Cinematography technique · used in 3 films
Using windows between characters to frame looking, longing and distance. The glass keeps people apart while showing them to each other.
Examples
Fritz Lang · 1944
A portrait in a gallery window near Wanley's club draws him in. The glass frames looking and longing before the real woman appears.
Where to see it: The gallery window: Wanley admires the portrait, and its model, Alice Reed, meets him there.
Wim Wenders · 1984
The peep show glass lets Travis and Jane talk while keeping them apart. They can hear each other, but at first she cannot see him. When Travis tells his story, the glass becomes the whole film's picture of distance and the wish to cross it.
Where to see it: The peep show booth. Travis sits on one side of the glass and tells Jane a story about a couple, and she realizes he is Travis.
Woody Allen · 2010
Roy first notices Dia through a window across from his and Sally's flat. His watching starts as an idle fascination and leads to him leaving his marriage. The scene is a small image of how people fall for an idea of someone from a distance.
Where to see it: The window. Roy sees Dia, a musicologist engaged to another man, from his flat, and he starts to fall for her.
Questions