As a Fridge subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.
Fridge Brilliance:
- The entire movie is predicated on Blanche living on the second floor. There is absolutely no reason that Blanche should do that, there's no elevator and she can't get up and down the stairs. In light of the ending, though, it's almost certain that Blanche has set up her living arrangements like this intentionally: To make herself seem more helpless, to make Jane feel that much more guilty, to make her schlep up and down the stairs and wait on her. Whaaaaat a bitch.
- Another early cue that something wasn't quite right with Blanche. She was going to sell the house behind Jane's back, and move into another place with Elvira acting as her caretaker. No mention is made of a plan for where Jane is supposed to go, and Blanche is content to force her sister out of her home.
- And listen to some of the things Blanche says to Jane during their arguments.
- Blanche claims she bought the house with "when I signed my very first contract", and Jane counters that it was bought with the money she made on the stage. Blanche's response is to tell Jane she's confused and "don't know what you're talking about". Textbook Gaslighting right there.
- Blanche begins to tell Jane she's selling the house. First she uses a lie that they can't afford to live there and then when she's called on it, she snaps at Jane "you've been spying on me" and then gives her an "after all I've done for you" speech that ignores the issue that Blanche was lying and conspiring behind Jane's back. That's another tactic called 'deflection' that is commonly used by emotionally abusive people.
- Another clue as to why Jane can't have been the one driving the car. The studio exec says that it's written into Blanche's contract that they have to make a movie with Jane whenever they make one with Blanche. Jane would have too much to lose by killing Blanche, whom she was shown to care for in the opening, whereas Blanche was resentful of Jane.
- Even the title of the film/novel could rate as foreshadowing, because it asks about what happened to Baby Jane. Not what she did, or what happened because of her, but what event or situation acted upon her.
- The performance we see of "I've Written a Letter to Daddy" has the father doing a light piano accompaniment in a theatre that has a full orchestra playing anyway, and he's able to get up in the middle and share a dance with Jane. Given that he wrote the songs, he obviously designed it so that he could be on the stage and redirect the spotlight to himself as well as his daughter.
