
Gaslight (PG) 1944
Entry Fee
£5.00
Runtime (mins)
114
Screening Date
03/03/25, 13:30
About the film
Gaslight is a 1944 American psychological thriller film directed by George Cukor, and starring Charles Boyer, Ingrid Bergman, Joseph Cotten and Angela Lansbury in her film debut. Adapted by John Van Druten, Walter Reisch, and John L. Balderston from Patrick Hamilton's play Gas Light (1938), it follows a young woman whose husband slowly manipulates her into believing that she is descending into insanity.
Ingrid Bergman took home a Best Actress Oscar for her work as the neurotic, persecuted wife in Gaslight, a thundering melodrama based on the play by Patrick Hamilton. At the heart of the piece is a splendidly cruel scenario as a husband (Charles Boyer) subtly drives his wife out of her mind in a house suffocating with Victorian clutter.
Gaslight was released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to critical acclaim, and received seven nominations for the 17th Academy Awards, including for Best Picture, winning two: Best Actress (for Bergman); Best Production Design. In 2019, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant"
The term “gaslighting” has come to be used colloquially to describe a pattern of psychological manipulation and torment, in which someone makes someone else feel like they are going crazy, such as a cruel, controlling husband driving his wife to question her reality and thereby keep her vulnerable.