The Sum of its Parts

The scene beginning with this shot is very well done due to the expert work of Fritz Arno Wagner and Fritz Lang.

 

The cinematography and props throughout this scene really improve the viewer’s experience. When Hans is watching the little girl through the window, it is very disturbing to see his reaction. After he regains his composure, we are presented with a shot showing only the left half of Hans’s body. The other half of his body is made visible to us through the window of the shop which acts as a mirror. Seeing the image of Hans and his reflection presented in this way suggests several aspects about his character to the viewer. The first obvious piece of information is Hans’s fractured psyche. This is depicted by the simultaneous shooting of Hans and his reflection. The second piece of information is that Hans has always been crazy because it is part of who he is. This is represented by the two halves of Hans. One half is real and seems normal. However, the other half is insane and evil. This evilness is revealed to us by the darkness of Hans’s reflection. It is much harder to make out details in his reflection than in the actual image of Hans.

As the little girl is walking, she passes a store displaying a hypnotizer wheel. Its presence is comical because it is warning the audience that we are about to get tricked. This trick occurs when we hear the eerie music as she turns the corner. We begin to get a sinking feeling in our stomachs because we are anticipating her kidnapping and know that we are powerless to prevent it. Finally we see the girl get grabbed by someone. To our relief, that someone is her mother and not Hans. At this point we realize that we have been tricked into expecting the worst due to the simple introduction of eerie music. Then we appreciate comical presence of the hypnotizer wheel.