspense lies Hitchcock's deep thinking on contemporary times and human behavior, which points directly to the dark side of human beings. Just like the light shining on Jeff's gloomy face in the dark also revealed the dark side of his psychology.

In "Rear Window", Jeff saw a lonely woman downstairs preparing to drink sleeping pills, and his girlfriend Lisa was in danger when she entered the salesman's house. Under the same circumstances, people are familiar and close to themselves. People are more concerned about this, which is the indifferent and selfish side of human nature that the director leads the audience to see;

Through the movie, we can also see the multi-faceted nature of love and marriage. Such as dancers, single women and musicians, they represent the strong desire for love and loneliness; the people in love in the play represent the passion and sweetness of love; the salesman couple who have been married for a long time represent the various tortures of marriage, A series of post-marital crises, from desire to passion to boredom, from falling in love to killing each other. Even if they peek into the truth about other people's love and marriage, people will still make various compromises due to the monotony and loneliness of life.

? The plot reveals that human nature has the desire to peek.

As Sartre said: “Where contact is impossible, voyeurism prevails.

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