They say a film is as good as the villain, but sometimes, the villain might be too good for the film's own good. I don't think I've been as distraught and upset by a villain as I was by the manipulative expert Gregory Anton in George Cukor's "Gaslight", the most famous and best adaptation of Patrick Hamilton's play. Indeed, enduring the psychological torture he applied to his love-seeking wife Paula, played by an emotionally versatile Ingrid Bergman, was such an infuriating experience that I left almost one decade between the first and the second viewing, and I literally tiptoed to the DVD to force myself to refresh my memory. After the first fifteen minutes, just when I thought I could stand it, I realized that any horror movie would have been more supportable... or am I overreacting?I think there must have been some strong reaction toward that novelty of a plot where a person drove another one insane through mental manipulation to the point that "gas light" became part of common language... that's how impactful it was. Not many movies deal with that particular device, but this is how "Gaslight" was revolutionary and sophisticated in a twisted way, suiting the emerging noir genre. The "gas light" effect referring to the dimming of the light that made Paula believe she was going crazy isn't effective on a narrative level because it's driven by a fact but rather by the seeds of doubt it sows on her mind. We know for a fact that a woman is being manipulated but only suspicion can heal her from her husband's cruel dominance.But she can't suspect him because she loves him in a way that echoes Stockholm Syndrome and he's a Machiavellian gourmet who knows exactly the amount of cruelty and suavity to apply.Charles Boyer's with all these cunning eyes, that mouth always wary about not letting a word slip, and his faux-affable "French lover" manners, elevate his characters to summits of vileness and gaining extra altitude by a symmetric effect with Ingrid Bergman who brings an extraordinary level of pathos while maintaining a strange aura of dignity. This is a woman whose heart and mind are slowly shred to pieces but she's resigned to believe any word of her beloved husband because she can envision anything except such capability of vileness. Why would the gaslight dim every night? Why would she hear noises the servant doesn't notice and why would Gregory be wrong if the second maid wasn't so arrogant and defiant? Even Angela Lansbury in her screen debut is perfect in the role of Nancy, the street smart and slightly slutty maid whose deadpan and snarky attitude is more affecting than any hint of false empathy or true detachment. This is a free-spirited woman yet manipulated by the way Gregory exploits every element of the environment and every possible situation. So what we have is a conspiracy perfectly oiled where Cukor makes us witness the action while making us as powerless as Paula. We're like passive observers bound and gagged and undergoing the villain's sadism. In a way, if we consider anger as a brief madness, we're also being "gaslighted" by Cukor.The mark of great films is to elicit strong responses; and watching "Gaslight" a second time reminded me of something I meant as a compliment after my initial viewing, I thought it was the most Hitchcockian non-Hitchcock film... and the presence of Dame May Whitty or Joseph Cotten play like interesting nods to "The Lady Vanishes" and "Shadow of a Doubt". In"Vanishes", the main protagonist was toyed with her own certitudes and lured into doubting her own sanity and "Shadow" is about a villain who's a close parent. "Gaslight" makes these two plot points converge beautifully but there is another Hitchcock classic it bears a kinship with: "Suspicion". And I think I can now be more explicit about what bothered me with "Suspicion" and that makes "Gaslight" a superior movie. In "Suspicion", the husband's guilt was the central theme but worked as a double edged word, if he was guilty, then he left too many hints to be a believable villain, if he wasn't, it was anticlimactic. In "Gaslight", we know the villain from the start and we know he's good at hiding his vileness (the essence of 'gaslighting') and the frustration doesn't come from the act but the lack of suspicion, the point is the psychological struggle within a woman whose passion blinds her mind and endangers it, a woman who trades her self-esteem for the sake of the most harmful person she could ever meet. "Gaslight" foreshadowed, no pun intended, the way film noir would dominate post-war cinema, at a time where many people were blinded by patriotism and driven to real madness by leaders who had contempt for them. "Gaslight" is also a marvel of film noir in its use of the nightmarish fog of London Victorian streets used as the perfect camouflage for a Jekyll/Hyde villain, and where d the walls of respectability of an ordinary house, hid the claustrophobic nightmare of a woman lost among so many useless items and trophies, being the most precious one of all... or the most disposable.Boyer, Lansbury were all Oscar-nominated, but it was Bergman who won thee first of the three Oscars and deservedly so. In what could have been a one-note performance she explores every possible shade of fragility, doubt and panic, disbelief and resignation, whiplash moods orchestrated by her evil husband until her shining moment at the end, perhaps one of the most satisfying rants, where the whole scheme of Gregory backfires in the most delightful way.But I still wonder why he wasn't listed in AFI's Top 50 villains, the film made the "thrills" list but who made the thrills?

