Directed by Joe Wright
Available to stream now on Netflix
Back in 2018, Joe Wright, the adventurous British filmmaker behind such creatively thrilling works such as "Pride & Prejudice", "Atonement", "Hanna" and "Darkest Hour", was signed on to bring to the screen the number one best-seller, "The Woman in the Window" by A. J. Finn with Amy Adams and an impressive line-up of actors to star. And then the finished film was test-screened for audiences. It did not go well.
This mystery-thriller had additional scenes added and was re-edited which ultimately did not help. "The Woman in the Window" was delayed several times and then the studio behind the film, 20th Century Fox was bought by the Walt Disney Studios. The pandemic caused the film's release to be delayed again with Disney deciding to have a fire sale and unloaded "The Woman in the Window" to Netflix.
After this long, sad road for the film, I wish I could say that it's really not that bad. But this story of an agoraphobic woman who thinks she has witnessed a murder in the building next door is really, really bad especially considering all of the A-list talent in-front-of and behind the camera involved. "The Woman in the Window" is a muddled thriller that is badly executed, lacking in a steady narrative structure and any clear logical sense.
Living in a large, Manhattan brownstone, Anna Fox (Adams) was a child psychologist before going through a terrible trauma, leaving her suffering from agoraphobia, deeply afraid to venture outside of her home. Separated from her husband (Anthony Mackie) and daughter (Mariah Bozeman) for an unknown reason, she regularly communicates with them. She has a tenant, David (Wyatt Russell) who lives in her basement and tries to help her out whenever he can. Trapped indoors, Anna spends her days watching old movies, taking meds, drinking heavily and observing (some might say "spying") her neighbors living their lives out of her window.
One evening, Ethan Russell (Fred Hechinger), a teenager who has moved in with his family directly across the street, arrives with a gift. Reluctantly, Anna lets him in, with the two bonding over movies and her cat. The next night on Halloween, Ethan's mother, Jane (Julianne Moore) pays her a visit. They spend the evening chatting and drinking. The next day, Alistair Russell (Gary Oldman) comes knocking on Anna's door, asking if anyone from his family had been over to visit. Feeling uncomfortable with his aggressive manner, Anna lies to him. Later, Ethan confesses to her that his father has been abusive to him and his mother.
Then one night, after hearing a scream, Anna looks out her window and sees Jane being stabbed in her home. After calling the police, two detectives (Brian Tyree Henry and Jeanine Serralles) arrive to question Anna who is convinced that Alistair has murdered his wife. However, the Russell family are with the police and that includes Jane (played by Jennifer Jason Leigh) who is very much alive and has never met Anna. Since we know that liquor and anxiety medication probably shouldn't mix, there is the possiblity that Anna is hallucinating that she met Jane and could be the cause behind the other disturbances that have left her feeling jumpy and disoriented. As she begins to believe what she saw must be her imagination, a photo that Anna took of her cat reveals that something sinister is really happening.
Alfred Hitchcock looms large over "The Woman in the Window" with Wright paying direct homage to the influential director by attempting to recreate his style of suspense, even going so far as using clips from some of his celebrated movies throughout. Yet this move only serves to remind us that what we're watching is a poorly conceived imitation of the great work done by the Master of Suspense. What Hitchcock did to create his feature films was thoughtfully and meticulously planned out. And while it is certain that what finally ended up on screen with "Woman" is not what our director had originally envisioned, what exactly was his grand plan is also not clear. It seems that Wright had wanted to elevate the common psychological thriller with artful elements much like he did (with mixed results) in his 2012 boldly, stylized adaptation of the oft-revisited literary classic, "Anna Karenina". We see brief moments of surrealistic imagery throughout this film yet they feel oddly out of place when merged with the standard mystery-thriller tropes. Whatever the true intentions were by Wright with "The Woman in the Window" will remain unknown but I suspect that the director was attempting a more impressionistic approach to the film which probably would explain the confusion by viewers.
Another mystery involves actor/writer, Tracy Letts (appearing briefly in the film as Anna's psychiatrist) and the screenplay he wrote for this film. What we have is a fairly simple story that has been written in a way to make it become unnecessarily complicated and extremely confusing. The story is oddly paced, the dialogue is stilted and the characters' motivations are not sharply drawn. But I would still be very curious to read the original completed script by this Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright because I'm sure it had to be somewhat compelling in order to have attracted all of the talent involved.
One positive thing I can say about the film is that it looks great thanks to the stunning camera work by Bruno Delbonnel and production design by Kevin Thompson. Wright is usually a brilliant and confident filmmaker, always willing to push boundaries and never settling for an obvious approach in handling material, even if it's a revered classic. But with "The Woman in the Window" he seems to have lost his way, trying to push a slight narrative too far while also failing to keep the mystery reasonably intact.
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