Psychose

Nous sommes allés voir la même semaine deux films d’Hitchcock: Psychose et Fenêtre sur cour.

Voici quelques articles réalisés en anglais:

Norman Bates’s hidden face

            At first, we find Norman shy, reserved, but he was nice when he had Marion’s visit then we realised that there was something wrong with the bathroom because of his fast passage into it. We started to find him freaky when he offered Marion to go in his office and when he started to speak of his stuffed birds. He was weird when he talked about his mother. When he spied on her by the hole in the wall and she was naked we thought that he looked suspicious. The scene where Marion was murdered was unexpected.

            Then Norman saw his mom and we just hear “Mom! Mom! So much blood! What did you do?” and he ran to Marion’s dead body. It was intriguing. He was too organised and he looked like had already done it before when he got rid of the dead body. Moreover, he did it like a good boy to help his mother according to the psychiatrist at the end of the movie. He did the same for the detective.

            At this time, we thought the mother was the one who committed the murders. But the sheriff Said “Norman’s mother died 10 years ago” and since Lila, Marion’s sister insisted on the fact that there was an old woman in the house, at the window he wonders “If his mother’s still alive then who is in Mrs Bates’s grave?”

            Suddenly, there are way more actions in the movie. In one of the last sequences, Lila went to the mansion and hid from Norman in the basement where we know the mother was. She actually found a skeleton. Then we understood that it was Norman who committed the murders with his mother’s clothes on.

            Finally, a psychiatrist helps us realize what had actually happened.

            This movie was frightening because at the end it’s as if the viewers woke up and realized that they dove in madness with Norman except that he will not wake up. Norman was guilty of killing his mother so he dug her up and started to live with her dead body. His mother had taken a side of his mind and she was using his body to made the assassinations. There was a lot of suspense because we knew something was weird when people talked with Norman in the way he was acting when people talked about his mother and the close-up shots on his face when Mrs Bates committed a murder.

By Mélissa, Lena and Elisa

Norman Bates’s personality split and its causes
In the movie Psycho, the biggest plot twist is the discovery of Norman Bates’ personality split: both he and his mother live inside his brain.

We will go through the steps of this complicated process explained by the psychiatrist at the end. At his father’s death, Norman’s mental health first starts degrading as he gets closer to his mother. Then, when she gets together with a man, the already insecure Norman can’t handle this new presence in his mother’s life. He feels abandoned, his jealousy overwhelms him, and he decides to kill both his mother and her lover. But then, he feels a terrible loss and stuffs his mother, like one of his birds, in order to keep her alive. But that isn’t enough, that’s why he starts dressing as her and wearing a grey wig, that way he can talk to her, even though she is in his body.

With time, the fusion becomes complete, it’s the start of the mental illness. Norman is alone, living in a huge house and working at the motel. Every time he feels attracted to a woman, he, or rather his mother, kills her out of jealousy. That explains his surprise when he finds Marion Crane’s body in the bathtub. Norman has no memory of what happens when his mother is in control of his body. They truly are two beings sharing a body. At the end, after the mother’s confession, the psychiatrist explains the situation. He expresses a medical opinion and almost excuses his actions. The suspense grows at the beginning of the monologue because when Marion’s sister asks whether he killed her, his answer is “yes… and no”. The last scene is terrifying because we understand Norman’s madness. A fly is on their lap, and the mother won’t hurt it so as not to seem guilty. To us, Norman Bates’ incurable disease is the scariest aspect of this film.

By Roxane & Nina

The first murderer in “Psycho”

In this essay, we are talking about the first murderer scene of the movie.
Marion, the main character in the movie’s beginning, ran away with $40.000 in cash. Due to the tiredness, she had to stop her journey. She spent one night in a motel, it’s where the murder took place. We directly thought that the motel receptionist was suspicious and weird because of his attitude.
The murder is introduced by a stressful music, it makes the scene even more harrowing. Moreover, the use of black and white reinforces this feeling. The murder happened while Marion was in the shower. In fact, a woman’s shadow appeared and then a knife was brandished on the top of the shower curtain. After killing her, the murderer had to get rid of her body and wash all the bathroom.

The shadow, who had a woman’s shape, made us think that the murderer is the motel receptionist’s mother, certainly because of her haircut. This murder scene is one of the longest in the movie, it increases the plot’s suspense. At the end of the movie, we finally understood the murderer’s identity. It wasn’t the mother, but the receptionist himself. The filmmaker, Hitchcock, succeed to put us on the wrong track about the plot.
We appreciated this movie, especially this scene. We think that “Psycho” is a really good movie, and that Hitchcock was right to make it in black and white because it’s more realistic. We love the fact that our mind has changed almost after each scene. We took pleasure trying to imagine the outcome and we like the movie’s conclusion.
We have already watched this kind of movie, that’s why we found out immediately who the murderer was, even if it was unexpected.

By Solenne & Jeanne

« Alfred Hitchcock’s suspense in Psycho.

            In the movie Alfred Hitchcock created suspense through the characters,objects, and places.At first, the suspense is created by the main characters’ relationships.

Norman Bates has a really difficult relationship with his mother because at the beginning of the movie, we learn that she is sick and jealous. After that, in the movie we see her kill Marion and the private investigator but without seeing her faceBut at the end, we found that Norman embodies his mother and he is diagnosed witha split personality.

Secondly, places are very important for suspense. Norman’s house is very disturbing and dark. It makes a connection with Norman and his mother. The shadow of Norman’s mum in the window is an element of suspense too. The mansion is typically the inspiration for the haunted house. In addition, the motel is the main place in the movie because it’s there that suspense starts with Marion’s murder. Furthermore, music is also a means of accentuating drama and suspense, like every movie today.
            Finally, Hitchcock used the money stolen by Marion as a triggering element,with Marion’s pursuit by the policeman at the beginning of the film.
So, Alfred Hitchcock created suspense in his film thanks to characters, accessories and the place. All this was revolutionary for the time. »

By Arnaud, Milo & Yassine

THE FIRST MURDER SCENE: MARION CRANE’S DEATH
We saw the film “Psycho”, it’s a psychological horror thriller film. Hitchcock is the master of suspense. In the middle of the movie, there is the first murder scene. This is a very important scene and that’s why we are going to write about it.

One of the main characters, Marion Crane is taking a shower in the motel’s room, when someone breaks in the bathroom and kills her with a knife. The music at this moment is frightening so it allows to reinforce the heavy atmosphere. The black and white colors make this scene more realistic because it’s scarier. The purpose of this scene is to show the violence and the mechanical and repeated gestures of the murderer and the sadness and the frightened expression in Marion Crane’s eyes after her death. At the end of the scene, we saw a shot with Marion Crane’s blood pouring into the shower. The time is slower than at the beginning of the scene.
The viewer is shocked and he wants to know who the killer is and why he kills the young woman so we want to see the rest of the movie. The scene is really interesting and very deep because it allows the film to progress enormously. The fact that Marion Crane dies in the middle of the film is also original, so we wonder how it will evolve.
This movie scene is really central and a driving force for the rest of the movie. We really enjoyed this scene because it creates a lot of suspense and it makes the film even more remarkable.

By Elise & Pauline