Movie Analysis : Rear Window

Throughout the film, many stories are told by different characters that are involved in the story. There are

Rear Window is compelling, clever, and utterly original. Hitchcock helps us share this obsessive curiosity, and draw our conclusions directly parallel to the characters in the film. The unique montage of imagery helps define our characters, and expose their vulnerability, their identity, and their own self-discovery

Alfred Hitchcock once defined his film Rear Window (Hitchcock, 1954), as the story of a man who cannot move and looks through a window, about what he sees and how he reacts to it (Truffaut, 1986). In addition, Hitchcock constructs the character of the protagonist of the film, Jeff (James Steward), not only by using cinematographic devices to show how Jeff interprets what he sees and his own life, but also stabilising a dichotomy between what he looks at and what he lives.

The film Rear Window, released in 1954, and directed by Alfred Hitchcock, portrays the shift of power in the relationship between the central characters of Lisa Freemont and L.B. "Jeff" Jeffries throughout the film. As the characters are introduced in the beginning of the film, Jeffries is shown to have control of the relationship between himself and Miss Freemont, the power later shifts to Lisa as the film progresses and she takes an interest in the suspected murder. However, the film ends with relative equality within the relationship, after Lisa's intelligence is discovered by her partner.

Alfred Hitchcock uses many techniques throughout the film “Rear Window” to convey suspense. The major theme of the film regards L. B. “Jeff” Jefferies voyeurism. His intrigue in the everyday lives of his neighbours is viewed as intrusive and morally wrong on principle. However, without this voyeuristic tendency the crime committed by Thornwald would never have been solved. Thus, the audience is lead through emotional turmoil in questioning whether it is wrong to invade someone’s privacy, or just and heroic to solve a crime. We see the climax of the film when Lisa and Stella venture out of Jefferies apartment to investigate the murder of Mrs Thornwald. This leads to a confrontation between Thornwald and Jefferies. These scenes build suspense through the use of detachment, the use of ‘split-screen’, ‘red-herring’ plot devices, lighting, music and diegetic sound.

Alfred Hitchcock's 1954 film Rear Window is a representation of the attitudes towards men and women in the 1950's. Through this film Lisa Freemont and L.B Jeffries experience a power shift in their relationship due to each individual's capabilities and ideas regarding the suspected murder case. Lisa and Jeffries relationship progresses through the film and their relationship experiences a power shift.

In Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window, L.B. Jeffries, played by Jimmy Stewart, becomes completely obsessed with spending all of his waking hours watching his neighbors from his wheelchair. He even uses a camera to better his view and thus enhances his role as both a spectator and a voyeur. This contributes to the creation of a movie being played right outside Jeffries’ window. In this “movie within the movie” his neighbors’ lives become the subject for the plot. Each window represents a different film screen, each which is focused upon only when Jeffries directs his attention to it. He witnesses both the anxieties associated with the beginning of a marriage and the heartache of relationships ending. The

Alfred Hitchcock’s 1954 film “Rear Window” demonstrated a suspenseful and terrifying storyline, which captured the attention of a variety of audiences. The film focuses on James Stuart (Jeff) and ultimately his neighbors who live around him. Stuart is crippled from the beginning of the movie and is unable to leave his apartment. Due to his immobility, he remains confined in his home with a broken leg and begins to watch his neighbor’s particular behaviors and routines. The film progresses into drama and suspense that is seen through music, lighting, film editing processing and extensive detail to the neighborhood being watched. Rear Window exhibits these details in the scene where Grace Kelly who plays the role of Lisa, attempts to

Rear Window follows a newspaper photographer, L.B. ‘Jeff’ Jefferies (James Stewart), who has a broken leg and passes the time by watching his neighbors. Jeff observes many neighbors including a jewelry salesman, Lars Thorwald (Raymond Burr) who has a bedridden wife. Jeff’s girlfriend, Lisa Fremont (Grace Kelly), and his nurse, Stella (Thelma Ritter), visit him often. One night, Jeff hears a woman screaming and notices Thorwald leaving his apartment. The next morning, Thorwald cleans a

The mise-en-scene of this shot hints at important information about Jeffries, his neighbors, and the neighborhood in general. But what the camera does tells us something much stronger: Rear Window is a film about voyeurism, and a commentary on audiences watching drama on a screen.

Film noirs describe pessimistic films associated with black and white visual styles, crime fiction, and dark themes. Sunset Boulevard is a 1950 film noir directed by Billy Wilder. Sunset Boulevard presents many themes that are common with the genre film noir, but also introduces some differences from the typical movie in that genre.

The opening images of Rear Window introduces the audience to J.B. Jefferies apartment with the window curtains rising. The camera is facing outside the window which reveals the small courtyard. After the camera gives the audience a tour of the courtyard, it then shows us Jeff sleeping on his wheel chair. From this, the audience should be able to perceive there is no privacy at all for the neighbors. What one does, everyone is able to see (only if they are observing). The music in the beginning sets the mood, the audience should feel safe and mellow as if nothing bad is going to happen. There is not one suspicion which tells the audience there will be a murder case throughout this film. With that in mind, the theme is portrayed through Jeff’s perspective from his observation of the neighbors. He observes the love life of his neighbors while he is questioning his own

Alfred Hitchcock’s thriller ‘Rear Window’ (Hitchcock, 1954) begins with the immediate use of mise-en-scène in order to establish a sense of atmosphere, equilibrium and the mundane, soon to be disrupted as the events of the film unfold and are observed through the eyes of the voyeuristic protagonist, Jeff. Setting, cinematography and various other expressive mise-en-scène techniques work together to influence the overall appearance of the film. Though, by taking a closer look, these techniques reveal the significance of the narrative and characters. In the opening sequence, Hitchcock’s original visual style provides signposts for the audience to recognize what will be significant in the future: instead of establishing what is only happening in the moment in time; mise-en-scène is used to suggest what is to come. This arrangement of the “Classical Hollywood” narrative - starting with the setting and characters in a state equilibrium - acts as a seemingly all-purpose, archetypal opening by establishing location and introducing character. Simultaneously we can see that this sequence is vastly different from the rest of the film: it is leading the viewer into a false sense of security – the calm before the storm – as Jeff soon happens to piece together information leading to the possibility that one of his neighbors murdered their wife. This sequence is one of the only moments in the film we see things the protagonist does not, thus this carefully constructed opening is preparing

Paul Haggis directed an Oscar winning film in 2004 called “Crash”, this movie basically talks about racism and the impact it has on the lives of people in Los Angeles. This movie got a good response from the viewers, as it concentrated on some real harsh realities of racism and asked some hard questions which are generally avoided in movies. This movie clearly promotes the a very delicate issue, and hence requires some detailed assessment. I personally feel the movie was good and it portrayed some very common events of racism, I think “Crash” shows realities, but in a not-so-realistic way.

The Blind Side, directed by John Lee Hancock, is a true story about Michael Oher (Quinton Aaron), a African American homeless boy who is taken in by an upper-class white family and faces the challenges of stereotypes in their society. Oher’s story has reached millions through the book The Blind Side: Evolution of the Game, written by Lewis Michael, and its movie adaption The Blind Side.