Analysis of Alfred hitchcock's "Marnie"

"Do we want suspense or surprise?" | Vertigo

 


Hitchcock's Vertigo starts with a problem--first we see him in a chase scene where he witnesses a policeman's death. The sight of his death with him hanging from a furnace of a building gives him vertigo. In the next scene he is talking about his problem, which is him being diagnosed with acrophobia. By this time the spectators are aware of the central problem of the story, we somehow can even predict that the film might end with the protagonist's problem being resolved.

Hitchcock made only one major change in the adaptation of this film from the novel D'Entre les Morts which is, unlike the novel which reveals both the protagonist and the readers the truth about Judy at the same time, the film tells the viewers before. Hitchcock says he put himself in a place of a child whose mother is telling him a story, when paused the child always asks what's next. According to him the second part of the novel was written as if nothing came next, and that's where he changed his formula. He says now that the child knows about Judy he'll be curious about Stewart and what will Stewart do when he finds out? "Do we want suspense or surprise?", Hitchcock asks Truffaut when they converse about his movie Vertigo. He chooses suspense over surprise.

He uses flashback to tell the audience the truth and waits till the ending to show what happens when John finds out. 
Hitchcock says that he was intrigued by the idea of a man's attempts to recreate the image of a dead woman. John becomes a maniac. He’s desperate to transform Judy into Madeline. Cinematically, all of John’s effort to re-create the dead woman are shown in such a way that he seems to be trying to undress her, instead of the other way around. When she comes back with her hair dyed blonde, changing the last bit about herself, he seems to be disappointed because she hasn't put her hair up in a bun. It’s like striping her down to the point she finally lets go of her true personality and embraces someone else’s.

Hitchcock says “To put it plainly, the man wants to go to bed with a woman who's dead; he is indulging in a form of necrophilia.” John is simply trying to recreate his past. He is going after lost time. Like he’s possessed.

Hitchcock also happens to say that the story was of less importance to him that the over all visual impact on the audience. Because the narration of the film raises a lot of question regarding the events that occur. But I guess that’s why the story is not the most important element here as like Psycho we are no longer worried about the money. Here also we’re not concerned with what happens to the real killer. He is concerned with the psychology that results after the events,  and with the problems of his characters. And someone who likes to keep it suspenseful till the end. 

Work cited: Hitchcock by Truffaut. The Definitive Study.