Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho
There is a clear difference between surprise and suspense […]. We are sitting here and having an innocent conversation. Let us assume that there is a bomb under this table between us. […] suddenly there is a loud boom and the bomb goes off. The audience is surprised, but before this surprise they have only seen a very ordinary scene without any significance. Let us instead look at suspense scene. The bomb is under the table and the audience is aware of this
because they have seen the anarchist plant it there. They also know that the bomb will go off at one o’clock, and up on the wall is a clock showing that the time is now quarter to one […]. In the first scene we have given the audience 15 seconds of surprise […] but in the last scene we have given them fifteen minutes of suspense.” (Truffaut 1973, p. 52-53)
The story of Psycho is well known and revolves around Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) who in a moment of poor judgment decides to steal money from her work. She is running scared and drives out of town and checks into Bates Motel. The decision proves to be fatal, because only about 45 minutes into the film, Marion is killed and the leading character in the film shifts from her to Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) and his struggle with his long dead mother.
The Strange Behavior of Norman Bates
Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) and Mario Crane (Janet Leigh) talks as she arrives at Bates Motel.
The suspense build-up to the fatal shower scene starts very early with the dinner scene in Norman’s parlor behind his office. Marion does not sense it, but there is not doubt in the audience’s mind that there is something very wrong with Norman. It is unclear what the problem is, but the dialogue with its eerie silences and strange subjects give evidence that Norman have not talked with anyone except his mother for a long time.
The Strange Behavior of Norman Bates
Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) and Mario Crane (Janet Leigh) talks as she arrives at Bates Motel.
The suspense build-up to the fatal shower scene starts very early with the dinner scene in Norman’s parlor behind his office. Marion does not sense it, but there is not doubt in the audience’s mind that there is something very wrong with Norman. It is unclear what the problem is, but the dialogue with its eerie silences and strange subjects give evidence that Norman have not talked with anyone except his mother for a long time.
Taking a Shower
Marion starts her almost ritual cleaning, and the only sound we hear is the sound of the running water. The door opens and a dark figure comes in. The shower curtain is ripped away and the dark figure is holding a knife and starts stabbing Marion. Bernard Herrmann’s music enters with screaming violins that is almost deafening. The speed of the editing also erupts in a frantic pace. None of the cuts is more than a second long, and the brutality of the ongoing slaughter is intensified.
Janet Leigh in the famous shower scene from Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho”.
You never actually see the knife cut Marion but still it is revered as one of the most brutal murder scenes ever (Truffaut, 1973, p. 209). Hitchcock clearly plays of the audience’s imagination; both in term of the sheer shock of seen Marion killed but also because of the different elements (the music, the framing and the editing) combined intensify the shock (Sinyard, 1994, p. 113).
The slow death of Marion is also reflected in the editing. Her life is slowly fading as the blood runs down the drain, and now there are only a few cuts between the shots. The camera is slowly moving away from the close-up of Marion’s eye, underlining the vanishing signs of life.
Elements of Suspense – Film Informatics – Medialogy - Group 8 – Copenhagen – December 2003
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