Take the famous shower scene in Psycho. Most people who see the film, particularly those who saw it in 1960, think they have seen two things. First, they think they have seen a nude woman. This is nowhere near true, as none of the more than ninety shots used in the scene show anything below the shoulders, with the exception of a brief shot of her stomach. Besides, actress Janet Leigh was wearing a body suit. Second, they think they have seen a woman get stabbed. The knife never touches her. It is moved up and down in a violent motion, but never pierces any skin. It is an illusion. We are told to see things and we have no reason to doubt we have seen them. Most of the movie and its plot works in the same way.
The most marvelous thing about Psycho is its deception. The shower scene is just one example of how we come to believe things that are far from true. This is because the direction is so convincing and controlled that we have no time to question anything we've been told. This makes the twists and surprises when they arrive that much more surprising. I am sure that it is not a spoiler anymore to point out that Janet Leigh's character, Marion Crane, dies. She is stabbed to death while taking a shower at the Bates motel. A simple string of events lead her to this end. She has stolen a rather large sum of money from her employer and has attempted to run off with it and share with her boyfriend. When we are first introduced to Marion, we would not believe that she would become a criminal so easily. When she does become a criminal, we cannot believe that anything really bad would happen to her. Both things happen quite suddenly.
The most marvelous thing about Psycho is its deception. The shower scene is just one example of how we come to believe things that are far from true. This is because the direction is so convincing and controlled that we have no time to question anything we've been told. This makes the twists and surprises when they arrive that much more surprising. I am sure that it is not a spoiler anymore to point out that Janet Leigh's character, Marion Crane, dies. She is stabbed to death while taking a shower at the Bates motel. A simple string of events lead her to this end. She has stolen a rather large sum of money from her employer and has attempted to run off with it and share with her boyfriend. When we are first introduced to Marion, we would not believe that she would become a criminal so easily. When she does become a criminal, we cannot believe that anything really bad would happen to her. Both things happen quite suddenly.
When the man whose money she steals waves the cash around in her face, she is surprised. She spends the remainder of the scene behaving in as nonchalant a way as expected. Yet, the next time we see her, she is stashing the cash. I don't even think she thought this through very well. Something worth noticing, is the color of Marion's undergarments. Before she steals the money, they are white, and afterwords, they are black. Hitchcock has planted subliminal signs of character even down to mere clothing. With Norman Bates, we get signs through things like posture, nervous grins, and random lashes of anger. One of the best segments in the movie is when Norman takes Marion to the back of the hotel office, which is filled with large stuffed birds, and they vaguely discuss the future. She makes allusions to what she plans to do with her new fortune, and he laments his future stuck with a failing hotel and an invalid mother. When she suggests, very innocently, that he send her to a home, he gets angry.
This is the first time we notice something wrong with this guy, and it's all about the mom. His life revolves around her. In fact, he has no life outside of the old hotel. "A boy's best friend is his mother," he argues. I have great respect for Anthony Perkins' performance in this movie. It is, like everything else in Psycho, perfectly crafted. Perkins became Bates for this movie (and continued to play him in cheap sequels, which I shall not mention any further), a role mostly played from a presence. It is a very awkward presence that would make most acquaintances uncomfortable around him even if he didn't go a little mad sometimes. Yet, most of the time, there doesn't seem to be anything truly wrong with him. It takes more than half of the movie before we get full proof of his insanity, with only hints prior. This is the way it should be. There would be no proper mystery to the proceedings if we seriously knew he was bonkers from the get-go.
Besides being arguably the most thrilling movie on Hitchcock's resume, and indeed one of the most thrilling of all time, Psycho was important historically as a breaker of taboos, and not necessarily in the way you would think. For one thing, yes, there is visible bra-wearing in this movie, which, no, was not common at the time. However, that was not exactly news, since most advertisements for the film were graced by a partially-unclothed Leigh, warning viewers that this was for MATURE AUDIENCES ONLY. The biggest problem for most was the strong nature of the violence, although it would not be considered very harsh today. As I said earlier, nothing actually happens onscreen, and there is only very briefly any blood. The black and white cinematography helps along those lines a bit in making daylight scenes scary that would not have been as frightening in color. Another big taboo broken here is in the showing of an onscreen toilet. Not only is a toilet actually shown, it is flushed, which was absolutely unheard of, and extremely shocking. Such were the 1950s.
When Psycho was first released, it was done in an unprecedented manner. Only four screenings were shown each day at any theater. You would have to be careful to buy tickets ahead of time because of the popularity, and to ensure the utmost secrecy of the climactic surprises, the doors remained shut for the duration of the film and could not be opened. Audience members were requested to not share the finale with friends. In an age where spoilers abound on various movie and social networking sites, a movie like Psycho could have never succeeded. It's true that the ending isn't really a secret anymore, but there is always the off chance that someone may not have seen the film before, so I always try to keep my mouth sut when discussing it.
Besides being arguably the most thrilling movie on Hitchcock's resume, and indeed one of the most thrilling of all time, Psycho was important historically as a breaker of taboos, and not necessarily in the way you would think. For one thing, yes, there is visible bra-wearing in this movie, which, no, was not common at the time. However, that was not exactly news, since most advertisements for the film were graced by a partially-unclothed Leigh, warning viewers that this was for MATURE AUDIENCES ONLY. The biggest problem for most was the strong nature of the violence, although it would not be considered very harsh today. As I said earlier, nothing actually happens onscreen, and there is only very briefly any blood. The black and white cinematography helps along those lines a bit in making daylight scenes scary that would not have been as frightening in color. Another big taboo broken here is in the showing of an onscreen toilet. Not only is a toilet actually shown, it is flushed, which was absolutely unheard of, and extremely shocking. Such were the 1950s.
When Psycho was first released, it was done in an unprecedented manner. Only four screenings were shown each day at any theater. You would have to be careful to buy tickets ahead of time because of the popularity, and to ensure the utmost secrecy of the climactic surprises, the doors remained shut for the duration of the film and could not be opened. Audience members were requested to not share the finale with friends. In an age where spoilers abound on various movie and social networking sites, a movie like Psycho could have never succeeded. It's true that the ending isn't really a secret anymore, but there is always the off chance that someone may not have seen the film before, so I always try to keep my mouth sut when discussing it.
I can say, though, that even after multiple viewings, Psycho remains one of the most exciting films of any era or genre. It is a masterpiece that can only add enjoyment with repeat viewings, because works of art were meant to be enjoyed more than once. And I truly do consider this horror movie to be a real work of art, something that can't really be said about many others of its kind. Such superb cinematic trickery could only be pulled off by a handful. It helps to be a perfectionist.
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