Gaslight (1944)

 George Cukor's "Gaslight"

I have now finally watched the film that originates the term "gaslighting." And yes, I know the 1944 George Cukor film isn't the original incarnation of this story. That distinction would go to the 1938 stage play of the same name by Patrick Hamilton. However, as the years and decades have slid away, the film version of this story remains in the public consciousness. Perhaps not to the younger generation who use this term so flagrantly, as I'm sure they're not aware that the word even has a modern source, but to those who still use the word with the knowledge that it derives from a popular source. The source that most would claim its belonging would be that of the Charles Boyer and Ingrid Bergman led 1944 film "Gaslight." 

The film centers on Paula, the niece of a famous opera singer who was recently murdered in her own home in 1875. The motherless Paula, after her parental aunt is mercilessly killed, spends time in Italy to get away. There, she meets a suave pianist named Gregory, whom she brings back to her London home (the same home her aunt was killed). As the two live together, Paula begins to experience complications with sanity due to Gregory persistent manipulations. For example, Gregory will steal things and hide them in Paula's bags or room and then blames her for stealing them, leading to Paula believing that she is going insane. Eventually, an inspector working for Scotland yard named Brian, who also happens to be an admirer of Paula's famous aunt, begins to notice the strange behaviors of Paula and her relationship to Gregory. Brian begins to intervene and is able to eventually pull Paula back to reality and see the truth that Gregory is purposefully driving her insane in order to obtain her inheritance. 

If you analyze this film in the context of the ongoing war at the time of its release, along with the various films Cukor had made in his career, it is notable how dark this film is. The darkness I'm referring to simply stems from the sadism and greed of the Boyer character. Film noir was now at full force in Hollywood, a genre notable for its bleak and nihilistic outlook on the human soul and the state of the world. Even more so, the terror and chaos of World War II was sending Hollywood film moods into a depression and a bleak and nihilistic outlook as well. Cukor, who had a prolific string of successes from 1933 to 1940, had typically been known for more lighter films detailing the out-of-touch outlook of the wealthy class. This concentration on the wealthy class and the foils of economic disparity was a major topic given the recent economic depression the country was facing in the 1930s. However, as war in Europe (and now in the East) raged on, class and economic disparity started to shirk away and stories revolving around the blackness of the human soul and the terror of reality began to becomes a more prominent focal point. 

Saying this, I feel as though "Gaslight" is not only Cukor's greatest film in his filmography to this point, but it also is his darkest and disturbing. The cynicism present in the film is far greater reflection of the state of the world in the early 1940s. I found it to be completely enticing and utterly engaging.