Film Review

The Woman in the Window (2021) • Netflix

An agoraphobic woman living alone in New York begins spying on her new neighbours, only to witness a disturbing act of violence.

The Woman in the Window is a Hitchcockian thriller that unpacks the lies, deceptions, and nightmares surrounding Dr Anna Fox (Amy Adams), a child psychologist and possibly unhinged woman in jeopardy. Anna is an alcoholic agoraphobic who loses track of her meds while watching old movies and her neighbours across the way. Her beautiful brownstone apartment in Manhattan is revealed as her luxurious ‘ivory tower’ in the opening scenes — with a dollhouse and drawings on the fridge suggesting an absent family. There’s even a short clip of James Stewart from Rear Window (1954) on her television screen in the foreground, to make the link to Hitchcock crystal clear.

As Anna watches the new family who move in opposite, she starts to speculate about their lives. She then meets Ethan (Fred Hechinger), the Russell family’s teenage son, and then Jane Russell (Julianne Moore / Jennifer Jason Leigh), before an encounter with the obnoxious…