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Classic chiller about a boy and his mother
by CarlosC (movies profile)
Nov 9, 2007
7
of
7 people found this review helpful
Asked what makes for a great film, one could easily spin into a convoluted, academic exposition about cinematic technique or some such. That talk has its place, but a great film can be identified by three simple questions: Does it please both critics and audiences? Does it influence other filmmakers? And, does it stand the test of time? Alfred Hitchcock's PSYCHO (1960) illicits a resounding "yes" on all three counts. PSYCHO is a truly great film.
Universally lauded by critics, PSYCHO has been so popular with the public that it is scarsely necessary to mention that it tells the tale of a boy and his mother. Anthony Perkins is unforgettable as Norman Bates. He's a reclusive mamma's boy. He runs the Bates Motel -- ominously overlooked by a delapidated, old house. Mother's house. Vivian Leigh plays a would-be embezzler, who makes an unfortunate lay-over at the Bates Motel. Worse yet, she takes a shower.
The "Shower Scene" in PSYCHO is the most written-about strip of celluloid this side of the Zapruder film (of JFK's assassination). But, I'll take a...stab at it. When it was made, the Shower Scene had more cuts than anything since the early avant-garde days of German cinema. Each "cut" (stab) is a "cut" (film splice). It is a triumph of suggestive film-editing. Hitchcock manages to use the cut (an abrupt transition from one shot to another) to suggest violent, stabbing action. We see a knife tear down through the air. Then, we see the shower head. Then we see another downward plunge. Then, Vivian Leigh screaming. Another cut. Another "cut." The famous music that accompanies the scene (appropriately called "The Knife") has entered the popular musical lexicon.
The scene, and the movie, generally, has been widely imitated -- the second "yes" from our three questions, above. Yet, the wonderful thing is that we don't really *see* anything in that shower scene. Hitchcock suggests this incredible violence, but then asks us to fill in the blanks and to imagine it, ourselves -- knowing full well that what we imagine on our own will be far worse than anything he can show us. What each imagines is individualized; not particular to time or place. This is part of what gives PSYCHO its timeless quality, which has allowed it to endure. Forty years later, the video retains an "R" rating. ("Yes" #3, from above.)
"Hitch" (as associates called him) deliberately chose to shoot the film in black and white, and it paid off. Filmed by Hitchcock's television crew, PSYCHO has immaculate lighting. In the shower scenes, as in others, the lighting is used to conceal the killer's identity. Not only does it create suspense, but it also looks scarier -- again, forcing us to *imagine* that which we do not see. The bird-like shrieks of Bernard Hermann's score still poll as the most chilling horror theme-song.
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