Rent Gaslight (1944)

Turning Down the Lights, Turning Up the Doubt - Gaslight review by griggs

The term gaslighting owes its name to this taut psychological thriller, where the flicker of a lamp becomes a weapon as cruel as any blade. Ingrid Bergman is luminous as Paula, a young wife whose confidence is methodically dismantled by her charming, manipulative husband (Charles Boyer, all silk and menace). His campaign of whispered doubts, staged “forgetfulness” and sinister coincidences traps her in a fog where she begins to question her own sanity.

George Cukor directs with an elegant, slow-burn precision, framing domestic interiors as if they were prison cells. Joseph Cotten brings a welcome jolt of warmth and steadiness when the story most needs it, but this is Bergman’s film—her performance charts the slide from poised newlywed to terror-stricken captive with heartbreaking clarity.

It’s both a masterclass in suspense and a chilling study of emotional abuse—proof that the most dangerous monsters aren’t always hiding in the shadows, but sitting across the breakfast table.

Original Gaslight. - Gaslight review by Steve

Patrick Hamilton's gothic play gave the English language a new verb, which makes it particularly relevant for our times. It's a film about domestic abuse,  shaped into historical drama and noirish thriller. A manipulative and ominous Victorian gentleman (Charles Boyer) means to use his psychological dominance over his timid new wife (Ingrid Bergman) to drive her insane.

Boyer wants the jewels he knows are hidden in her house and Bergman's mental frailty will allow him to deliver her to an asylum and keep the loot. He uses the building itself as an instrument of duress. Some of the audience might be wondering if it's him who is crazy, so extraordinarily beautiful is the female star.

Ingrid got an Oscar for her suffering. It's a vivid and expressive performance. But there's something amiss in the chemistry between her and Boyer and the film only comes to life when Joseph Cotten appears as the conscientious detective who works to save her. Maybe it's too difficult to watch a vulnerable woman be tormented at such length. And Boyer is so patronising.

George Cukor was a great director, but not of suspense films. The 1940 UK adaptation has a meagre budget but is more exciting. Still, Gaslight is a handsome production with beautiful set décor and an unforgettable film debut for the 17 year old Angela Lansbury as a rather mercenary maid. Plus the luminous star power of the exquisite Ingrid Bergman.