Rear Window

A closer look at the story

Photographer L. B. "Jeff" Jefferies is stuck in his New York apartment with a broken leg, confined to a wheelchair for weeks. To fight the boredom, he starts watching the daily lives of the neighbours whose windows face his across the courtyard. One night, what he sees convinces him that a man in the building opposite has done something terrible to his wife. Unable to persuade anyone else, Jeff recruits his girlfriend Lisa and his nurse Stella to help him find out more. Directed by Alfred Hitchcock from a screenplay by John Michael Hayes, the 1954 film stars James Stewart, Grace Kelly and Thelma Ritter in a classic thriller about curiosity, watching and where both should stop.