The scene starts with Norman inviting Marion into the parlour – like the nursery rhyme “come into my parlour said the spider to the fly”. Norman enters the room and turns on a single lamp. Through the use of this low key lighting, with the sharp contrast between light and shade, Hitchcock creates an atmosphere of gloom and foreboding. Marion, on entering the room, sees two stuffed birds of prey, first a raven and then an owl both frozen in attacking position. These point of view shots suggest this is no ordinary motel and there is something sinister about it.
Norman and Marion sit opposite each other. Norman chats while she eats the tea he brought her. A shot – reverse-shot sequence is used. Both characters are shown almost frontally, suggesting openness and an easy relationship. However, clues are given that all is not well. The camera is on the same level as Marion to make the audience feel as if they are in the parlour too, whereas the camera is tilting up slightly towards Norman. She looks slightly up while Norman looks slightly down. These camera angles place Norman in the more dominant position. The shot of Marion uses brighter lighting and includes objects such as a lamp, jug and picture, all with reassuringly rounded shapes. This shot suggests calm and normality. In contrast, behind Norman are the birds of prey in attacking position and rectangular pictures (one of which is of women being raped but the audience cannot see this), which are more sinister. Norman comments “you eat like a bird” to which Marion replies “you’d know” and gestures with her eyes to the stuffed birds. He explains his interest in bird taxidermy – not a subject which goes well with eating. At one point, he raises his right arm and rests it on what looks like a stuffed bird or animal, almost as a hawk raises its wings ready to swoop on its prey. In the dialogue, Norman uses vocabulary such as “private traps” and “scratch” and “claw", which suggest menace. The birds are key parts of the mise en scene, and references to them in the dialogue, e.g. her name is Crane and she is going to Phoenix, and Norman’s movements are symbolic of the predator (Norman) and the danger to Marion.
The conversation moves naturally to Norman’s mother. He says, “a boy’s best friend is his mother”, a clear hint that the relationship with his mother is not normal. There are other hints too such as the reference to his mother’s partner’s death and the repeated use of the word “hate”. Marion comments “if anyone ever talked to me the way I heard she spoke to you” at which point the camera angle changes to show Norman more sideways on, his head bobbing in front of the head of one of the birds, as if he is the predator himself.
A key dramatic moment occurs when Norman becomes outraged at Marion’s suggestion that he could “put her [his mother] - someplace”. “You mean an institution, a madhouse?” he responds, raising his voice in restrained anger as soft but unpleasant background music begins. This is obviously a sensitive topic and it is another hint that something involving his mother is wrong. At this point, the camera angle changes again. A low angle close-up shot of Norman is used. The dramatic effect is increased by the use of under-lighting which casts deep shadows above the birds and pictures behind him. His face is also mostly in shadow. As Norman becomes more agitated, he leans forward, moving from right to left and filling the frame. His look is piercing. Then he reveals his own experience of the madhouse by saying such things as “cruel eyes studying you”. His speech becomes more rapid and staccato, e.g. “cluck their thick tongues…” and he is slightly breathless. When the camera cuts to Marion, she is clearly taken aback, with the shot placing her closer up and more to the left, as if being pushed there. Through the use of camera angles, mise en scene, music and the dialogue, Hitchcock builds tension and the possibility that something horrible could happen.
The tension is released, however. Norman admits to having similar thoughts and he leans back and forward a couple of times and smiles. Finally, Marion stands up to leave. Hitchcock uses a brightly-lit, low angle shot to restore her to the dominant role. She stands in front of the picture, which has almost the look of a halo around it. Norman is now made to appear submissive through the use of a high angle shot. Although the roles appear to have switched, however, behind Marion is a raven, with its beak pointing down at her neck and casting a shadow on the wall. This example of mise en scene is employed to disturb any relief the audience may feel about a return to normality.
Shower Scene
The shower scene is where the first murder takes place. Marion has decided to return the stolen money. She works out how much she has spent of it on a piece of paper which she then rips up and disposes of by flushing it down the toilet. She follows this resolution by having a shower which she enjoys as it is like the washing away of her guilt. She is smiling to herself on her own “private island”, oblivious to what the audience can see: a silhouetted figure behind the shower curtain. The figure moves slowly towards the woman, and the audience, rips back the curtain, raises a knife and stabs Marion repeatedly to the strains of screeching violins and the victim’s screams. The scene is one of utter terror. At the end of the scene, the camera pans from Marion’s face past the toilet to the folded newspaper with the money, closing up on it.
Hitchcock marvellously creates horror in this scene by a number of techniques. He uses 70 different camera positions which took seven days to shoot, a third of the shooting time for the whole film. His imaginative use of camera angles included positioning the camera so the audience is looking at the figure from where Marion is washing – an audience point of view shot. This makes them feel like they are Marion yet helpless to defend themselves. He also uses a high angle shot of the naked Marion to emphasise the victim‘s helplessness and therefore increase the horror. Another technique used in the scene is varying the shot length. For example, there are medium shots of Marion’s face and hand as she slides down the wall. Marion’s hand reaching out towards the viewer and clutching the shower curtain makes the viewer feel sympathy towards her. These shots are horrific. Hitchcock also uses close ups of Marion’s dead eye and the plug hole with swirling water, symbolic of her life disappearing down the drain. The eyeshot, in fact, spirals back in an opposite direction to the water in the plug, signifying release from the drain.
