In the film Rear Window directed by Alfred Hitchcock, L.B. Jefferies spends his days looking out the back window of his home at his neighbors. Jeffreries is stuck in a wheelchair due to a broken leg, hence his neighbors are the only entertainment he has. Once a day, the insurance company’s nurse named Stella comes to visit and assist him. When Jefferies shares that he watches his neighbors, Stella expresses her caution; stating that she always had a nose for trouble. She tells Jefferies that she can see him in court when he sees something he is not supposed to. This foreshadows the future events in the movie. One rainy night, Jefferies sees his neighbor, Mr. Thorwald, suspiciously leaving and returning to and from his apartment with a briefcase. His wife is so ill she is bedridden and requires constant care. However, the morning after this suspicious activity Mrs. Thorwald is no longer in the apartment. Mr. Thorwald takes this day off work and L.B. sees him cleaning butcher knives in the sink and wrapping them in newspaper. L.B. Jefferies’s girlfriend, Lisa, is skeptical that there is something suspicious happening with Mr. Thorwald. However, upon spending time observing him further, she soon believes L.B. ‘s theory that he murdered his wife. The detective that L.B. phones to conduct an investigation feels as though L.B. has simply become swept up in his imagination.
When L.B., Lisa, and Stella decide to conduct their own investigation. When Lisa is caught by Mr. Thorwald, he discovers L.B. watching him from his window. Thorwald then attempts to kill Jefferies by pushing him out the window. The police then arrest Thorwald for murdering his wife.
The moving uses the lighting to convey significant messages throughout the film. For instance, L.B. wheels back into the darkness when he fears someone catches him watching them. This represents the secrecy of his actions and validates for the viewers that what he is doing is wrong on some level. The darkness acts as a safety that keeps L.B. in an omniscient position. The lighting is also used to create suspense within the movie. In the scene where Mr. Thorwald enters Jefferies’s apartment. As Thorwald approaches, his body is in shadow representing his evil crimes. As a defense, Jefferies flashes him repeatedly with light the stun him. This light may represent how Jefferies has brought out the truth. Additionally it represents the message the film communicates about voyeurism. Throughout the film, the darkness has been Jefferies’s protection as he infiltrated the personal lives of his neighbors however, when this gets him in trouble, he uses the light for protection. This communicates the guilt of voyeurs, and how they too must come into the light.
Intro to Film Studies 