Auteur Theory In Alfred Hitchcock's Film Rear Window

Auteur theory

Andrew Sarris was an American film critic.He wrote notes on the ‘Auteur Theory’ in 1962 which he believes are the criteria to become a film auteur. Auteur theory is said to be the starting point of a film but it doesn't have one specific definition. According to sarris, an auteur has three central aspects as he believes a director must have. This essay will explain Sarris’ three central aspects and examine Alfred hitchcock’s film ‘Rear window’ (1954) to determine if Hitchcock is an auteur.

Andrew Sarris was a huge critic of the auteur theory. He argued there are three components to being a good director. These components are technical competence, personal signature and interior meaning. Sarris argues that an auteur must have

the first component in their film, technical competence. A good film should have meaning or it should tell a message. If a film has no meaning, it can be made more entertaining through photography, acting, colour and so on. It's essential in technical competence an auteur has photography, editing, acting and direction. However, not all auteurs use all but that's what draws the audience in and makes personality in the film. Without technical competence a director is a “cast out from the pantheon directors.”

To have a personal signature, the director must have their own style.

It's the way a director expresses their personality visually through their film. This may be from immediately realising who the director is when watching a film through how the director thinks and feels. Sarris says “auteur theory is the only help for extending the appreciation of personal qualities in the cinema.” An example can be shooting scenes in straight on fashion like Wes Anderson, since most directors avoid this because it takes on a three dimensional feel. Therefore, that would be Anderson’s own personal signature as he is usually the only director that shoots scenes in straight on fashion. Another example is the director Zach Snyder. Snyder also has his own personal signature which is speed ramping. he changes the shot between slow motion, normal motion and fast motion. This is what makes each individual

unique.

The last component is interior meaning. Interior meaning refers to the themes the director is trying to explore. There could be a variety of themes throughout an auteurs film which portray meaning and tell the purpose behind the film.

Rear window is a film produced in New York, 1954 directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Jeffrey, the protagonist, is a photographer who is stuck in his tiny apartment with a broken leg, gazing throughout his “rear window” in his wheelchair. He's consumed in his neighbours private lives and becomes obsessed with a mysterious man, Mr Thorwald, who Jeffrey thinks plays a role in Thorwald’s wife's disappearance.

Relating to Sarris’ theory, the first component; technical competence, Hitchcock uses suspense to engage the audience so they’re intrigued in what's going to happen next in the film.

In Rear window, Hitchcock uses parallel editing to build suspense as the story of the film begins to unfold. An example of this is when Lisa breaks into Mr Thorwald's apartment to search for evidence, such as his wife's wedding ring to prove him guilty of murdering Mrs Thorwald. Lisa thought if Mrs Thorwald was alive, she would be wearing her wedding ring. The audience is scared for Lisa in case Mr Thorwald comes home into his apartment and catches her. They're frightened she might get murdered since the audience think Thorwald is capable of

murder.

The music is crucial in a Hitchcock thriller like rear window. He used sound space to make Music in the film play out of the Windows of Jeffries neighbours. In the scene when Lisa is in Thorwald’s apartment looking for evidence, the use of distorted sounds and screeching violins known as nonlinear sounds, are played to build suspense for the viewers. As Mr Thorwald begins to open his door the music tends to go high pitched and a close up on Lisa's face shows her frightened emotion. Jeff is in his apartment disabled, feeling helpless. In one scene in an apartment, a character was playing the piano. Lisa said “isn't this music enchanting, it's as if it was especially written for us.” She's wanting to marry Jeff but with Jeff, the feelings aren't mutual. Which begins to create some conflict between the two.

Hitchcock is known to have his own signature in each film he produces. The majority of his films are thrillers and have complex characters along with twisted endings.
In Rear window, a lot of the suspense is built up especially near the end of the film, and the protagonist is typically the one who’s under investigation. The audience are constantly questioning whether mr Thorwald did murder his wife and we are found what happens during the end. As Lisa is finding evidence in Thorwald's apartment and gets caught, she yells “jeff! Help me!” Thorwald slowly turns his head as shown by a close up, and sees Jeffrey hiding in his apartment. The are minimal sound effects of Thorwald walking up to Jeffries apartment, only the footsteps of Thorwald which builds suspense, this is what Hitchcock wants, he wants the audience to be scared and scared for Jeffrey as well. As Thorwald slowly opens Jeffries door, the lighting of the room is black, which represents Jeffrey as being vulnerable, no one can help him or see if he gets murdered as the light isn't on. At the end of the film, we find out that Thorwald did cut up, and kill his wife. Jeff breaks another leg and is in the same position he was in at the start of the film.

In every Hitchcock film there’s always a man who’s “in charge” such as jeffrey in rear window taking charge of a murder that’s happening immediately in front of him. There’s a “nagging wife” that's typical for a Hitchcock film which is jeffries nurse, who nurses him every morning and is constantly nagging about him saying he has nothing better to do than look out his rear window into his neighbours lives. And then there is always romance in the film. The romance is always between a beautiful woman who’s blonde.

Relating to Sarris’ theory, and personal signature, Hitchcock does have his own style. He was the “master of suspense” which is what was well known for his personal style. There’s always a recurrent use of suspense, along with the typical “nagging wife”, a man to the rescue, and a beautiful blonde women in the film.

The interior meaning of Rear window, deals with human relationships. In this film, the roles tend to be reversed. Jeff is innocent and likeable, but with Lisa she tends to be mysterious and pushes the fact of marriage. With the roles being reversed it brings upon a few themes such as love and marriage. In the first few scenes of Rear window Lisa constantly brings up about marriage. In one scene in an apartment, a character was playing the piano. Lisa said “isn't this music enchanting, it's as if it was especially written for us.” She's wanting to marry Jeff but with Jeff, the feelings aren't mutual. Which begins to create some conflict between the two as she still pushes upon the idea. Jeff doesn’t feel comfortable on the topic as it’s not what he wants in that point of time, so he becomes more involved in his neighbours lives to ignore Lisa. As the middle of the film goes on, Jeff realises there is a murderer living straight across from him who killed his own wife. Lisa is beginning to believe what Jeff is saying and says “Lets start from the beginning again, Jeff. Tell me everything you saw.” Lisa acts as a detective, breaking into Thorwald’s apartment, when she finds the ring, the expression on Jeff’s face from a wide shot, then zooming in, you can see his opinion on Lisa has changed, she’s now not the boring woman he thought she was, and the look on his face shows he wants to marry her.

These relate to Sarris’ theory of interior meaning as these relate to the real world and how Hitchcock is feeling. With human relationships and the roles of men and women being reversed such as Jeff and Lisa, represents how Hitchcock thinks the roles of men and women should be.

In conclusion, Hitchcock is an outstanding auteur. He was able to do things no director or auteur could even do. No one was able to master suspense in a film unlike Hitchcock which got him the title of being the “master of suspense” which is incredibly hard to do. Suspense plays a big role in Hitchcock’s films, it glues the audience in. Sarris’ theory backs up Hitchcock as being an auteur, as Hitchcock covers all three components to being a good director and auteur.