Psycho (1960)
Directed
and produced by: Alfred Hitchcock
Screenplay
by:
Joseph Stefano
Genre: Psychological horror, thriller
Main
Cast: Anthony Perkins (Norman Bates),
Janet Leigh(Marion Crane), Vera Miles(Lila Crane), John Gavin(Sam Loomis)
The movie is based on a 1959 novel with the same name psycho written by Robert Bloch. The movie starts with an establishing shot and a pan movement, it continues with Marion, who Steals 40000 dollars from her work places and tries to reach her boyfriend’s place. When she casually tries to move away from her place she sees her boss on the way which made her panic and she starts to imagine conversations in her mind. She gets tired and sleeps in the midway and is being woken up by a police officer and questioned which is when he got to see the money she is hiding. She quickly comes to a garage nearby to change the number plate and gets startled by the police man following her. By then she started regretting her mistake, being tired, frightened and as there was a heavy rain while she travels, she arrives at a strange motel, arranging to meet her lover. There she has a long conversation with Norman (Perkins), then she hears the voice of his mother being harsh to him and feels sad for him. she decides to take a shower that's when she removes her clothes, norman peeps to see her from the hole where the concept of voyeurism is projected. When she takes shower, she is killed and killer is not shown but apparently through the figure shown we could guess it as norman's mother. And in this scene it did not show any flesh on knife, no wounds and there were blood flowing, but not in loads.
The background music in this scene created a which made the audience get more involved. Especially for this sequence alone 78 shots, 77 camera angles were taken and 52 edits were made. The match cut which was made comparing her eyeball and the bath tub sink an Extreme focus to slow out shot which was very beautifully taken and an eye catchy one. This was one of the iconic shot of the movie.
The death of the heroin is followed by Norman cleaning all the blood and trying to make the place normal. He put the body of Marion with the money she had inside the car and dumped it inside a flood area and waited for it to sink completely. Then the shot of Marion coming to sam in the search of Marion but fails to find her here. That's when Arbogast, detective who is willing to help the local deputy inspector, Informs them that Mrs. Bates died in a murder-suicide ten years ago. He concludes that Arbogast lied to Sam and Lila so he could pursue Marion and the money. Convinced that Arbogast is in danger, Lila and Sam drive to motel. Norman carries his mother from her room and hides her in the ground floor.
At the motel, Sam distracts Norman by engaging in a conversation and Lila sneaks inside the house. Norman becomes conscious and assaults Sam. Lila hides in the ground floor, where she discovers that Mrs. Bates has turned into a mummified figure. After hearing Lila's scream, Norman, Wearing his mother's clothes and a wig, runs to her with a knife where again music plays a vital role. Sam regains consciousness and manages to protect Lila.
In court, a psychiatrist explains that Norman murdered Mrs. Bates and her lover ten years ago out of jealousy. Unable to bear the guilt, he stole her dead body and began to treat it as if she is still alive. He recreated his mother in his own mind as another person. This Mother personality is as jealous and possessive as Mrs. Bates was, when she was alive. Whenever Norman feels attracted to any women, Mother kills her. As Mother, Norman killed two young girls before killing Marion and Arbogast. While Norman sits in a jail cell, Mother's voice-over is projected saying all the murders were done by Norman and Marion's car is towed from that flood area.
Music played a vital role throughout the movie and it took the viewers to thriller mood till the end. The movie used a lot of dissolve and cuts, shot like medium close up, close up, extreme close up were used to communicate the emotions. Everybody wore costumes that were professional and not casual to see. There were, a lot of symbolism from the start, like whenever Norman comes in a scene there would be a mirror or shadow or something that symbolizes the two faces of him and when he shows Marion the birds and owl it shows that she is going to be the next prey.
