The Woman in the Window
Bruce Steele: Appropriately for a mystery-thriller, the all-star production Woman in the Window raises a host of thorny questions. We can start with, Is it worth your time? Are its surprises, well, surprising? And should the novel's sticky back story affect how we see the movie?
Edwin Arnaudin: You’re the in-house expert on the literary behind-the-scenes details, so I’ll leave that to you. I went in blind to the latest literary adaptation from Joe Wright (Atonement; Pride & Prejudice), focused more on the great Tracy Letts writing the screenplay and the impressive cast you mention, led by Amy Adams as the agoraphobic Anna Fox. In addition to her anxiety disorder pinning her within her obscenely large Brooklyn brownstone, this former psychiatrist pops pills and guzzles wine each night while processing being separated from her husband Ed (Anthony Mackie), with whom their daughter Olivia (Mariah Bozeman) lives.
With all of that psychological anguish, Anna isn't exactly the most reliable protagonist, so when the mysterious Russell family — Alistair (Gary Oldman), Jane (Julianne Moore), and teenage son Ethan (Fred Hechinger, Eighth Grade) — move in across the street and quickly raise her suspicions, it’s tough to take her version of the events completely seriously. We’ll get to the twists that arise and how they’re handled, but overall, I found the knotty journey of deciphering Anna’s trustworthiness deliciously tense and disorienting.
Bruce: I do love novels with unreliable narrators, since they make you work to sort out what's true, but they're difficult to translate to the screen. The movie isn't Anna's point of view, it's Wright's, and he has to engage in some clumsy fake-outs to keep Anna's delusions in play. I have not read the novel — I've just read about the novel — but I found Letts' screenplay rather transparent in its deceptions. (Notably, Letts' work was rewritten in reshoots, and he has essentially disowned it.)
That sense of "you know we're lying" gives the movie a schizophrenic character, since everything apart from the arch plot is top notch. Wright's cheeky self-conscious homages to Hitchcock and Polanski and other filmmakers blend nicely with his own often-kinetic direction, and the cinematography is Vertigo gorgeous. Much of the supporting cast is underutilized — Jennifer Jason Leigh gets about three lines — but Moore is mesmerizing in her one long scene with Anna. Given some of Adams' off-kilter recent roles, what did you think of her here?
Edwin: It’s another non-glamorous turn from an actor we’re used to seeing either cute as a button (Julie & Julia; Junebug) or the most glamorous woman in the room (American Hustle; Nocturnal Animals). The shift almost suggests she’s decided those routes won’t earn her awards, but going grimy here and in Hillbilly Elegy and HBO’s Sharp Objects limited series might. Neither has worked to that degree and The Woman in the Window isn’t going to win any prizes, but I’d be happy if Adams pursued more pulpy fare like this that doesn’t take itself so seriously. Did she prove a compelling lead for you this go-round?
Bruce: I'm an Amy Adams fan — Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day is among my all-time faves — so I'm almost always happy to see her. This is a potentially campy role, and she manages to keep it grounded and sympathetic. To say more would get us into spoilers — which I think we should do, for once. So here's the necessary caveat that readers who want to be surprised should stop reading now. Shall we?
Edwin: Letts. I mean…Let’s, as it’s in the reveals that the film stumbles for me and switches from a fun De Palma/Fincher homage to a Lifetime Original Movie. Please proceed and spill those wine-soaked beans.
Bruce: OK. So, everyone out of the room who doesn't want to know the twist? Good. So it's not quite a Murder Mystery With One Suspect, but given the choices and the assumption that there will be a Big Twist, it doesn't take much to suspect nice, meek teenager Ethan of being the psycho killer. The problem I had was, first, Ethan's barely in the movie before the twist, which mutes the impact of the reveal, and second, he dives right into the drooling sicko end of the pool. It's all just too much.
Edwin: Agreed. The prospect of Anna's ex-con basement tenant David (Wyatt Russell) somehow being involved is far more tantalizing (and, frankly, plausible), yet he’s just one of many red herrings. Not only is Ethan underdeveloped, but what we’re shown of the Russell family home from Anna’s (admittedly compromised) perspective during the first homicide doesn’t fully line up with his alleged overall murderousness. My main issue with these reveals, though, is how exposition-heavy they are — it’s total Bond Villain territory, which makes me think Letts didn’t pen those moments. I found the truth of Anna’s family far more thoughtful and artistically handled, but it wasn’t all that surprising, either. Did you?
Bruce: I didn't foresee the twist with her husband and daughter, but of course there had to be an explanation for her agoraphobia. That reveal worked pretty well, with some hallucinogenic visuals that were quite striking. This movie, like poor Ethan, is just inexplicably schizophrenic, perhaps in part as a by-product of the novel's author.
Writer "A.J. Finn" is really widely disliked publishing executive Daniel Mallory — a documented serial liar who once pretended to have cancer, among many other over-the-top fabrications. There are also allegations of plagiarism, which Google would be happy to fill you in on ("daniel mallory plagiarism" — *search*). All of which should be superfluous to judging the film, but it made me a bit squeamish about validating this guy's success with more attention. Unfortunately, that ickiness and the film's own excesses left me unable to recommend it. I give it a C.
Edwin: Similar to fellow 2021 thriller The Little Things, Wright’s latest film largely holds together for me — until it doesn’t. But its tangled plot, crisp visuals, stylistic flourishes, and occasional moments of levity (mostly from Brian Tyree Henry’s exhausted Detective Little) combine for a “thumbs up” from me — not as enthusiastic a push as I suspected early on, but enough for a B.
Grade: B-minus. Rated R. Available to stream via Netflix
(Photos: Netflix)
