Analysis of Alfred hitchcock's "Marnie"

Stage Fright(1950): A Study of Deception

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In the Hitchcockian fable, investigations conform to two major modalities,complementary and interchangeable, in which the relationships of identification are established by the position of knowledge that Hitchcock reserves for himself (and thus for the spectator as well), as opposed to the various subjects (supports) of the fiction.

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-Raymond Bellour, Psychosis, Neurosis, Perversion

In the selected scene, all three principal characters of the film are present. While Charlotte Inwood(Marlene Dietrich)  and Jonathan Cooper(Richard Todd) are having a conversation, Eve Gill(Jane Wyman) is eavesdropping. As the scene progresses, certain significant facts which were previously unknown to the audience as well as our protagonist (Eve Gill) are revealed. To begin with, it is revealed that Cooper and Inwood were in good terms and that he was not deliberately framed by Charlotte Inwood,  rather, it was the part of a plan. The man, as it turns out, was at least well aware of the crime that was being committed and might as well been a passive observer. It was also discovered that just as Eve was unaware of Cooper’s relationship with Inwood, Inwood was unaware of someone named Eve Gill in Cooper’s life. Both of them were made to believe that Cooper had no friends or acquaintances. By this point, it was clear to the audience as well as the protagonist that Cooper was a liar. But when Cooper deliberately lied about Inwood’s blood stained cloths not being destroyed( which was indeed burnt at a fireplace infront of the protagonist and her father), it was made clear thar Cooper was not some low level cheat, he was rather a person who would do anything in order to assert his dominance over the other people. 

Eve listening to the conversation taking place between Inwood and Cooper

Inwood inquiring about Cooper's hereabouts

Inwood explaining Cooper that he needs comply with her. 

Inwood asking Cooper to back where he was hiding and assuring that she will come to see him.

Inwood says that after her work is over, she will be happy to settle in some place in South America with cooper.

Cooper listening to Inwood.

Inwood continue telling her plans for their future.

Cooper asks her to give up everything in the way which Inwood refuses.

 She however acknowledges the fact that Cooper had done a lot.

Cooper mentions that he has not destroyed the blood stained cloth.

The two women are visibly astonished.

Cooper asserts his dominance with the claim that he possesses the cloths.

Inwood still in a state of shock.

In the context of the film, this scene is not much of a spectacle. It starts as a conversation and ends with changing power dynamics where Cooper, who, till now, seemed more vulnerable, asserts his dominance over the less vulnerable Inwood.

The Cooper-Inwood conversation began with an composite shot where two characters were present. After Inwood has her dress changed, the shots change to mid shot for both Cooper and Inwood. The conversation which does not evoke much of a tension are edited in the conventional shot-reverse shot manner. But as Cooper mentions about the blood strained cloths, Cooper gets an upper hand in the conversation leaving Inwood more vulnerable than before. This is expressed in the way a close up of Cooper and Inwood are shown as well as light in their face. Cooper's face is shot from a low angle giving him a superior position to Inwood whose face is shot from the top angle, placing her in a visibly lower position to Cooper. In this way, the shots explain the power dynamics.

The mention of the blood stained cloths takes the audience to the beginning of the film where Cooper flees with the blood stained cloths of Inwood and deliberately sets it on fire when Mr. Gill, father of Eve Gill, questions the way the blood appeared on the cloths. While it didn’t cross Eve’s mind that was full of innocence and grace, it must have had clicked with the audience that Cooper might have a larger involvement in the murder than just a passive observer. 

The blood stained cloths in this film act as the MacGuffin. It is the blood stained cloths that compels Eve to get to the bottom of the mystery, it is also a blood stained cloth that causes Inwood to breakdown on the stage and the mystery of the way the cloth was stained prompted Cooper to burn the cloth. But for the most part, the cloth was forgotten in the film. 

It is to be noted that despite listening to all the conversation, Eve continued to protect Cooper till the very end of the  film. 

Although Cooper asserts his dominance, he remains a fugitive, always fleeing from the law, characteristics being somewhat opposite of an antagonist. In conversation with François Truffaut, Hitchcock explains:

...we're telling a story in which the villains themselves are afraid. The great weakness of the picture is that it breaks an unwritten law: The more successful the villain, the more successful the picture. That's a cardinal rule, and in this picture the villain was a flop!

Works cited: 

Truffaut, François    - Hitchcock/Truffaut: Simon & Schuster

Bellour, Raymond-   Psychosis, Neurosis, Perversion.

Further reading:

https://www.jstor.org/stable/44019094?Search=yes&resultItemClick=true&searchText=stage&searchText=fright&searchText=hitchcock&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dstage%2Bfright%2Bhitchcock&ab_segments=0%2Fbasic_SYC-4631%2Ftest&refreqid=search%3Af78fae0fd6bf0f3976d648b91b08b412&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents