putterings 298 < 299 > 300 index
They could pull down their blinds, but they never do.
A. H. I’ll bet you that nine out of ten people if they see a woman across the courtyard undressing for bed, or even a man puttering around in his room, will stay and look; no one turns away and says, “It’s none of my business.” They could pull down their blinds, but they never do; they stand there and look out.
ex Leo Braudy, “Hitchcock, Truffaut, and the Irresponsible Audience,” in Film Quarterly 21:4 (Summer 1968) : 21-27 (23) : via jstor : link
—
The quoted passage is from F. Truffaut, his Hitchcock (1968). Braudy uses Truffaut as a foil in his demonstration of Hitchcock’s deeper artistry, evidenced in the latter’s reliance on — and exploitation of — the voyeuristic nature of all movies (and movie-watching). The passage is in regard to James Stewart in Rear Window; most of Braudy’s essay focuses on Psycho.
I am reminded of cinéastes I used to know, back in the Berkeley ’70s, their obsessions with ranking films and directors on subtle points of discrimination.