It was the film that birthed the term “gaslighting.”
Gaslight, the 1944 American psychological thriller, was directed by George Cukor, and adapted from Patrick Hamilton’s 1938 play, Gas Light.
Starring Charles Boyer, Ingrid Bergman, Joseph Cotton and Angela Lansbury in her film debut, it tells the story of a young woman (Bergman), suffering the loss of her opera singer aunt’s unsolved murder committed in 1875 Victorian London, only to find herself victimized by the same assailant (Boyer)—who woos and weds her and then proceeds to manipulate her into believing she is losing her mind.
There’s a method to his madness, which is precisely this: His torturous abuse is intended to distract from his crimes.
Which, after all, is what “gaslighting” is all about — and why it is such an important film, given the prevalence of such psychological manipulation in today’s narcissistic culture. Indeed, in 2019, the Library of Congress chose the film for preservation in the United States National Film Registry underscoring the fact that it is “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”
The story is an intricate one.
In the wake of Alice Alquist’s murder, her niece Paula, who had lived with her aunt from childhood after her own mother’s death, is sent to Italy to study voice so that she might continue her late aunt’s legacy. That she is her spitting image makes it perfect. The plan derails when she quickly falls in love with her accompanist, Gregory Anton, whereupon they decide to settle in London and live in Alquist’s long-vacant home. As Paula tries to come to terms with her late aunt’s murder, Gregory suggests storing the dead woman’s furnishings in the attic.
He has a plan, which, brick by brick, he builds into an edifice of psychological abuse.
When Paula finds a letter a young man by the name of Sergis Bauer had written to her aunt, Gregory’s erupts with explosive anger, but quickly apologizes.
That is the first clue we are witnessing a very unsavory character.
Then, he hires a young maid, Nancy (Lansbury), instructing her never to bother his “high-strung” wife. Bit by bit, Gregory convinces Paula she is stealing and/or losing things. Case in point, on a visit to the Tower of London, she cannot find an heirloom brooch he had just given her which she tucked away in her handbag. Meanwhile she is bothered by noises she hears coming from the attic and swears she sees the gaslights dimming when Gregory is out, for no explainable reason. He assures her it is all in her imagination.
Of course, nothing she perceives is in her imagination.
Making matters worse, Gregory’s flirtation with Nancy, who cannot hide her contempt for his wife, exacerbates Paula’s anxiety.
Her nervousness is apparent to Inspector Brian Cameron of Scotland Yard (Cotton), who, upon seeing her coming out of the Tower of London, does a double take—so much does she resemble her aunt whom Cameron had deeply admired as a child.
Cameron tries to reopen the cold case when he discovers a gift of royal jewels was never recovered after Alquist’s death.
Meanwhile Gregory continues to isolate his wife, doubling down on her alleged kleptomania including at a party she attends with him, hosted by a dear family friend, after he is unsuccessful in keeping her away, pleading she is too unwell for the social outing. At the party, he tells her he has lost his watch, only to find it in her purse, prompting her to shriek in public. Once home he insists her mother died in an asylum. She really is being driven insane.
Meanwhile Cameron has hired a foot patrol officer to keep watch over Gregory and learns of his schemes, which come to light as the film hurtles to its dramatic climax and Gregory is unmasked, stunningly so.
At the end, as the police drives him away, Cameron expresses interest in seeing Paula again.
A tender ending to a chilling film with a big lesson--namely the importance of recognizing “gaslighting” for what it is.
