Watching the movie “The Woman in the Window” about anxiety and isolation and wondering why, despite all its pluses, it turned out so vague.

On May 14, Netflix released the detective thriller “The Woman in the Window” by Joe Wright, a director whose filmography includes many acclaimed works: “Atonement,” “Pride & Prejudice,” and “Nosedive,” one of the most striking and memorable episodes of “Black Mirror.”

“The Woman in the Window” is made according to all of Joe’s canons: here we have a star-studded cast including Amy Adams, Gary Oldman, and Julianne Moore, a female protagonist, and the theme of mental health. But this time, the director pays homage to Hitchcock. Let’s figure out whether he managed to reach the level of the master of thrillers and create dramatic suspense.

Psycho Analysis?

The main character, Anna Fox, is a child psychologist. She suffers from agoraphobia, watches the new residents of the neighboring house from her window, replays Hitchcock classics on repeat in the evenings, and drowns her emotional turmoil with a bottle of wine. Guests rarely appear in her house: sometimes her personal psychiatrist advises her to overcome the ailment with an umbrella, sometimes a neighbor renting the basement disturbs her with an unexpected visit, or the strange neighbor boy Ethan drops by to get acquainted and stays for a casual therapy conversation. Anna maniacally desires to be at the center of events, and one day she actually witnesses a murder. She will have to figure out what she saw, uncover skeletons in her own closet, and get to the truth without stepping outside her home.

Feel the Fear

The film “The Woman in the Window” does a good job of conveying the feelings and emotions of an anxious person. Through cinematic methods, it immerses viewers in a state of neurosis, fear, and helplessness. And now you, together with the heroine, are rushing up and down stairs, from window to window, peeping at what’s happening through the camera lens. Close-ups, Dutch angles — the cinematographer tried hard so that the audience could feel the horror in their skin and see everything through the heroine’s eyes. Cloying artificial calm emanates from blue and pink tones, and in moments of particular tension, the frame bursts into infrared chaos, and viewers are plunged into darkness. And then you realize that between visuals and plot, the director clearly prioritized the former.

The Killer is the Gardener

Despite the well-conveyed emotions of the main character, only the name remains of the detective and thriller in the film. “The Woman in the Window” really wants to confuse the viewer, turning everything upside down, substituting truth and fiction, but in the end it ruthlessly cuts off all the threads of intrigue, as if appointing the first person to enter the room as a ruthless maniac, showing the world in rainbow colors after eliminating the source of evil, and disappearing into the credits. “Because” is too weak a reason to put a murder weapon in a character’s hand and make him revel in someone else’s death. The cinematography, even if done at a high level, is too small a reason to overlook the plot and the two-dimensionality of the killer in a detective thriller.

Check It Off and Forget

In the “rewatch again” list, I would undoubtedly include “Gone Girl,” where family secrets and squabbles organically fit into the format of a psychological thriller, and the series “The Act” about seclusion and loss of sanity, based on real events. But the thriller “The Woman in the Window” won’t make such a list. It is one-day props; you watch it — the poster is good, and famous names are in the foreground, but behind all this there is no soul and no convincing concept, all that remains is to check the “watched” box and forget.

Trailer: