Analysis of a Still

The still above from Alfred Hitchcock's film "Rear Window" depicts the majority of the view that the main protagonist can see through his rear window. The film follows the exploits of photographer L.B. “Jeff” Jeffries, who suffers from a broken leg from a photography accident and is confined to a wheelchair for the entire film. Since Jeff is not able to leave the house, he begins watching his neighbors through his window and begins to believe that one man murdered his wife and disposed of the body somewhere. Jeff then relies on his friends and his camera to help him solve the crime.

The still gives a very clear view of most of the neighbors that Jeff is able to see. This gives a good impression of the voyeurism in the film with Jeff having such a good view of these peoples’ lives. He can see the newlyweds perfectly framed in the window kissing, which would normally be a private activity. He is able to watch the progression of their marriage from the very beginning just by looking through his window. Jeff is also able to see Miss Torso through her window brushing her hair. She looks as if she is looking into a mirror at herself, so it is almost as if Jeff is spying on her through a one-way mirror. The suspected murderer, Lars Thorwald, can also be seen tending to the garden. This perfectly represents his character because this is the location where he buries his wife’s dead body. The way the still makes it look like he is simply tending to the flowers helps to represent how, to everybody else except for Jeff Jeffries and his friends, Lars just looks like a normal, innocent man, but there is something sinister behind almost everything that he does.

After Lars, the second most important character shown is the dog. With the dog being 

present and almost in the middle of the shot, it can be inferred that the dog is very important 

to the story. The dog plays a very pivotal role in the progression of Jeff’s investigation. It 

unwittingly joins the investigation by beginning to dig up the flower bed after Lars buries the 

body, which can be represented in the still by the way it appears to be watching Lars while he 

is at the garden. The dog is extremely necessary to the storyline because Jeff is able to have 

some idea about where the Lars’ wife’s body was disposed of and, after the dog is killed, it is 

very clear that Lars is a murderer because he is the only one not surprised by its death. If the 

dog had not been involved, Jeff would have dismissed his own theory about Lars and Lisa 

would have never believed him.