#78: GASLIGHT (1944)

THRILL SCALE 1-10

9

HAVE I SEEN IT BEFORE?

No

BEST SEQUENCE

The scene when Paula (Ingrid Bergman) has a mental breakdown at a fancy piano recital

BEST LINE

I don't want to give any direct quotes in order to avoid giving too much away, but I liked a lot of Paula's lines during the climactic confrontation

ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE

88%

ROTTEN TOMATOES CRITICS CONSENSUS

None to be found

IMDB SYNOPSIS

"After the death of her famous opera-singing aunt, Paula (Ingrid Bergman) is sent to study in Italy to become a great opera singer as well. While there, she falls in love with the charming Gregory Anton (Charles Boyer). The two return to London, and Paula begins to notice strange goings-on: missing pictures, strange footsteps in the night and gaslights that dim without being touched."

THOUGHTS

• I really liked this one!
• It's an interesting situation in that I feel like the title of the movie has had a longer lasting impact than the movie itself. It was quite well received when it came out, getting seven Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and several acting categories (and Ingrid Bergman won for Best Actress). Despite this, at least to me it doesn't really feel like a movie that people talk about much these days. I never regarded it as a must-see classic, but now that I've seen it it's one I'll probably come back to! I found it to be really gripping and well done
• As alluded to above, the term "gaslighting" comes directly from this movie's title. There's no other source for it (except for the play and British movie which preceded this one). Because of this, despite never having seen the movie and having very little idea of what it was about, I had a pretty good sense of what was happening throughout. It's still immensely entertaining because of the performances and the way that the gaslighting concept is used for the plot, but it would have been interesting to watch with absolutely no idea of what was really happening
• When I first heard of the concept of gaslighting someone, I didn't even know there was a movie with that title, and I bet that applies to a lot of people reading this as well
• Ingrid Bergman was really excellent in this, and she earned her Oscar, but for me the real standout performance was Charles Boyer. He's an actor I wasn't familiar with, but when you start to understand what's going on with the movie's plot his character is just fascinating to watch. And there's something about his French accent that really adds to the performance. Boyer was also nominated for Best Actor, incidentally, but he didn't win
• Going into the list of the 100 most thrilling movies ever made, I definitely didn't expect to see so much Angela Lansbury! But this is her second appearance so far (after The Picture of Dorian Gray) and she'll be showing up at least once more (The Manchurian Candidate). I gotta say, though, I love you Angie, but I have no idea why she got an Oscar nomination for Gaslight. She really wasn't an important part of the movie. I had similar thoughts about Dorian Gray, for that matter. But hey, Gaslight was her first movie, so kudos to her on the acting nom
• To sum up, you might already know what gaslighting means, but if you haven't seen the movie that inspired it, I really do strongly recommend it! As far as movies I've now reviewed upon watching for the first time, this is really high up there (maybe the highest score, but I didn't go back to check). Although, be warned: normally I complain about annoying child actors in these old-timey movies. This movie has an annoying old woman character. Take a hike, Miss Thwaites, and stop sticking your nose in other peoples' business!

Up next: It's a big one! Terminator 2: Judgement Day. Can't wait!