The Woman Next Door

Overview

A narrative "steeped in alienation," The Woman Next Door is the story of a reclusive male tenant in a New York City apartment, whose life is disrupted by the arrival of a new next-door neighbor. Spurred initially by simple curiosity, the tenant begins to anticipate and follow the woman's movements, eventually assuming the role of voyeur. Seen entirely from the tenant's point-of-view, this is a bleak narrative of anonymity, isolation, and expectation. Barr writes: "The man's life is so restrictive, that every sound she makes, every glimpse of her becomes a monumental event." With its echoes of Alfred Hitchcock and Michael Powell, its limited language and strict economy of means, this work relies on the visual structure and subtle ambient soundtrack to convey the narrative in a spare and minimal style.