Gaslight 1944 openload10/2/2023 However, the film is worth watching in particular for Ingrid Bergman's exceptional performance.The Origin and Semantic Development of Gaslighting Gaslight may not be as well-known by those more familiar with the term than the film. The ability to manipulate people into believing something false is true is a common one. While minor details they did drag the film down a bit.ĭespite this, the impact Gaslight continues to have has not abated. Joseph Ruttenberg's cinematography and the use of shadows also gave the film a sense of the macabre.Īs well-acted as Gaslight is, the beginning did seem very "acted", and the film seemed very long. One excellent element in Gaslight is Bronislau Kaper's score, which gave Gaslight the extra element of Gothic horror. There was a slight artificiality to it that didn't quite convince me he wasn't "acting". I didn't think it a horrible performance but it seemed a bit stiff, like he was in the theater rather than a film. My issue would be with Cotten, who seems slightly miscast as the investigator. Dame May Whitty was the comic relief as the nosy neighbor, but while she was kept to a minimum at least it didn't come across as silly. That balance between sleazy and innocent is well-handled by Lansbury. As the tawdry new maid Nancy, Lansbury's performance made one wonder whether she too was in on the act. Then again, the adaptation of Gas Light probably wanted us aware that Anton was manipulating her for his wicked intentions.Īngela Lansbury earned an Oscar nomination for this, her screen debut, and it is well-warranted. It seems clear he is villainous, and I wonder if director George Cukor opted not to make the mystery less obvious. Of particular note is when he reacts when Paula finds a note from "Sergius Bauer", a gentleman caller of Aunt Alice. Instead, it's the performance of a character who now has full command, enacting her own justice on her tormentor.īoyer at times seemed a bit theatrical, his French accent making things more so. It's only at the end, when she gets her revenge, that we see Bergman unleashed, and again it isn't a theatrical performance. In fact, there's a certain restraint in her manner, one where Paula's growing fears fights against her knowledge of her genuine sanity. Instead, the struggle between what she knows and what she is being manipulated into believing is played as a woman torn in two. The brilliance of Bergman's performance is that the growing fear and anxiety is played without her becoming fully hysterical. She easily transitions from the young woman in love to that of the terrified figure, shivering at the idea that she might be going mad. Gaslight is held up by the strong central performance of Ingrid Bergman. As Paula's mind starts disintegrating, it will take all her strength to find out if and who is gaslighting her. There's evil at work, but what or who can be behind it? Into this case comes Brian Cameron (Joseph Cotten), a detective and fan of Paula's aunt who suspects Gregory is not whom he says he is. There are footsteps only she can hear, and gaslights dimming with no apparent reason that only she can see. Items begin disappearing with Paula unaware that "she" had taken them. Soon, Paula appears to be slipping into insanity. A whirlwind romance and marriage brings them back to the murder house, which Paula had inherited. However, while her career doesn't take she herself is, by suave pianist Gregory Anton (Charles Boyer). Gaslight is a well-acted albeit long film about the manipulation and ultimate revenge of the manipulated.Īfter her aunt is brutally murdered, Paula Alquist (Ingrid Bergman) goes to train as an opera diva like Aunt Alice. The term "gaslighting" (to try and manipulate someone into believing something that isn't true) is a dominant one today, yet few remember the origins of the term come from a Golden Era film.
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