The film is about their attempt to pull off the "perfect murder," to justify their entitlement, and celebrate their accomplishment. It is a portrait and intellectual exploration evil, and one that almost convinces itself of its subjects point of view. The film is remarkably uncomfortable in how much it makes us fascinated in the killers' point of view. We become enthralled with Brandon's glee and Phillip's doubt. We come to these movies because of our fascinations with murder and Rope confronts us with that and makes us wrestle with our attraction to these stories.
The other captivating aspect of Rope is the technique Hitchcock used to make it. He films in a series on long takes all run together to appear as one take. At the time a film real only allowed him to film for around 9 minutes so he structured his film in single shots of that amount of time giving the film an appearance of us being present at the doomed party. I find this trick works wonders. It grounds us in the centre of the story; we're trapped in it. So all of our complicated reactions to the killers and their plot keep us tightly wrapped up in the heart of everything. And the film literally breaks the fourth wall. The crew moved walls to allow the camera to smoothly follow its characters forcing us to see what constructed nature of the set and giving us an omnipotent point of view. All of this structure gives the film a feel like few others and sutures us into the story in ways most films don't.
The film focuses on the passions and intellectual musings of the killers and their circle, especially their former teacher. Questions of morality are batted around, some more radical than others. It's all delicious and somewhat dangerous and the film's structure pushes it all closer to the surface that it might be otherwise. It makes us call into question our own feelings and whether we could also be convinced. While the film ends up reaffirming the values we are more comfortable with Rope quite effectively flirts with more disturbing impulses and plays with how much more curious we are than we want to admit.
As with many Hitchcock films, there is a palpable queer subtext to the work. The film is about two fairly obvious gay men who are hiding a rather big secret in the middle of the room amongst all the people surrounding them. One is dying to just reveal the truth, to revel in it and rub it in their faces, while another is about to fall apart stressed about what will happen when the world knows what he wants to keep secret. In the middle of this is an older man who has nurtured and influenced the younger men and doesn't know exactly just how much of an impact he has had, and perhaps isn't willing to take responsibility for what he has inspired. In the end he has to recant and take back all his philosophical musings. Casting real life queer actors Granger and (likely) Dall plays double duty as both queer coding the villains while also bolstering the queer subtext of the film. There is even a moment Granger's character is called explicitly "queer."
For me watching Rope is always a riveting experience. From that stunning opening moment through the building tension of the screenplay, through to the conclusion which forces us to reckon with our own complicity in the plot, Rope always grips me and doesn't let go. There are times I almost root for the pair to pull it off but I am always relieved by the conclusion. I appreciate how Rope indicts us in its own crime, as we should feel questionable about how we react to it. I always get a dark feeling watching Rope and .
Rope
Starring: Jimmy Stewart, Farley Granger, John Dall, Joan Chandler, Edith Evanson, Douglas Dick, Constance Collier, Cedrick Hardwicke
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Writer: Arthur Laurents
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