What is the essence of movies?
Film theorist Metz believes that when the audience watches a movie, they express their peeping into the performer and thus obtain psychological satisfaction.
In this sense, the film audience is this "voyeurism person" .
In Freud's view, "seeing" itself can bring people unspeakable pleasure.
Alfred Hitchcock, as a loyal supporter of Freud, once said in an interview:
There are two types of people, one likes to peep at others, and the other likes to expose themselves to others.
Looking at Hitchcock's films, he undoubtedly belongs to the former.
We can often find the elements of voyeurism in its films, and the most representative one is this "Vision of God" -Rear Window
On a hot and unbearable summer, heat waves swept through the residential areas of Greenwich, New York.
The residents kept their windows wide open, expecting a slight cool breeze from outside the windows.
The protagonist Jeffreys , a photojournalist, broke his left leg in an accident. The plaster on his leg "painted the ground as a prison."
This made him suffer for the adventurous, and the bored Jeffries spent his time watching the scenery outside the window all day long.
The dancing lady dressed in sexy and cool clothes never stops her dance steps at home;
Old couples who always sunbathe on the balcony will send their pet dogs through a small basket to the yard to play;
A depressed piano composer who cannot listen to the advertisements of health care products on the radio;
The salesman often quarreled loudly with his bedridden wife who was sick and bedridden, probably experiencing the "seven-year itch"...
The small windows are like small screens.
Jeffreys was dizzy and interested.
But Stella , the caregiver sent by the insurance company, always mocked his voyeurism and complained that he still did not marry his young and beautiful girlfriend Lisa .
Jeffries did not dislike Lisa, but felt that he was not ready to get married.
At that time, a newly-married couple was moving into a house opposite, and the two kept making each other.
Jeffries peeked aside with relish, and Stella ridiculed him as a "window shopper",
Like those who just can't buy in front of the shop window, Stella uttered that Jeffries still had a longing for marriage in his heart.
Lisa, the perfect girlfriend in Stella's mouth, appeared in a dream when Jeffries was sleeping half-dream and half-awake.
Lisa is a very romantic woman. In order to celebrate that Jeffries will have a week to remove the plaster, she specially booked a dinner at a high-end hotel at home.
In the dialogue between the two of them, the problem of their relationship was revealed:
Jeffries loves to take risks and is a prodigal who wanders around, but Lisa has always hoped that he can quit his job in the magazine and find a stable career.
In the end, neither of the two compromised.
When Lisa was busy in the kitchen, Jeffries once again looked at the "screen" outside the window.
The salesman secretly called his lover and was caught by his wife, and had another big fight.
Since "The Tenant" in 1927, Hitchcock, who has been keen on guest appearances in his own films, has played a watch repairer at the pianist's home.
Jeffries mentioned the strange things he saw during the day when he was intimate with Lisa, and speculated that Mr. Salesman killed and divided his wife, which made Lisa very dissatisfied.
During their quarrel, the salesman on the opposite side was tying a box in Wuhuada, and his wife had indeed disappeared.
Lisa, who had seen all this with her own eyes, couldn't help but become interested in what Jeffries said.
In the middle of the night, it rained heavily.
The elderly dog-raising couple sleeping on the balcony was awakened by the heavy rain, and the hurried hands and feet when cleaning up the quilt caused the two to have a dispute.
The sound of the quarrel also awakened Jeffries. He looked up and looked out the window. He happened to find Mr. Salesman carrying a huge box in his hand, coming out of the rain, going back and forth three times.
This unusual behavior aroused Jeffries' curiosity.
The next day, only two windows of the salesman's house were opened, but the windows of the bed-ridden wife's room were closed tightly.
At the same time, the dogs of the old couple looked for something in the flower bed in the yard.
Mr. Salesman looked at the dog downstairs with a solemn expression.
Jeffries watched all this silently, sure there must be something wrong.
Jeffries took out his binoculars and watched Mr. Salesman carefully.
I saw that he called the courier and sent many huge packages.
This has deepened Jeffries' suspicion.
The next day, Jeffries called his private detective friend Doyle.
Stella on the side also became interested when he heard that, and joined Jeffries's reasoning team.
After investigating, Doyle visited him, and he disagreed with everything Jeffries had said, and he didn't think there was anything unusual about Mr. Salesman's behavior.
The investigation revealed that the wife was only sent back to her hometown in the country, and pointed out that the rent of the salesman's family was about to expire, and the box might only be moved away.
Doyle added that at 3:30 yesterday afternoon, Mr. Salesman also received a postcard from his wife from his hometown.
It was another late night, and Mr. salesman was making a long-distance call while flipping his wife's handbag.
Lisa firmly believes that if his wife goes home normally, it is impossible to leave her beloved handbag.
The two relayed the deduction just now to Doyle, but Doyle produced more conclusive evidence.
The five-flowered tied box was found. It contained only some salesman’s wife’s clothes, which had nothing to do with the murder.
And there is a witness testimony that the salesman sent his wife to the train station.
Only then did the two come back to their senses and reflect on their voyeurism.
Everything seems to be over, Mr. Salesman may be really innocent.
As things calmed down, a scream broke the silence.
The old couple’s dog, who had been digging in the garden these days, was assassinated, and all the neighbors came out to take a look.
Only the salesman's home is silent, and cigarettes and sparks are shining in the dark room.
Did Mr. Salesman kill the dog?
What is hiding under the flower bed?
Why doesn't Mr. Salesman's wife bring her handbag?
Hitchcock’s audiovisual language is cleverly conceived, and the interlacing of the shots fills the suspenseful atmosphere, and the ending of the story is still to be presented in the movie.
In contrast to most of the mainstream suspense horror films on the market today, the main elements of Hitchcock's films are suspense and the foreshadowing and rendering of the atmosphere.
Rather than violence, gore, ghosts and other bad vulgar dramas just to attract people's attention.
Throughout the history of Hollywood movies, and even the entire history of world movies, Hitchcock and his unique style of "Hitchcock-style movies" occupy an unshakable and important page.
The interesting thing about "Rear Window" is that it uses movies to reveal what a movie is.
Film has always been interpreted from two viewpoints: film as a picture frame and film as a window.
Jeff's behavior is a metaphor for the viewing mechanism of movies, which uses itself as a medium and reflects itself.
"Peeping" is the most important theme of the film, and the use of a large number of viewpoint lenses makes the boundary between us and the characters not so clear.
Sitting in front of the screen, we are not purely observing Jeff's peeping behavior objectively, but unconsciously participating in it as the camera switches and moves.
American film theorist Laura Mulvey put forward in "Visual Pleasure and Film Narrative": "Watching itself is the source of pleasure."
Although "Rear Window" puts the characters in the film and the audience in the same situation through a series of metaphors, how to deal with the moral dilemma faced by voyeurism is still a problem.
Hitchcock is not only a master of film, but also a master of human nature.
"Back Window" constructs a set of perfect narrative logic to stimulate a sense of identity at the psychological level. It constantly challenges normality and rules, trying to explore the unspeakable secrets of people.
We peeped together with the protagonist, and hope from the heart that the protagonist’s interpretation is correct.
The appearance of the crime purifies the immoral side of the subject's prying desire. Hitchcock cleverly lifts the veil of the subconscious, penetrating the barrier of the screen and revealing the hidden desire in the audience's heart.
Just like the short poem "Dangerous Chapter" by the modern Chinese poet Bian Zhilin:
You stand on the bridge and watch the scenery, and the people watching the scenery look at you upstairs.
The bright moon decorates your windows, and you decorate other people's dreams.
*Author of this article: Qian Qian
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