"Psycho"**** (out of ****)
It's all about a mother's love in Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho" (1960)
"Psycho" is generally regarded as Alfred Hitchcock's greatest film, his crowning achievement. It is without question a well made film featuring two magnificent performances from Anthony Perkins and Janet Leigh at its center. This is not to mention the iconic score composed by Bernard Herrmann, which has become something of the quintessential slasher movie theme.
But, as many times as I have seen it, I simply can't avoid the fact I am ahead of the characters. I know exactly where it will lead. I know all the masterful twist and turns Hitchcock has in store for the audience. And that doesn't keep "Psycho" "fresh" in my opinion.
I can, as most film lovers do, watch movies over and over again, even some of Hitchcock's. I love "Rear Window" (1954) and "Vertigo" (1958). Naturally I know how those movies end as well yet I am involved in their story and the characters. "Psycho" by comparison seems so reliant on its twist ending that once you know the secret it can never grip you with suspense as it did the first time you saw it. I cannot think of many modern movies that I feel fall into the same category. Maybe "The Sixth Sense" (1999) which is another movie where it all leads up to a twist ending.
"Psycho" has become such a major part of popular culture it is difficult to find someone that doesn't know anything about it. If you have never seen the movie before I bet you know about the shower scene. We associate the very name Norman Bates with a crazy person. How can someone have a "pure" movie going experience and walk into the movie cold? I wish I could.
This may make it sound to some like I don't like "Psycho". Not true. But my reaction to the film will never be what it was the first time I saw it. I can only imagine the thrill audiences in 1960 must have experienced when they first saw the film.
"Psycho" is unique. Hitchcock does do something amazing with this movie. Hitchcock proves that he was not only the master of suspense but a master manipulator as well. "Psycho" doesn't just play with our emotions, the way all films do, but it also plays with our expectations of what movies are and how they function. It is a well told story, "Psycho" changed movie going habits. Hitchcock warned audiences they must see "Psycho" from the beginning otherwise they would not be admitted into the theater.
For me "Psycho" is all about the manipulation. I can think of no other American movie that does what it does. It establishes a character that we think will be the star of the movie only to kill that character less than half-way through the movie. The movie is about two crimes only one of which is resolved.
Hitchcock didn't want "Psycho" to be like his other movies. This one looks different. It wasn't made with his usual crew. It is in black & white. It looks like a cheap exploitative movie with a plot that matches it. In the end it beat the odds and became something special. A work of art to some.
As "Psycho" begins, we are in a hotel room. We see Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) in her white bra as she is getting dressed after spending her lunch hour with her boyfriend, Sam (John Gavin). It is not the only time we see Marion in her bra getting dressed. It happens one more time, this time she is wearing a black bra, meant to signify "good" (white) and "bad" (black), before we see a famous scene of Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) peeping through a hole into her hotel room as she undresses before taking a shower. Here we are all voyeurs staring at a woman getting dressed. It is only when we are watching someone else watch the woman do we feel the act of watching is cheap.
Marion and Sam are talking about their future together. Sam is divorced and paying alimony. He has nothing to offer Marion. Marion feels cheap meeting Sam in hotel rooms and wants a "respectable" relationship. Money is the cause of their problems.
Through a strange coincidence Marion finds an opportunity to solve the money problem. It won't be legal but it will achieve the desired result. She will steal $40,000, that was part of a real estate transaction, and split the money with Sam so they may start a life together.
She drives from Arizona to California to meet Sam. Along the way however, after causing some suspicion and tired from the long drive, she pulls off the road to spend the night at a motel, the Bates Motel. There she finds the lonely owner of the motel, Norman, a young man who finds himself instantly attracted to Marion.
In desperate need of the company, Norman asks Marion if she would like to have dinner with him. She agrees. The two eat in his parlor, where Norman, who has an interest in taxidermy, has a collection of stuffed birds. They talk about Norman and his mother, whom Marion overheard arguing with Norman. Norman implies his mother is ill and belittles him. Marion defends Norman and tells him he should put his mother in an institution. This upsets Norman greatly.
What is interesting about the way this scene is shot is at one point the camera is placed near the floor, looking up at Norman, sitting in his chair. In the background is one of the stuffed birds with its wings spread out. It looks like it is about to swoop down on Norman as if he is prey. And Norman is his mother's prey, just as Marion turns out to be prey for Norman.
After this scene comes the famous shower scene. For a slasher movie what is interesting is we never see the knife touch Marion's body and never see full frontal nudity. The amount of blood is limited. This is in complete contrast to today's slasher movies which seem to almost pride themselves on trying to disgust the audience. Again, Hitchcock is manipulating the audience. He isn't going to give us what we expect.
Many have commented on Norman's actions after the shower scene, where he cleans up after his mother's murder, disposing of Marion's body. Some have suggested in this scene Norman is actually sympathetic, playing the role of the good son, protecting his mother. I can't say I had the same reaction. Maybe because I know the truth but Norman's behavior is very mechanical in this scene. He appears to be acting out a familiar scene. He never flinches when he sees the body and knows exactly what to do. It is also difficult to sympathize with someone covering up a murder, no matter what his motive is.
Hitchcock has a little fun at one point in the movie creating suspense as Norman tries to sink Marion's car in a swamp. At one point it looks as if the car won't. What will happen if the car doesn't sink? What will Norman do? It has been suggested again the audience is to sympathize with Norman and we want the car to sink. Again, that wasn't my reaction. It just felt like a moment of black humor to me.
If there is one scene audiences agree seems a little out of place it is an explanation scene at the end describing Norman's personality and behavior. It goes on a bit too long and become redundant. It wants to perfectly wrap everything up with a bow, just to make sure everyone in the audience perfectly understands what they have just seen.
Watching "Psycho" again I thought of a movie directed by the great Italian filmmaker Michelangelo Antonioni, "L'Avventura" (1960). Ironically both movies were released in the same year and have a similar structure in the sense both manipulate our expectations. In "L'Avventura" a woman disappears during a boat trip. We suspect the movie will be about her recovery and rescue. It isn't.
Even though "Psycho" doesn't shock me as it once did there is no denying the movie is one of Hitchcock's signature films and perhaps the last one he made to make a mark on pop culture, though "The Birds" (1963) may also be a contender. If you've never seen the movie before, you truly are in store for a treat. And remember, be good to your mother, she's been good to you.
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