I think the main point of this film is to convey the fact that human beings are naturally nosey and Hitchcock gets this point across incredibly well.
It's just human nature to be nosey, it is why we watch television programmes where celebrity's are being interviewed or why we enjoy reading about them in magazines or read their biographys. We are interested in the secret aspect of their life.
The first thing that struck me about the film is its cinematography in the form of the set. The estate or 'courtroom' as Jeff (James Stewart) refers to it is just magnificent and it has a significant ressemblemce to a stage design. Its almost as if Jefferies is watching a play, and were watching it with him. The whole film is set in this one location which is simple and effective at the same time. The windows are used to narrow the spectators vision in order for them to see all the action. Its almost like a screen within a screen.
From viewing other Hitchcock pictures, it is clear that in all his films, the spectators interpretation is one of the key aspects when enjoying them. One that i got supports the idea that if we are locked away long enough, we begin to go crazy. We learn that Jefferies has been in that room for seven weeks and has still got one more to go until his cast comes off. This therefore means that Jefferies becomes an unreliable narrator as he potentialy starts to become mad. It becomes hard to believe if his theories have any truth to them at all. We are left with little knowledge of the direction the plot is going to take. I believe this was Hitchcocks intention as he is the master of suspense, so they say, and obviously didnt want the ending to be figured out by no-one. This is why he included the detective, for the more casual viewer. The detectives role was to prove Jefferies theory wrong, and therefore completely ruin the casual viewers train of thought. The fact that we never see the world outside 'the courtroom' also positions the audience in the same boat as Jefferies. We are cut off from the world like Jefferies and therefore we have to ask ourselves. Are we becoming mad? We as the audience are always thinking, what could be happening? I probably produced more than 10 different possibilities. We may be becoming mad and therefore unreliable to ourselves.
The film mirrors many other Hitchcock classics. One topic that keeps on appearing in Hitchcock pictures is voyuerism. We already know that Jefferies has to be voyueristic for a living as he is a proffesional photographer. We are placed in a position where we are looking in on people without them realising. We see it used in 'Psycho' and in 'Vertigo'. One way in which Hitchcock makes it obvious in 'Rear Window' is by using the microscope shots/ point of view from Jefferies. We are secretly observing people sleeping, which at the time was a really perverted thing to do, and also a young blonde woman dancing around in her bra. We as the audience, recieve satisfaction from secretly watching these characters and our fustration comes when they disapear behind walls and we can no longer see them. One interesting thing to consider about this idea of voyuerism is that it is a kind of triangle. Jefferies spy's on his neighbours yet we are spying on Jefferies most of the time, so we as the audience are the worst sinners. Well done Hitchcock.
On the same topic as mirroring, we see many narrative symmetrys from other films. The widow on the bottom floor, for example, is symmetrical to Scottie in 'Vertigo', who is potentialy left widowed when he believes the love of his life is dead. In 'Vertigo' also, Scottie is a detective who fails to solve his assignment, similar to the detective in 'Rear Window'. Also not forgetting the end scene where Jefferies falls out the window, an uncanny ressemblence to 'Vertigo'. And you can't have a Hitchcock film without a pretty young woman in it, in 'Rear Window' we are produced with two. The better looking one living across the courtroom. From people who interpret scenes in this way, it is very difficult to guess whats going to happen, we are as confused as every character Jefferies tells about the murder. The fact that Jefferies refers to the estate as a 'courtroom' suggests that we are the ones who should judge.
One interesting aspect of the film is how it deals with our fascination towards the topic of death. Everytime Stella visits Jefferies she tells him to stop looking out the window, this is the same with Lisa (Grace Kelly), however, when the realisation that someone could have been killed in the apartment opposite, they are just as enthralled as Jefferies is. Jefferies, of course, would much rather look out the window than make love to Lisa. The interesting bit comes when Stella see's the widow taking tablets in the hope to kill herself, however, the man upsatirs seems to be much more important and all is forgotten about the widow. The main reason why they are 'stalking' Lars is to get him done for murder yet they dont seem to bother about someone killing themselves. Do people only care about their own sense of well being?
What supports the fact that people like to be nosey is when Lars confronts Jefferies at the end and asks 'What do you want?' in which Jefferies cant answer because he doesnt want anything. He's just nosey like the rest of us.
One of the great things about the film is the use of sound. The fact that it is 80% of the time played by the man with the piano. It's just great at creating atmosphere. We know what is happening outside when we cant see whats out there. The noise coming from the musician's apartment is just great and you can sense that your there, in the film.
One of the great things Hitchcock does is to completely turn the story upside down. Jefferies watches everybody, woman, man, dog, throughout the film until the end. It is only until Lars catches Jefferies watching him that it all goes wrong and the last scene is not Jefferies watching them, it's everyone watching him. 9/10
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