English 101Bellah
Rear Window (1954)
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Screenplay by by John Michael Hayes
Starring James Stewart, Grace Kelly, and Raymond Burr
When professional photographer J. B. “Jeff” Jeffries is confined to a wheelchair with a broken leg, he becomes obsessed with watching the private domestic dramas of his neighbors as they play out across the courtyard of his apartment building. Soon, he suspects a salesman may have murdered his nagging wife, and he enlists the help of his glamorous socialite girlfriend Lisa Fremont. Hitchcock’s famous film is more than a gripping murder mystery; it is a probing exploration of marriage: courtship, spouse selection, compatibility, and gender roles.
Some provocative quotes about marriage and thinking that may relate to the film:
“Choose your life mate carefully. From this one decision will come 90 percent of all your happiness or misery.”
H. Jackson Browne, Jr.
“No partner in a love relationship should feel that he (or she) has to give up an essential part of himself (or herself) to make it work.”
May Sarton
“Nobody who has not been in the interior of a family can say what the difficulties of any individual of that family may be.”
Jane Austen
“The purpose of evaluating evidence is to discover the truth, regardless whether it is pleasant or unpleasant, and the only way to do so is to evaluate fairly.”
Vincent Ryan Ruggiero
“If there are gaps in our seeing and hearing, then the perceptions on which we base our judgments are more likely to be incomplete and inaccurate.”
Vincent Ryan Ruggiero
As you watch the film, attend to these questions. (For extra credit, type full responses to the following questions and submit at the next class meeting.)
- What is Jeffries’ attitude toward relationships and marriage at the beginning of the film? Attend closely to his discussion with Stella, the insurance company nurse.
- What type of relationship do Jeffries and Lisa have? Are they moving toward marriage?
- What kind of help does Lisa offer Jeffries in his investigation of the murder?
- At what point in the film does Jeffries begin to consider Lisa as a potential partner? What does she demonstrate to him about herself that pleases hi
- What points do the individual dramas occurring in the adjacent apartments make about the single life and about marriage?
- the newlyweds?
- “Miss Lonelyhearts”?
- the song composer?
- Miss Torso?
- the salesman and his wife?
- the childless couple with a dog?
6. Do you predict a successful marriage for Jeffries and Lisa? Why or why not?