Film noir, emerging in the 1940s, serves as a reflection and presentation of Hollywood with socio-economic problems during the war and post-war periods. Originated from the 30s gangster films, this gloomy and pessimistic genre, literally meaning "black film", often address crime issues and consist of dark plots, victimized femininity in contrast to toxic masculinity. The combination of social disorientation, hopeless romanticism and gendered power struggles unleashed in those post-war years was addressed in a lot of films produced during that period. The mid-1940s generated several psychological thrillers but George Cukor’s Gaslight (1944) stands out with an enthralling narrative structure, spectacular production design, and stellar performances delivered by Ingrid Bergman, Charles Boyer and Joseph Cotten. Gaslight shares many elements with film noir, whose characteristics is signified through the dull atmospheric Victorian London setting and melodramatic style revolving around the attempt of a husband in driving his wife insane for deceitful purposes. Through Cukor’s skillful direction, Gaslight creates suspense through manifesting its complicated character study and psychological perplexities. This paper will, as a consequence, examine Gaslight’s cinematic treatment on the topic of mental abuse, its allusion to a patriarchal system where women are vulnerable and regarded as victims, especially the feminine defiance in the film’s ending sequence, as well as the film’s similar stylistic characteristics with film noir and its political allegory—the way politicians nowadays make use of media to control and popularize people’s mindset.
George Cukor's Gaslight is a claustrophobic yet enthralling thriller about emotional control and manipulation. The story brings to light a patriarchal system where men dominate over women by diminishing their dignity with false psychological claims, labeling them as frantic and hysterical. The term “gaslighting” is defined by Wikipedia as “a person seeks to sow seeds of doubt in a targeted individual or in members of a targeted group, making them question their own memory, perception, and sanity”. Paula, a young woman who lives with her aunt in London, later moves to Italy after her aunt is killed during a burglary. Years later, Paula marries a pianist named Gregory Anton, played by Boyer, and the couple returns to her aunt’s house; yet a series of unexplained events happen, especially the secretive dimming of the gas-powered lights that serve as a metaphor for Paula’s weakening mental health and perception of herself. Paula’s pretentiously compassionate husband imprisons her in their antique house, forbidding any outside visitors and slowly convinces Paula that she is losing sanity through an accumulation of incidents. For instance, there is a scene when Gregory accuses Paula of taking and hiding a picture from the wall, which makes her absolutely frightened, gradually move away from him. The camera slowly zooms in, focusing on Paula’s striking look at her husband; her seemingly soft, broken voice questioning her own self: “Yes, the picture has been taken down. Who took it down? Why has been taken down?” The fact that Gregory calls the old servant into the room to observe the empty wall and requests her to “kiss the bible as a solemn oath telling the truth” emphasizes the realism of the situation. Even when Paula excuses him that “I didn’t know” and “If I ever do all of these meaningless things…”, his affirmative, uncanny statement has such a weight that allures Paula into believing in her own forgetfulness and delusion. Her begging that “If that was true, you must be gentle with me, you must bear with me please” ultimately displays her subversion towards him, her inferior feminine identity under the patriarchal context. In another scene, Gregory told Paula that her mother was mad and died in an asylum, and that he even talked to the doctor about the symptoms, making his lies more compelling: “It began with her imagining things that she heard noise: footsteps, voices and then the voices begin to speak to her and at the end she died in an asylum with no brain at all”. Here, Gregory came towards Paula, using acrimonious words to make her collapse and heighten his authority. The film traps the viewer in the same shoes with Paula's, mentally manipulated and disturbed by the autocratic Gregory. His projection of false ideals on her mind is irritating, which makes Gaslight is frustrating to watch, ultimately showing the film’s effective demonstration of the villain’s evil act. Nevertheless, it is always obvious for the audience that Gregory is the one who murdered Paula’s aunt, and he is deviating Paula’s mind for his own plan of stealing her aunt’s hidden jewels. Therefore, due to the film’s unrestricted narration, the viewer accompanies Paula thoroughly through several stages of demoralization and knowing what exactly is happening.
The suspense is built up not only from the mystery of the villain’s actions, but from the viewer’s unspoken longing hope for Paula’s realization beneath every tension moment. Nevertheless, Gaslight doesn’t allow Paula to take the initiative and figure out the predicament herself—she remains the fragile and easily-crumbled woman. It is not until inspector Cameron, played by Cotten, breaks into the house without Gregory’s notice that Paula is woken out of unconsciousness and finds out the letter that the murderer sent her aunt days prior to her death. When Cameron points out that by driving her insane, Gregory “would have control of your (her) property”, Paula recounts her childhood memories of witnessing the horror. The word “me” slowly comes out of her mouth, as Paula bitterly realizes she was “the little girl”—the spectator of murder in the old days. However, despite his heroic appearance, Cotten’s character is awkwardly incorporated into the story, instead of a more feminist resolution: Paula redeeming herself, fighting back against masculinity oppression. Gaslight subjects Paula to such extreme difficulties that the slight development of romance between Paula and Cameron at the climax is somehow inappropriate. Cameron's presence in Gaslight clearly shows the conventions in classical Hollywood films: There is no more convincing solution rather than a romance. Despite Cameron's part in triggering Paula's regain of dignity and awareness, Gaslight’s brilliant ending scene indeed gives the viewer a deeply satisfying confrontation between Paula and her husband. Gregory is tied to a chair, powerless in front of his wife, their positions finally reversed. As usual, he tries to coax her into freeing him: “Be quick Paula! Get me the knife”; yet this time, instead of being obedient, Paula bitterly taunts and mocks him with the possibility of freedom before letting the detective take him away. Here, she is finally able to turn his strategies back on him, take the words that he used to manipulate her for a different purpose. She utilizes the knife as a reference to the illusion of her own insanity that Gregory has placed in her head: “Are you suggesting that this is the knife I hold in my hand? Have you gone mad my husband? Or is that I who are mad?” The camera interchanges between close-ups of their faces, displaying a dynamic revenge, a long-delayed outrage bursting out. In the end, Gregory has to admit that Paula is not mad, and the empty, straight look on Bergman’s face has conveyed it all. Without a doubt, Gaslight presents the viewer with a sharp examination on psychological abuse and comments on society's contempt towards women, in which their concerns are rejected, their voices are drowned out.
