The opening shot of Rear Window (1954), directed by Alfred Hitchcock, which pans across a Greenwich Village courtyard and through L.B. Jeffries' apartment, establishes several facts about Jeffries (Jeff) without any dialogue. The audience learns that Jeff has a broken leg, is a photographer, and probably got his leg broken while photographing a car wreck. These facts suggest certain character traits. As a photographer, a professional observer, he looks at the world with a keen eye, recording events and actions, but he himself does not act. Even though he is willing to put himself in danger, as in standing in the middle of a racetrack, he does not so much participate in life as watch, experiencing life vicariously. The act of watching and vicarious action are important thematic concerns in the film.

While recuperating from his broken leg, Jeff (James Stewart) occupies his time by watching his neighbors out the window. One night, he witnesses strange behavior by the salesman, Lars Thorwald (Raymond Burr), who lives across from him. Jeff comes to the conclusion that the man has murdered his nagging, invalid wife. Jeff manages to convince his fashion plate girlfriend, Lisa (Grace Kelly), who is pressuring him to get married and settle down, and his wise-cracking nurse (Thelma Ritter) that a murder has occurred, but, lacking a body or substantial evidence, he is unable to convince a police detective (Wendell Corey) he knows. Eventually, Jeff, Lisa, and the nurse gather enough evidence to convince the police and to get Thorwald to reveal himself. Before Thorwald can be arrested, he throws Jeff out the window, breaking his other leg.

A simple outline of the plot does not fully convey the levels of meaning in the film. Both Mr. and Mrs. Thorwald parallel Jeffries. Like Mrs. Thorwald, he is an invalid, confined to one space, and, as Mr. Thorwald poses a threat to his wife, Lisa threatens the life Jeff has established for himself. Of course, Mr. Thorwald kills his wife, and Lisa merely wants to domesticate Jeff. Mr. Thorwald provides a deeper comparison to Jeff. Just as the salesman is trapped in marriage to an invalid, Lisa seeks to contain Jeff in marriage. Jeff's secret desire for resistance becomes actualized in the murder of Mrs. Thorwald, an action Jeff can experience vicariously through watching. The connection between the two men becomes reinforced when, realizing he is being watched, Thorwald stares into Jeff's apartment. Thorwald has taken on Jeff's role; the watched has become the watcher. Jeff, in turn, is then placed in the vulnerable position of the one who is watched.

That Jeff harbors secret desires suggests that his character is round, but, beyond multiple dimensionality, a round character must also be dynamic, he or she must change throughout the course of the film. Jeff changes in two ways. First, he seems to have renounced peeping. At the end of the film, instead of looking out the window, Jeff is turned away, fast asleep. Secondly, having realized the depth of his feelings for Lisa when she was nearly captured by Thorwald, he has allowed her further into his life. At the end, she seems to have accomplished, or nearly accomplished, her goal of getting Jeff to marry her. Yet, this ending does not exactly suggest "happily ever after." Jeff now has two broken legs; he is more trapped than ever.

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