The Woman in the Window

The Woman in the Window

By James Davidson

“The Woman in the Window” is a crime drama based on a novel of the same name. It was released on May 14th 2021 and is exclusively available on the Netflix streaming service. It stars Amy Adams as Anna Fox, a child psychologist who lives alone and is agoraphobic. Since she is terrified of leaving her house, she has taken up spying on her neighbors. When she witnesses one of her neighbors brutally murdered she calls the police, only to discover that a new woman claiming to be her neighbor has taken her place. Anna must convince the police, as well as herself that she is not crazy and the new woman is not who she says she is.

I have not read the novel that this movie is based on, but my wife has and was excited to see how close the film adaptation was to the source material. I thought that the film looked intriguing and decided to watch it with her. While my wife was impressed with how closely the movie followed the book, with a few exceptions, I was impressed with the writing and storytelling of the movie.

The writers did an excellent job at keeping me guessing. While my wife already knew what was going to happen. I was kept guessing through every twist and turn throughout the plot. The movie did a good job at keeping me guessing as to whether Anna had genuinely witnessed a horribly crime or was simply insane. I kept flip flopping back and forth throughout the movie and was pleasantly surprised by the ending.

If I had one issue with the story, and it really wouldn’t be my complaint, it would be that it followed the source material too well. While I was kept guessing through the movie, my wife already knew exactly what was going to happen. While it didn’t seem to bother her, I feel like knowing the outcome of the film would take away from some of the suspense of the film.

Amy Adams does an incredible job portraying Anna. She was very convincing at playing somewhere in between crazy and sane. Her acting helped the film keep me guessing as to whether or not Anna was insane or not.

While the ending of the movie was surprising and well written, the execution was a little lacking I thought. The ending was somewhat of an action/chase scene and the way it was filmed and some of the special effects were a bit lackluster in my opinion. Other than that, the ending was original and surprising and I enjoyed the suspense immensely.

This film is rated R for violence and language. There is some pretty graphic violence in parts of this film and it wouldn’t be for the entire family. However this would make an excellent date night flick, or a nice night in with your significant other.

“The Woman in the Window” is a well written, suspense filled movie that kept me guessing through most of it. While the one action scene was poorly executed, as long as you haven’t read the book this film will keep you guessing from beginning to end. If you are a fan of the novel, according to my wife it is an adequate adaptation and quite enjoyable. I would definitely recommend this flick for your next date night. It earns 3.5 out of 5 stars.