Hitchcock’s classic Technicolor thriller is a visionary metaphor for today’s espionage practices. Recuperating from a broken leg, professional photographer L. B. ‘Jeff’ Jefferies (James Stewart) is confined to a wheelchair while his girlfriend Lisa Fremont (Grace Kelly) visits him regularly. His apartment’s rear window looks out onto a courtyard and several other apartments. During a heatwave, he spies on his neighbors who keep their windows open to stay cool.
As Jeff watches his neighbors, he assigns them such roles and character names as ‘Miss Torso’ and ‘Miss Lonelyhearts’. Of particular interest is seemingly mild-mannered travelling salesman Lars Thorwald, who is saddled with a nagging, invalid wife. One night, Jeff becomes convinced one of them has committed a murder. Lisa is less convinced, at first: “Tell me everything you saw, and what you think it means.”
Film details
- Country of production
- USA
- Year
- 1954
- Festival edition
- IFFR 2019
- Length
- 112'
- Medium/Format
- 35mm
