Relationships In Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window

Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window has several themes. One major theme is relationships. The lead character, Jeff Jeffries, a photographer and committed bachelor, is involved in a relationship with Lisa Fremont, a model, although the relationship has some tension due to Jeff’s lack of commitment. When Jeff is confined to his apartment recovering from a broken leg, he begins spying through his rear window on his neighbors in a nearby apartment. Through her frequent visits, Lisa is drawn into this spying as well. In each of the apartments, lives are lived and relationships are being played out, and the dynamics of those relationships reflect back to aspects of Jeff’s and Lisa’s relationship and their anxieties and desires.

The film focuses on five apartments. Miss Torso is a single dancer with several suitors, and appears content with her lifestyle. On the other hand, Miss Lonely Hearts is also single, but is very unhappy with her life, which also involves multiple male suitors. A third

This is ironic, since Jeff tends to avoid intimacy with Lisa, but is content to observe Miss Torso’s intimacies. She has several suitors throughout the film, and seems to be happily promiscuous. Miss Torso also projects Jeff’s apparently cruel and sadistic side. When she is attacked after refusing one suitor’s advances, Jeff, who has become accustomed to recording violence without intervening, just acts as a spectator and feels no need to help or stop looking.

Miss Lonely Hearts represents Lisa’s fear of one potential future. Although sexually abstinent,Miss Lonely Hearts dates frequently, but none lead to long term relationships. Her lack of intimacy bothers Lisa, who sees a parallel with Jeff’s avoidance in their relationship. At one point, a date attempts to rape her, and again, Jeff observes but takes no action against this violence. Nonetheless, however, he does attempt to intervene when Miss Lonely Hearts attempts