Why does Jack Nicholson break the fourth wall in ‘The Shining’?
One of the reasons for Stanley Kubrick’s genius was his ability to master practically any genre he tried out. From dark comedy to sci-fi, historical epic and horror, Kubrick’s oeuvre is incredibly varied yet almost perfectly executed. Everyone will have a different favourite movie from the filmmaker, but perhaps the film with the most widespread appeal is The Shining.
The movie was based on Stephen King’s novel of the same name, published in 1977. The author’s supernatural horror novel Carrie had been adapted by Brain De Palma just a few years before to great success, and studios were keen to transform more of his work for the big screen. Kubrick, knowing he needed a commercial hit, sought out the perfect horror novel to adapt, eventually settling on The Shining.
The payoff was perfect. Kubrick’s film grossed $47.3million against a $19m budget – it was a box office success that maintained Kubrick’s classic style and complex storytelling. While critical reception was mixed, it is now highly regarded as one of Kubrick’s greatest films and a legendary entry to the horror genre.
Jack Nicholson appears in the film as Jack Torrance, an uninspired writer who, hoping to find inspiration in a different setting, takes up a caretaker job at an isolated hotel. Moving in with his wife, Shelley Duvall’s Wendy, and his son, Danny Lloyd’s Danny, the family soon experience a horrific series of events. Premonitions, terrifying ghostly visions and telepathy define the film, which culminates in a violent outburst from Jack.
The movie features many iconic scenes, from the Grady Twins ominously standing in the hallway saying, “Come play with us”, to the moment when Jack begins axing the bathroom door, shoving his face through the wood to declare, “Here’s Johnny!”
Does Jack Nicholson break the fourth wall in The Shining?
One aspect of Nicholson’s performance in the film that is rarely discussed is his constant – yet subtle – breaking of the fourth wall. As pointed out in a Twitter thread by Filippo Ulivieri, a writer who specialises in Kubrick’s work, Nicholson frequently makes very brief eye contact with the camera, as if he knows that someone is watching, very quickly, slyly acknowledging us.
He does this on countless occasions, such as when he is walking from one part of a room to another, turning his head or standing among the other characters. If you blink, you might miss these very brief glances, but if you’re beady-eyed enough, you’ll be able to spot these moments rather frequently.
There is much mystery surrounding Nicholson’s character in the film. The Shining ends with a shot of a photograph from a party taken at the hotel in 1921, revealing Jack to be one of the attendees. Left ambiguous, this ending has baffled many viewers and led them to question the true nature of Nicholson’s character. Thus, it only seems appropriate that the actor was actually making subtle, knowing eye contact on purpose, adding another layer of intrigue to his role.
Why does Jack Nicholson break the fourth wall in The Shining?
Some viewers have argued that this was simply bad acting on Nicholson’s part, accidentally catching the lens directly while shifting his gaze. Yet, as Ulivieri suggests, this happens too often to be coincidental, and there is even evidence of one instance where Kubrick asked Nicholson to quickly glance at the camera. Subsequently, this deepens a potential reading of the film, suggesting that Jack is even more of a (terrifying) enigma than we first thought.
The reason for Jack’s frequent breaking of the fourth wall is open to interpretation, but the most likely reason for Nicholson’s unconventional acting choice is to pull the audience into his character’s interior world. By glancing so subtly that we don’t even realise he’s doing it most of the time, he puts us on edge. The technique has a somewhat subconscious effect, heightening the film’s atmosphere of tension and making us feel like, as Jack slips into madness, we might become the victim of his evil ways, too.
