Entertainment
This 82-Year-Old Psychological Thriller Quietly Shaped ‘The Rings of Power’s Best Season
After The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 reached its bittersweet end, it’s even clearer that Sauron’s (Charlie Vickers) and Celebrimbor’s (Charles Edwards) arc follows all the beats required of a psychological thriller. The long-standing genre offers no shortage of duplicitous, harrowing, and shocking cat-and-mouse games from which to draw inspiration. Still, Vickers revealed in a post-finale Vulture interview that Rings of Power showrunners Patrick McKay and J. D. Payne modeled Sauron’s manipulative ways after the original, and perhaps the most potent, source of all: the 1944 movie Gaslight. Not only does that title mean exactly what you think it does, but this award-winning film also had more worldwide impact than you might realize.
How Are ‘Gaslight’ and ‘The Rings of Power’ Season 2 Connected?
Directed by George Cukor (The Philadelphia Story, My Fair Lady) and starring Ingrid Bergman in her first of three Academy Award-winning roles, Gaslight is historically notable for spawning the term “gaslighting” decades before the psychological tactic became a mainstream colloquialism. Itself based on a play of the same name, the film derives its title from Victorian-era gas lamps and how their presence contributes to an overarching mystery.
Comparing Gaslight and Rings of Power‘s similarities means spoiling the former’s twist ending. Given the cultural context associated with its title, however, said reveal isn’t a closely guarded secret; if anything, knowing the truth ahead of time increases Gaslight‘s suffocating suspense and pioneering approach to an as-of-then-unnamed form of abuse. Regarding Rings of Power, Vickers told Vulture:
“The showrunners were keen for us to use elements of that film; certainly the themes of it apply. Because we were able to film everything chronologically, we could really plot Celebrimbor’s disintegration, from the moments he fights back to the moments I’m turning the screw on him.”
What Is ‘Gaslight’ About?
Dripping with enough fraught, noir-adjacent dread to twist one’s stomach into knots (almost to the point of gaslighting the audience alongside its heroine), the film follows Paula (Bergman), a young woman and aspiring opera singer swept into a whirlwind romance by Gregory Anton (Charles Boyer), an eerily charming composer and pianist. Head over heels for him, Paula agrees to move back into her childhood London home despite her reservations; Paula has spent the last 10 years haunted by her aunt’s unsolved murder, which occurred in the same house.
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“Sometimes to find the light, we must first touch the darkness.”
As their blissful courtship transitions into domesticity, Paula remains unaware that her marriage is a sham orchestrated by a ruthless killer. Gregory is responsible for her aunt’s death, and he wooed Paula to gain access to the house and continue his interrupted search for four priceless jewels. From there, he orchestrates false events meant to systematically convince Paula that she’s mentally unwell. He begins by heaping her with effusive affection, something new and revitalizing for a woman marred by trauma. Once Paula’s devoted to him, he systematically chips away at her self-esteem, chiding her about how forgetful she is before tricking her into believing she lost one of his precious family heirlooms. Whenever she stumbles upon factual clues about his true intentions and identity, he dismisses them as Paula’s overactive imagination.
As he isolates his wife into physical and psychological dependency within her own home, Gregory simultaneously lies to others about her condition. This includes telling their new maid (Angela Lansbury in her movie debut) never to bother the “high-strung” Paula, and causing Paula to break down during a rare public appearance; if the few people she sees consider her “hysterical,” then her deep distress won’t arouse suspicion. All the while, Gregory codes his cruelty in loving words. He reframes his violent outbursts as passionate concern for her well-being, withholds his affection, and blames her for ruining their marriage, which culminates in Paula believing his lies and accepting culpability before the truth emerges.
Sauron and Celebrimbor’s Slow-Burn Arc Echoes ‘Gaslight’s Structure
Rings of Power structures the slow erosion of Celebrimbor’s mental stability, as well as Sauron’s malicious pursuit of the celebrated smith for his own ends, quite similarly to Gaslight. At first, Sauron (still posing as Halbrand) sneaks into Eregion by playing up his friendship with Celebrimbor and tapping into the latter’s unspoken insecurities. When he realizes that securing Celebrimbor’s compliance requires a grand gesture, he presents himself as Annatar, a majestic emissary of the Valar tasked to help Celebrimbor save Middle-earth from an encroaching evil. Viewers know that the call is coming from inside the house, but in Celebrimbor’s eyes, Annatar blesses the elf with more than he could ever dream of.
When Celebrimbor acts contrary to Sauron’s desires, Sauron makes Celebrimbor doubt himself: that he just misconstrues Sauron’s words, misplaces and forgets things, and unintentionally, shamefully taints the dwarven Rings. Celebrimbor even recognizes that Sauron cloaks his tactics in compassion, but the Dark Lord’s consistency wears him down; step by step, Sauron upends Celebrimbor’s judgment and traps him in a utopian illusion.
Once Celebrimbor pieces together all the telling inconsistencies, he courageously breaks free from Sauron’s mental prison. By the time he can warn his friends and beg for help, however, his claims seem outlandish and pitiable. Sauron had already turned Eregion against their beloved leader, convincing them that Celebrimbor was consumed by delusion-filled darkness — casting Sauron as their trustworthy savior by proxy.
‘Gaslight’ and ‘The Rings of Power’ Season 2 Are Equally Haunting
Celebrimbor’s resistance ultimately wins him the final upper hand against Sauron, albeit far more tragically than Paula’s defiant conclusion. Since Tolkien’s works call Sauron the Great Deceiver, Rings of Power painting Sauron as a textbook gaslighter down to mimicking the movie that created, the term, is a natural throughline. Much like Gaslight, a profoundly accurate and distressing watch 80 years after its debut, the series’ chillingly authentic depiction of psychological abuse — enhanced by Vickers and Edwards’ arresting performances — will haunt audiences more than a fiery eye ever could.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is available to stream on Prime Video in the U.S.
- Release Date
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September 1, 2022
- Network
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Amazon Prime Video
- Showrunner
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John D. Payne, Patrick McKay, Louise Hooper, Charlotte Brändström, Wayne Yip
- Writers
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Patrick McKay, John D. Payne, J.R.R. Tolkien, Justin Doble, Jason Cahill, Gennifer Hutchison, Stephany Folsom, Nicholas Adams
- Franchise(s)
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The Lord of the Rings
The Rings of Power Seasons 1 and 2 are available on Prime Video in the U.S. Gaslight is available to rent on Prime Video in the U.S.
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