The lights are dimming but someone says the room is bright. That’s gaslighting.
The word stems from the MGM classic Gaslight (1944), a remake of the same-named British film from 1940 and a cinematic adaptation of Patrick Hamilton’s 1938 play Gas Light. In all versions, an Edwardian man tricks his new wife into thinking she’s insane so he can steal her fortune and seduce the maid. One of the ways he distorts his spouse’s reality is by adjusting the gas light to make her believe she’s not seeing things clearly.
Under the direction of Thorold Dickinson, the rarely-seen original film stars Diana Wynyard, Anton Walbrook, Frank Pettingell, Cathleen Cordell and Robert Newton. More recently, Rosamund Pike took on the starring role in a 2007 stage production at The Old Vic in London. However, the most famous version of this psychological thriller is the one directed by George Cukor.
Produced during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the remake boasts first-rate mise en scène and an A-list cast featuring Ingrid Bergman, Charles Boyer, and Joseph Cotten. It gained critical acclaim and industry accolades such as seven Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture.
Not only did the film win in the Best Production Design category, it marks Bergman’s first Oscar victory. She would later pick up a second Best Actress win for Anastasia (1956) and take home the Supporting Actress gold for Murder on the Orient Express (1974). Judging by Bergman’s other films — Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941), Casablanca (1943) and Notorious (1946) — it’s no surprise she gives a radiant performance filled with vulnerability, sensuality and underlying strength.
In her movie debut as the menacing maid Nancy, Angela Lansbury exhibits a promise that would eventually pay off with the memorable part of a Communist secret agent in the political thriller The Manchurian Candidate (1962).
But it wouldn’t be until the 21st century that “gaslighting” would become a popular verb in contemporary vocabulary. It was even deemed “Word of the Year” by Merriam-Webster in 2022. Although the term was initially meant to describe emotional abuse in domestic situations, this form of manipulation is used in cults, illogical ideologies and by both political parties.
Gaslighting is more than the act of spinning facts, it’s telling people not to believe the reality before their own eyes and ears. Such false narratives can range from exaggerating the size of a President’s inauguration crowd to claiming a President is mentally fit when he’s clearly in cognitive decline. Of course, watching either of the Gaslight movies from the 1940s is preferable to witnessing gaslighting off screen.
The 1944 classic is available for a fee on Prime Video, while the 1940 film can be streamed for free or rented on YouTube, where a Saturday Night Live parody of the movie with Kate McKinnon, Will Forte and Chloe Fineman can also be viewed. Really, it’s true. No gaslighting here.