Chapter Eight
Tippi’s Takes Presents:
What Hitch Taught Me About Life
An exploration of life and cinema from the viral sensation
by Tippi Rathbone
Chapter Eight
Rear Window (1954): Someone Is Always Watching
My personal favorite from Hitchcock’s list of fifty-plus films is Rear Window. The dreamy duo of Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly, both veteran Hitchcock actors, is inspiring, as is the colorful cinematography, but it’s the simplicity of the plot that reels me in time and time again.
A man confined to his city apartment (another Hitchcock staple) entertains himself by spying on his neighbors, including: an extroverted dancer, an aging would-be socialite, and an affectionate newlywed couple.
Of course, the ultimate reveal is that none of his neighbors’ lives are what they seem.
The dancer is awaiting her lover from overseas, the fashionable Miss Lonelyhearts is depressed and longing for human connection, and even the lovestruck couple soon descend into marital bickering.
At the center of the drama, however, is the neighbor who may (or may not) have murdered his bedridden wife.
Rear Window reminds viewers that no one’s lives are as they seem from an outsider’s perspective, while also highlighting the possibility that someone is always watching. Our true secrets and intentions can only be hidden for so long, especially in the world of Hitchcock.