Stylistically, Gaslight’s mise-en-scene also contributes to its dark tone and adds an important layer to its complicated depiction of mental manipulation. The opening scene occurs on the night of the murder, with bleak Victorian buildings and gloomy silhouettes in the scenery. This cinematic beginning helps bring to light the protagonist traumatized by the crime she has just unexpectedly disrupted and witnessed. Cukor focuses on the film's atmospheric setting, masterfully capturing an old London with flickering gaslight lamps, foggy streets and pavements. Interestingly, Bergman’s face is utilized as a surface, allowing the high contrast lighting to illuminate and brush with shadows and warm tone. Cukor constantly highlights Paula’s face in close-ups, lingering on silent shots of her simply contemplating or looking around. The movement of her eyes, facial expression and subtle actions together deepen her suffering. In addition, the film won an Academy Award for Best Art Direction - Interior Decoration (Black and White) in 1945 for the works by Cedric Gibbons, William Ferrari, Edwin B. Willis and Paul Huldschinsky. An article on “Graffiti with Punctuation” notes that, “Their magnificent work aided in the creation of the film’s claustrophobic atmosphere, particularly in the townhouse interiors. The vast number of props and set dressings in the interior scenes, and their artfully specific placements, were particularly impressive”. Without a doubt, Cukor’s crew has successfully evoked an oppressive and suspenseful vibe in the Victorian townhouse in which most of the scenes take place.
Besides its theme of emotional abuse and manipulation, Gaslight also possesses a political message, which still apply to many of nowadays social issues—especially the way leaders make promising statements to deceive ordinary Americans, fooling them into believing in a corrupted party, spreading out misleading propaganda. The Boston Globe published an article on “Gaslighting is back in the Trump era”, stating that “It is what our new president tries to do when he repeats claims that his inauguration was the most well-attended ever or that there was massive voter fraud perpetrated by illegal immigrants; it is what his spokespeople engage in when they substantiate those claims with what they refer to as “alternative facts”. Another article published by Teen Vogue also addresses this term of “gaslighting”, providing several statistical evidence to support its argument: “Trump won the presidency by gaslight. His rise to power has awakened a force of bigotry by condoning and encouraging hatred, but also by normalizing deception”. Without a doubt, considering the current political discourse atmosphere, especially with the appointment of the new president, which causes divisive sides and ideologies, the use of “gaslighting” is more frequent than ever. Nevertheless, it is not only conceived in a gender spectrum with the oppressive masculinity over femininity, but it has expanded in different aspects of the society. The hidden political message can also be seen in other contemporary films from the same era, especially Michael Curtiz’s Casablanca (1942), whose characters represent different standpoints in World War II, and the mythological image of the idealized American hero is portrayed through Humphrey Bogart’s character. Casablanca seems to motivate an American audience who is reluctant to set aside their political beliefs to get engaged in other rightful ideologies. Likewise, George Cukor’s Gaslight seems to inspire the theme of empathy and self-recognition so that people regardless of races, religions or political beliefs can be considered as equals. “Gaslighting” should not be used to discriminate against women, isolate people of color or separate any marginalized community from the majority. As a consequence, Gaslight’s political allegory hidden under the entangled plot and insightful character study, which still resonates and ignites many of today’s problems, has made it one of the most important film noirs of the 1940s.
In conclusion, Gaslight has presented the viewer with a thoughtful study of psychological abuse and manipulation through its atmospheric paranoia mise-en-scene and exquisite storytelling technique from George Cukor. It has stood the test of time for being one of the most influential thrillers of the 1940s film noir era, capturing feminine spirit and hardship under a patriarchal system and influencing many of the contemporary social movements in casting doubts on the psychological tactic “gaslighting”.
Works Cited
Malouf, Lisa. Five Star Films #85: Gaslight (George Cukor - 1944). Graffiti with Punctuation. December, 2015.
https://graffitiwithpunctuation.com/opinion/2015/12/30/five-star-films-85
Burr, Ty. Gaslight is back in the Trump era, but where does it come from? The Boston Globe. January, 2017.
Duca, Lauren. Donald Trump Is Gaslighting America. Teen Vogue. December, 2016 https://www.teenvogue.com/story/donald-trump-is-gaslighting-america