Windows (film)

Windows
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Gordon Willis
Produced by	Mike Lobell
Written by	Barry Siegel
Starring	Talia Shire Joseph Cortese Elizabeth Ashley Kay Medford Russell Horton Michael Lipton Ron Ryan Linda Gillin Rick Petrucelli
Music by	Ennio Morricone
Cinematography	Gordon Willis
Edited by	Barry Malkin
Distributed by	United Artists
Release date	January 18, 1980
Running time	95 minutes
Language	English
Box office	$2,128,395

Windows is a 1980 erotic thriller film starring Talia Shire, Joseph Cortese and Elizabeth Ashley, directed by Gordon Willis.

Willis was the cinematographer of some of the most acclaimed films of the 1970s, among them The Godfather (and its sequel, The Godfather Part II), All the President's Men, Annie Hall and others. This would be his only attempt at directing a movie.

Emily Hollander (Shire) is the subject of a lesbian obsession of Andrea Glassen (Ashley), her next-door neighbor.

Emily, a shy, recently divorced woman, lives alone in a New York apartment. A man forces his way into her apartment and performs a bizarre "rape." He forces her to make sounds of erotic satisfaction, capturing them on his tape recorder. She reports the attack to the police, and while they are interviewing her, Andrea stops by to comfort her.

Emily seeks safety by moving to an apartment in another section of the city. However, while she is moving out, the same man tries to attack her again. This time Andrea conveniently passes by, and is able to prevent the man from entering Emily's apartment.

It becomes apparent that Andrea is not the helpful neighbor that she seems. For starters, she has the recording that was made during Emily's first attack. Andrea has developed an erotic fascination with Emily, apparently developed as she observed Emily through the apartment's windows. She hired a taxi driver to perform the attacks, with the purpose of gaining the recording, to which she repeatedly listens while fantasizing of Emily. Unaware of the situation, Emily continues to view Andrea as a friend. She also begins a relationship with the policeman (Cortese) who responded to her case. At this intrusion into her fantasy, Andrea becomes increasingly unhinged. She takes to spying on Emily through a telescope.

When Emily unwittingly hails a taxi driven by the very man who assaulted her, he strikes up a conversation "because you look familiar." She finally realizes who the man is and asks him to stop at a phone booth. She calls the police, who, amazingly, advise her to get back into the taxi and engage the man in harmless conversation until they can arrive to assist her.