The Portrait
The imagery of this film is quite distinct from the imagery of most films; all imagery in the film begins and ends with Laura Hunt. The overarching bit of imagery of the film is the giant portrait hanging in her apartment. In the first place, it is rather strange to have an enormous painting of oneself hanging in one’s apartment. That is a clue. The portrait is two-dimensional, frozen in time and both real and unreal at the same time. It is an ideal and since it is hanging in the subject’s apartment, the most obvious interpretation is that it is an idealized portrait of the subject’s view of herself. She knows she is not perfect. She knows she is not what Waldo makes her out to be and she is not what Shelby makes her out to be. And yet, even so, she is still the portrait of another person: the artist. Laura is thus imprinted across the entire universe of the film as the image of how others view her; a cypher to herself, perhaps, but certainly to the audience.
Waldo's Image of Laura
The theme of Laura existing only as imagery continues with Waldo’s recollection. To him, Laura is a thing; a pretty knickknack to collect and put upon a shelf. Waldo is coded (by necessity of censorship) as homosexual, but even if he weren’t, there is absolutely no explicit indication that Waldo has any sexual interest in Laura. And yet, Waldo is ferociously intent on not sharing Laura with any man having sexual designs on him. This suggest that Waldo’s image of Laura is just as two-dimensional as the portrait. For Waldo, Laura is not even really human; the mere idea of her being sexual in nature fills him distaste and a murderous disgust.
Shelby's Image of Laura
The imagery of Laura as seen through the eyes Shelby is much earthier, also oddly two-dimensional as well. In fact, what is particularly strange is that though Shelby has designs for marrying Laura and though Waldo is driven to murderousness by a seething hatred of Laura for being fool enough to Shelby desirable, Shelby seems to lack a sexual interest in Laura as well. For him, Laura is no mere object to be placed behind a glass case; Laura is his ticket to buying all sorts of truly valuable shiny objects to be placed into his pocket. The film casts Laura in a much more capitalist-friendly composition whenever she is seen through Shelby’s eyes. When Waldo recalls her Laura’s job, Laura is seen disconnected from it. With Shelby, her career is presented as far more essential.
McPherson's Image of Laura
The imagery connected with McPherson’s view of Laura is the most complex and thematically intricate of all. For most of the film, he is seeing her through the eyes of others. Then, in front of her idealized portrait, he falls asleep and only when he wakes up and sees Laura is alive does the audience get an insight into his real image of Laura. This imagery is also—amazingly—asexual. And why not? There is at least a 50-50 chance that the entire movie from the point of Laura’s “resurrection” from the dead takes place entirely in McPherson’s head. Laura the two-dimensional idealized figure in the painting becomes Laura the two-dimensional idealized figure in McPherson’s head; one way or another. Even if the last half the movie does take place in reality, he is still completely idealizing the real Laura as the painting come to life because that painting is the only image he has had to draw his own conclusions about the woman not filtered through the prejudices of others.
