The Idea

Voyeurism in the modern age is a lot easier. Personal devices have made it incredibly easy to spy on people. Short film The Idea revisits classic voyeurism, however, exploring the intrusive nature of a couple spying on their younger neighbours and how this impacts their own mental states.

Directed by Henry Chastain and adapted from the original short story by Raymond Carver, The Idea feels immediately perverse and uncomfortable for the viewer. Our couple (played brilliantly by Melora Walters and Dar Dixon) sit by their window in the dark and watch as a man across the street peers in and watches a woman get undressed. Voyeurs watching a voyeur, then, the movie moves on to display how angered Walters’ character is at the woman across the street. She seems completely put out by the neighbour and threatens to confront her in public.

What’s immediately arresting about The Idea is the routine nature of what’s going on. The fact that this couple can regularly sit by their window and observe their (younger) neighbours going about an odd and intimate habit stirs something disquieting for the viewer. The layered voyeurism seems frankly bizarre when watched as a dramatised short film, and yet this type of behaviour is commonplace, nay, encouraged, on social media.

Seeing the impact on the central character also makes for uneasy viewing. She seems a little off-kilter, and the one-sided hatred that festers within her towards her unsuspecting neighbour is, again, an incredibly powerful parallel of our modern tendencies.

The film version of the story is set in the 1990s (a wonderful pre-smartphone era), and the mise-en-scene is beautifully rendered to immerse the audience in the time period. The couple’s home feels like every sitcom from that era you watched, and yet the tense atmosphere created feels far more akin to a psychological thriller. This wonderful juxtaposition creates a lasting impression on viewers.

Melora Walters (whose credits include Boogie Nights, Magnolia, and Dead Poets Society) delivers a powerhouse performance and does the majority of the heavy lifting for The Idea. Her character experiences emotional migration from mild curiosity through to full-on paranoia in a short space of time, and Walters executes this beautifully in her performance. Dar Dixon also provides a nice counterbalance to the proceedings, offering an aloof co-conspirator whose grasp on his wife’s mental state is tenuous.

The third act of the film suffers from a pacing issue, and the story doesn’t really serve up the gut-punch the audience may think is coming. Whilst the connotations linger, it’s a shame something more cinematic and exciting isn’t brought in. That being said, The Idea focuses more on the internal struggle for our characters and how their viewing habits have shaped their emotional states.