Ingrid Bergman plays a traumatized woman who has something someone else wants. Her condition involves the death of her mother. She marries the usually suave Charles Boyer and something begins to go amiss. Because of her fragility, she is suddenly culpable for actions that would seem out of character for her. She begins to see and hear things that Boyer and member of the household claim not to see or hear. She also begins a pattern of kleptomania. She is on a road to a mental hospital, until she meets a police officer, played by Joseph Cotten. There is something going on involved with the home they are living in, which once belonged to her mother. The way this is constructed is superb. One of our finest films with some of our finest actors.

a film about vulnerability, past and love. all in the shadow of the fear. remarkable performances. mark of a great director who defines, with precise grace, atmosphere from the first scene. a film about different forms of cruelty. happy meeting of two actors with the science to explore each aspect of the potential of roles. and, I admit, in few senses, the film of Angela Lansburry who, in a small role, does an admirable job. one of films who seems be perfect. for the dialogues and for the use of light. for the wise manner to use the rules of thriller. for the music. and for the analysis of the purpose of charming Gregory Anton. short, a film who must see. again and again. for the special art who has it as beautiful example.

An often fog-bound mansion in Victorian London is the setting for this tense psychological thriller which begins during the aftermath of a murder and develops into a husband's sustained plot to convince his wife (and everyone else) that she's insane. The villain's diabolical scheme is cruel, manipulative and interesting to watch as it shows how the victim's confidence is gradually undermined by a series of deceptions and the type of controlling behaviour that leaves her isolated, confused and genuinely doubting her own sanity.The action takes place in an increasingly sinister atmosphere and the mansion provides a wonderfully claustrophobic location for most of what transpires. The property's cluttered walls and over-furnished rooms make the victim's surroundings seem cramped and camera angles that bring the ceiling into view re-emphasise this impression. Furthermore, the streets around the mansion are mostly seen at night when the darkness and the fog considerably reduce what can be seen. These visual features contribute strongly to the mood of the piece and also emphasise the victim's strong feelings of being trapped.Paula Alquist (Ingrid Bergman) is a girl who'd been brought up by her aunt (who was a famous opera singer) since her mother's death. After a break-in at her home during which her aunt is strangled to death, the killer escapes and the traumatised Paula is sent to Italy to recover and study to also become an opera singer. Many years later, she falls in love with her piano accompanist and after a very short courtship and a honeymoon at Lake Como, her new husband, Gregory Anton (Charles Boyer) persuades her to move back to her previous home that she'd inherited from her aunt and which had remained unoccupied since the time she'd left London.Back at her childhood home, Gregory decides to move all her aunt's possessions up into the attic so that Paula won't be upset by their presence and then boards up the attic door. From this point onwards, he starts to make remarks about Paula's apparent forgetfulness and inclination to lose things. Her fragile confidence is then undermined further as he belittles her in front of the servants, openly flirts with the housemaid and forbids her to leave the house or receive any guests. Things then get even more troubling when she starts to hear sounds from the attic that no-one else hears and becomes alarmed by the gaslights which dim periodically for no apparent reason.Brian Cameron (Joseph Cotten) is a Scotland Yard detective who'd been a great admirer of Paula's aunt. After seeing the opera singer's home occupied again, he takes a growing interest in what's happening there and reviews the police records relating to the unsolved murder. Eventually, after some difficulties, he manages to meet Paula and win her confidence and this proves to be a turning point in her struggle to rationalise what had been happening to her since her return to No 9 Thornton Square."Gaslight" is well directed and features some top class performances. Angela Lansbury (in her first movie role) is terrific as the bad mannered and disrespectful maid and Charles Boyer is equally convincing, initially as the debonair and very attentive lover and later as the domineering sadist who tries to get his wife committed to an insane asylum. Ingrid Bergman really stands out in her Oscar-winning role as a woman who'd experienced the childhood traumas of being orphaned at a young age and later having to cope with the shock of her guardian's very sudden and violent death. Her sensitive interpretation of her character's ordeal is magnificent as she conveys her vulnerability so effectively without resorting to the exaggerated histrionics that many lesser actresses may well have employed.