Rear Window

Alfred Hitchcock’s 1954 film “Rear Window” presents the ideas of two people who look at life and marriage in two completely different ways. Jeffries, bound in his apartment with a broken leg, seems to look at life in a negative way, thinking of marriage as a bad idea. Lisa however seems to look at life in a more positive light and looks forward to marriage, thinking that everything will be perfect once she is married. The apartments that we are able to see present everything in life that Jeffries and Lisa are both questioning as well as falling victim too.

Miss Torso, for example, is swimming in men, not in love with any of them, waiting for her true love, the sailor, to return home. Lisa sees this and comments that she knew what it was like to juggle men and not love any of them.

Miss Lonelyhearts, one of the characters that bring Jeffries and Lisa even closer together, makes them both feel sympathetic towards her. Lisa sees Miss Lonelyhearts as poetic, waiting for the perfect guy, her long lost love. When Miss Lonelyhearts just can’t take it anymore, she is about to commit suicide, until she hears the Composer’s music. Jeffries and Lisa are witness to this act. Jeffries and Lisa are brought closer together through Miss Lonelyhearts.

The Newlyweds are unseen through most of the film, for they close the window blinds to their window in the beginning. I feel the idea here is that love is great in the beginning, but once reality kicks in, the Newlyweds begin to argue over the fact that he doesn’t have a job. Jeffries sees this as an actual real life issue, where when Lisa sees this she just wants the feeling of being a newlywed. She wants to be married to badly.

The Thorwalds, the main focus of the film, is the ultimate point that brings Jeffries and Lisa together. When Jeffries first becomes interested in the Thorwalds he realizes that something just isn’t right over there. Mr. Thorwald is married to a woman who doesn’t appreciate him and is ill in bed. She is constantly nagging him and putting him down. Mr. Thorwald is also having an affair on top of this. Lisa only becomes interested once Jeffries has told her about his suspicions and she catches a glimpse of what was actually going on over there. The Thorwalds are what bring Jeffries and Lisa the closest together.

When Lisa goes into Thorwalds’ apartment and secretly is able to retrieve Mrs. Thorwalds wedding band, proving that she wasn’t really on a trip, Jeffries finally realizes that she is the woman for him and that he loves her. She points to her finger with the ring on it so Jeffries can see her from his rear window. This one act is really what brings them together. Jeffries sees what lengths Lisa is willing to go to, up to the point of being caught by a killer.

By the end of the film, Jeffries with two broken legs now instead of one, is posted up in his apartment still, but now with Lisa staying there as well. By looking into the lives of their neighbors, Jeffries and Lisa’s differences made them grow closer together. Solving the mystery of Mrs. Thorwalds’ disappearance, however, is what finally made them see eye to eye and love each other.