The Woman in the Window (2021)

Let this be a lesson to filmmakers trying to emulate a masterwork like ‘Rear Window’: Less is more

Still of Amy Adams in ‘The Woman in the Window’ (2021)
Amy Adams in ‘The Woman in the Window’ (2021)

Synopsis

The woman in the window is Dr. Anna Fox (Amy Adams), whose agoraphobia keeps her imprisoned within her Manhattan home, too scared to venture beyond her threshold lest she pass out. In a conspicuous nod to Rear Window, she spends her days staring out her window at the occupants of the building across the street. Her shrink comes for in-home sessions, questioning her about the people she observes, who have nicknames just like … yeah, Rear Window.

Anna’s separated from her husband and eight-year-old daughter, with whom she has occasional phone chats. She has a downstairs tenant, David, who seems understanding and initially helpful. She gets little sleep, shaken awake by Hitchcockesque nightmares. So she spends her days watching old movies. Slugging down her meds with snifters of wine. And staring out that window.

Now, of course, scene set, we’re ready for the inevitable tension. It arrives in the form of Ethan Russell (Fred Hechinger), the 15-year-old kid from the new family across the street. He’s bearing a welcome gift from his mother, and seems like he’d rather chat than return home. Anna’s a child psychologist and senses he’s a troubled kid whom she’d like to help. Later, Ethan’s mother, Jane (Julianne Moore), comes to visit. She and Anna spend a few hours bonding over more wine. Later, the father, Alistair (Gary Oldman), hostile and threatening, forces his way in to warn her to stay out of his family’s business.

Just as in Rear Window, it’s now time for Anna, in voyeur mode, to witness something terrifying (don’t know why I’m trying to avoid the spoiler, since you can easily guess). Her life descends deeper into gloom as the police, and David, and even her husband on the phone, refuse to believe the drunken, pill-popping shut-in who has no proof and no credibility. She’ll have to solve the mystery on her own.

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The Woman in the Window becomes a frustrating experience. Not so much for our lack of empathy with Anna’s self-destructive combination of booze and meds, which makes us, and herself, question whether she’s hallucinating or actually did see something. That’s necessary to add the expected obstacles for a heroine of this type to overcome.

No, that’s not it. After concluding with a twist reveal that’s maybe not too hard to spot but still well and spookily executed, the filmmakers decide, fatally, to do Hitchcock one better. And so rather than tie up loose ends, the action jumps off from passable psychological thriller into off-putting near-slasher ridiculousness. And throughout the action is cluttered with too many half-jump-scares, thuds, creaks, and pseudo-scary noises.

Amy Adams does a fine job of portraying the morose and wounded Anna, right up through the moment where we, and she, realizes what’s really going on. The framing of that moment, and Adams’ genuinely devastated expression of recognition, is touchingly played. But, sadly, she’s reduced to screaming victim in the concluding scenes. In Rear Window, remember how Jimmy Stewart pulls a clever trick with his camera flash? Amy Adam’s final tactic is just laughable.

Gary Oldman’s immense talents are wasted. Any actor of suitable age could have been substituted for the one-dimensional, shrieking madman he’s tasked with delivering. If you’re going to pay for Gary Oldman, give the man something to do. Fred Hechinger was obviously not 15 during filming, but acts it too earnestly. Julianne Moore actually shines the brightest as the fleeting guest with whom Anna connects briefly.

Even in its best moments, The Woman in the Window was not going to be nearly the masterpiece that they so adoringly stole, I mean, borrowed, from. But by not stopping when they’d pulled off a suitable nod to Hitchcock, the filmmakers turned a potentially adequate bit of entertainment into a travesty.

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