The Real-Life Love Affair That Inspired ‘Rear Window’ – Armessa Movie News

While Rear Window is ultimately an original Alfred Hitchcock classic, its inspiration lies in a real-life love affair. Yes, even though you would assume that this movie was inspired by murder cases or some sort of true crime debacle, it turns out that this 1954 favorite is rooted in the passionate tale found between famous World War II photographer Robert Capa and iconic actress Ingrid Bergman. While Bergman is regarded as one of the greatest screen presences of her time, Capa isn’t quite as familiar of a figure to mass audiences. Thankfully, their combined story led to a timeless thriller from the master of suspense. What actually happened might not closely resemble what the Psycho filmmaker was able to cook up on screen, but at the very least, we have a wonderful film and a fascinating true account to dive into.

If you’re a fan of classic cinema, then it’s likely that Ingrid Bergman needs little introduction. Her contributions to the medium are still being studied to this day, and are beloved by generations of movie buffs. Throughout the 20th Century, Bergman starred in countless classics from around the world. She stole the show from Humphrey Bogart any time she appeared on-screen in Casablanca, collaborated three times with Hitchcock in Spellbound, Notorious, and Under Capricorn, and even starred in a film from the other great Bergman, Ingmar Bergman‘s Autumn Sonata. Ingrid was even nominated for seven Oscars across her career, of which she won three. Honestly, there’s no way that you could do her career justice in a short recap. She’s a screen legend, but more than likely, you already know that.

How Did Robert Capa and Ingrid Bergman Inspire ‘Rear Window’?

Long before Rear Window would premiere in 1954, a young war photographer would be running around the battlefield capturing unimaginable and awe-inspiring images — that man would be Robert Capa. This was a man who did it all. He took incredible pictures of wartime, associated with people of power in the government and military, and ran with the biggest literary and filmmaking names of his time. The word is that he was a charming man, but allegedly moved through life at a fast pace and with a hard nature. Capa’s work is not just celebrated for getting down in the dirt and shooting incredibly gritty pictures, but for capturing the finer details. His work examines the souls of those caught in the middle of conflict — the soldiers, the civilians, and even the children. Now unlike Ingrid Bergman, Capa’s name doesn’t bring heaps of classic Hollywood favorites to mind. Instead, his work would go on to inform war films like Saving Private Ryan, while his most famous affair would inspire Rear Window.

What Happened During Robert Capa and Ingrid Bergman’s Two-Year Affair?

Given that Robert Capa joined the circles of the mid-20th century’s biggest artistic names, folks like John Steinbeck, Picasso, and the aforementioned Humphrey Bogart, it should come as no surprise that he wound up becoming involved with Ingrid Bergman. After all, there’s an argument to be made that Bergman is the signature female screen presence of her time. The two initially met in Paris in 1945, and according to Bergman’s daughter Isabella Rossellini, it didn’t take long for the actress to fall in love with him. At the time, Bergman was married to Petter Lindström, a Swedish-American neurosurgeon, so her and Capa’s relationship was obviously intended to be kept under wraps.

Their affair would last for two years, a period of time that seemed as though it went smoothly for them. Capa would move to Hollywood and get involved in film productions. After taking a role in Temptation, a 1946 film noir-thriller, the war photographer quickly realized that the movie lifestyle was not for him, and began making plans to move out of California. Ingrid Bergman, on the other hand, was ready to divorce her husband of 10 years to be with Capa. Given his recent revelation about wanting to leave the movie business, he was not willing to stick around and get married. Isabella Rossellini claims that Bergman was even looking to get married to Capa, but apparently, he didn’t consider himself the marrying type. Instead, he wanted to live a life uninhibited by the responsibilities of marriage and found himself moving on to return to his life dominated by photography.

After their affair ended, Capa and several other well-known photographers helped found Magnum, a photo agency that pushed artists in their medium to capture important and relevant snapshots of the world around them. He would also continue to return to the battlefield, where he would keep capturing up-close and intimate portraits of war. On May 25th, 1954, Capa passed away after stepping on a landmine. His works continue to be studied to this day, and will likely be upheld for the years to come.

Ingrid Bergman, on the other hand, would end up divorcing Lindström in 1950, only to get married to Roberto Rosselini soon after. Her acting career would also continue for the next couple of decades, an endeavor that she would stay active in until her death in 1982. Her roles didn’t diminish in her later years either, as she performed in two of her most acclaimed films in the last decade of her life, those being 1974’s Murder on the Orient Express and 1978’s Autumn Sonata.

‘Rear Window’ Is Loosely Based on Robert Capa and Ingrid Bergman’s Relationship

Alfred Hitchcock, on the other hand, would pull from Capa and Bergman’s relationship for Rear Window, a film in which the lead characters are in a relationship, and one of them is a photographer. Of course, this film would have a lot more going on in it than just that. Perhaps his best film, Alfred Hitchcock‘s Rear Window follows a man, L.B. Jefferies (Jimmy Stewart), who suspects that his neighbor across the street is a killer. With the help of his girlfriend, Lisa Carol Fremont (Grace Carol), and a long lens on his camera, Jefferies tries to get to the bottom of the mystery and figure out what’s going on with his neighbor. So yeah, pretty different from the story of a war photographer and a famous actress’s relationship, but still, the main ingredients of their inspiration are there!

So whether you’re a fan of Alfred Hitchcock, Ingrid Bergman, or Robert Capa, any way you roll it, you have something to celebrate with Rear Window! The finished film might not exactly mirror its biggest inspiration, but it turned out to be a fantastic thriller, so all is forgiven. Now we just need a movie based on Bergman and Capa’s fascinating relationship. In an endless sea of biopics being made, why not put this one on the big screen, garner some Oscars, and celebrate the lives of these two artists? Bring it on!