"Rear Window" is a classic. Jeff, played by James Stewart, is wheelchair bound after an accident from his photography job. He lives in an apartment overlooking many different apartments across from him, but he can see everything perfectly. He can see a married couple, a beautiful woman, a married couple with a dog, a lonely woman, and a couple going through many marital problems. And he gives them names, the married couple are the newlyweds, the beautiful woman is called Miss Torso, the lonely woman is Miss Lonelyhearts etc. The couple going through marital problems are the Thorwalds. Jeff keeps an eye on them closely. He talks it over with his beautiful young girlfriend, Lisa, played by Grace Kelly. Lisa is a successful woman in the business world of fashion and this intimidates Jeff because he cannot do everything he can for her because he is wheelchair bound and she is better looking and making more money. He talks this over with his aide, Stella, played by Wendell Corey. He thinks Lisa is too perfect. this plays into the whole voyeuristic attitude he is partaking in. Lisa, Jeff, and Stella, think something is going on with the Thorwalds. They try to figure it out.
This film is great mainly because of Alfred Hitchcock. Hitchcock was a genius and he is considered one of the best directors ever. This film might be his most famous and it is one of his best. Hitchcock wanted us to believe that we can have a voyeuristic attitude. If you think about we all have voyeuristic behaviors. We are nosey, we want to know the latest gossip, and we want to know if people are talking about us. When watching a film we are exploring someone's lives and Hitchcock was playing with this idea, and also having a funny look on relationships and marriage, and also life in general.
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