preview

Rear Window Essay

Decent Essays
Open Document

In Alfred Hitchcock's "Rear Window," the concept of point of view is the primary tool in the plot of the film. Point of view serves as a way of exploring the perception and truth inside the film. Alfre Hitchcock successfully employs this technique through his cinematography, editing, and narrative. Hitchcock makes the audience bound by the perspective of the characters in the film, and invites them to question the reliability of their observations while watching and the nature of truth itself. First, what is a “point of view” film? Point of view in film is when we see through the eyes of the character. We see this in "Rear Window" as it revolves around the viewpoint of L.B. Jefferies is a "Jeff" Jefferies. Jeff is a photographer who has become bound to a wheelchair by a broken leg. Throughout his time staying at home, he …show more content…

These sequences not only put the audience into Jeff's perspective, but blur the line between reality and imagination, allowing the audience to question whether or not what they see is true or false. In addition to the subjective camera techniques that Hitchcock uses, he also manipulates time and space to further enhance the film's point-of-view structure. As the setting is primarily confined Jeff's apartment, this reinforcing the perception of the film being limited to Jeff's own point of view. As with the manipulation of time, we see this evident as the passage of time is marked by the changing activities of the neighbors below. Through these effective techniques, Hitchcock is able to create a narrative that meshes the act of looking with what is actually being observed. A major theme of "Rear Window" is the theme of truth and its elusive nature. As Jeff becomes more and more obsessed with solving the mystery of the murder he believes he has found, the audience is then drawn into a spiral of suspicion and

Get Access