The scene includes diagetic and non-diagetic sounds. Diagetic sounds are those which occur naturally in the narrative. Non-diagetic sounds are those added which the characters cannot hear. Diagetic sounds that help create the horror include Marion’s screaming and the knife piercing the body. However, even the shower curtain being pulled down, the continuous sound of running water and the water swirling down the plughole add to the atmosphere. The music by Herrmann makes up the non-diagetic sounds, starting with screeching violins accompanying the screaming and stabbing. This frenzied scene is made more horrific by the high-pitched sounds, like birds of prey in attack. The pitch then drops, using cellos, as Marion dies and slides down the wall.
The main use of lighting is to achieve a sharp contrast between Marion, who is brightly lit, and the attacker, who is in darkness. This contrast is symbolic of good and evil. It is a continuation of the technique used in the parlour scene. The darkness also hides the face of the attacker which makes the killing even harder for the audience to understand.
Leila’s discovery of Mrs Bates
Unlike the previous two scenes, Hitchcock is able to build suspense not only through camera work, editing and music but, most important of all, through providing the audience with information which Leila does not have. Because of what has happened before, the audience is very aware of the danger lurking whereas Leila is not. This causes the audience to feel fear on behalf of another potential victim. Together with plentiful use of point of view and tracking shots, lighting and non-diagetic music at key points, Hitchcock is able bring out different emotions in the audience.
The scene begins when Leila and Sam visit the Bates motel. After they rent a room, Leila goes in search of Mrs Bates while Sam distracts Norman. Hitchcock uses a point of view shot of the house as Leila approaches to a sound track of violins and cellos. These devices help build tension since the audience is now aware of danger. However, this is a red herring because there is no danger in the house itself. After entering the house, Leila goes upstairs, Hitchcock using a low angle shot for dramatic effect. This is followed by a medium shot of Leila’s back followed by a point of view pan shot of Norman’s mother’s room. Mise en scene is used to build suspense: the old-fashioned, ornate bedroom furniture, dressing table, statuette of clasped hands, mirror (which causes Leila to gasp) and the body-shaped indentation in the bed. The non-diagetic music heightens the tension. As Leila moves to Norman’s room, there is a low angle shot of the stairs followed by point of view shots of the objects in the room – mise en scene. These objects include toys, teddy bear, record player, a small, unmade bed and a book. The lighting selected casts shadows, making the scene gloomy and foreboding.
When Norman realises Sam’s ploy, he knocks Sam unconscious and runs up to the house. Hitchcock uses a point of view shot and, as Leila sees him coming, Hitchcock is able to build suspense and an expectation that something bad is about to happen. Leila hides behind the stair rails, giving the impression of being trapped behind bars and, therefore, vulnerable. However, as Norman runs upstairs, she notices the entrance to the cellar. Leila investigates. The décor in the cellar is wood and brick, gloomy and inhospitable. The lighting is from a single naked bulb, suspended from the ceiling. She sees a figure in a chair, approaches and turns the chair around. Leila then sees Mrs Bates’ dressed skeleton, sitting in the chair. She screams and throws out her hand, striking the light. This causes the shadows to move back and forth like a macabre dance.
To increase the horror even further, Norman, dressed as Mrs Bates, runs in brandishing a knife, accompanied by the screeching violins, reminding the audience of the stabbing in the shower scene. Fortunately, Sam regains consciousness, finds his way into the house and successfully tackles Norman from behind. At this point the tension is relieved and the violins give way to lower pitched cellos. However, there is a close up of the skull, the swinging bulb lighting up the skull as if it is alive.
Other signs and themes used to surprise and shock the audience
There are many aspects of psycho which were unconventional for that period, for example the continual use of red herrings. First, Marion steals the money which, although it is the reason for her going to the hotel, it has nothing to do with the plot. Then she sees her boss while driving out of the city which adds to the likelihood that she might get caught. Another is when she is stopped and then followed by the policeman, which builds up suspense but again has nothing to do with the main plot.
Also, continual imagery of holes and disappearances is unconventional starting with Marion flushing evidence down the toilet, which represents the flushing away of her guilt. There is also the blood circling down the plughole which symbolises her life going down the drain. Finally, the car containing Marion’s body and the $40,000 disappearing into the swamp indicates the crime is closed.
The use of mirrors creates a sense of danger. First, there is the mirror in her car when she sees the policeman following her, then the policeman’s glasses and finally the mirror in Mrs Bates bedroom. The first two examples also reflect back guilt. The sense of danger builds suspense even though none of the examples leads to anything.
There are other ways in which Hitchcock broke with convention. He shows the leading actress semi-nude in a bedroom after just having had sex. Later, he shows her in the shower and finally he eliminates her, one of the main characters, only 47 minutes into the film.
Conclusion
I think Alfred Hitchcock deserves his status as an auteur because he introduced a distinctive style to cinema and his unconventional approach revolutionised horror films. His innovative camerawork (viewpoints and movements), editing techniques, soundtrack, lighting and mise en scene are what differentiated Hitchcock’s films from those of earlier directors. Also, his films used intricate plots.
