Reviews of Gaslight

CinemaSerfTMDB8.0 / 10

When her Thespian aunt is found murdered in her exclusive London home, "Paula" (Ingrid Bergman) is relocated to Italy where she is to focus on her musical studies. That's where she meets the charming pianist "Gregory" (Charles Boyer) with whom she falls in love. After they marry, they decide to return to the UK and live in her aunt's former home. Their initial marital bliss doesn't last, though, as "Gregory" starts to wonder about his wife's mental health. She becomes forgetful, she loses things, she becomes obsessed with the flickering gas lamps on the wall. He decides that she ought to be shielded from the outside world - and that includes kindly neighbour "Miss Thwaites" (Dame May Whitty). This isolation also manages to raise the suspicions of "Cameron" (Joseph Cotton) who is aware of the potential motives attributed to the death of the aunt, and who is unconvinced with the version of events being peddled around the square by "Gregory" and by their maid "Nancy" (Angela Lansbury) who is keen on her master, on a local police officer and has quite possibly some designs on a better life for herself. The question is, though: is "Paula" genuinely ill or is she the pawn in a nefarious game being perpetrated by someone close to her? This is certainly my favourite effort from Bergman as she imbues her character with an almost unnerving degree of vulnerability and even instability and that's countered expertly by a Boyer who offers us one of the most subtly calculating performances you're ever likely to see in a cinema. These two made a few films together, but rarely has their chemistry reached this level nor has it benefitted from having three really quite strong and diverse character actors to help both break up and stoke up the tension as the story unfolds. The dark, flickering, photography and Bronislau Kaper's evocative scoring all add to the accruing sense of menace provided by George Kukor, Boyer and the stunning Ingrid Bergman and this is a classic thriller that still makes me squirm in my chair.