Murder of Marion Crane in 'Psycho'

Title: Psycho
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Year: 1960
Starring: Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Vera Miles

This famous shower scene comes from Alfred Hitchcock's psychological thriller, Psycho. It has become so well known and recognised since because of the powerful ora it gives off to an audience when consuming. Tension, suspense and horror are all emotions that flow through your body when watching this clip, as a result of the clever use of key thriller conventions.

Close ups: Close ups in this scene prove extremely important in presenting the mis-en-scene with relentless horror. They allow the audience to see and understand, more than any other shot, the emotions of what is on their screen. In this case, it is the shear distress of Marion Crane and the knife which is used as the murder weapon which is a key aspect in many thriller films. Arguably the close-up that stimulates the most impact on the audience is of Marion Crane's eye after she has been brutally murdered. This close-up reinforces and emphasises the fact that this femme fatale character has just had her life taken from her, which proved shocking at the time considering the murder occurs surprisingly close to the beginning of the film.

Location: The scene is set in a shower throughout. We instinctively assume that something important and of relevance to the movie is about to take place because we would not expect to just see a woman in a shower for an entire scene - it would be unnecessary. The confined space connotes chlaustrophobia which suggests that the character in the shower, Marion Crane, would not have the option of escape, should something bad occur. The ending to the scene is very ironic due to the location. We see Marion's blood run with the water, along the surface of the bath tub and eventually plunging down the drain. This could be seen to symbolise the life of Marion dissapearing from the world. This technique of using small, confined spaces for the mis-en-scene had previously been used by Carol Reed in her film, 'The Third Man' in 1949. The sewers created a claustrophobic feel to the scene, much like the shower in 'Psycho'. It was also later used by Peter Weir in a much more similar way. In his film, 'Witness' a young, amish boy enters a public bathroom and accidentally plays witness to a brutal murder scene.



Enigma: Many thriller films use an enigmatic object or character so that we do not know any characteristics of this figure or what is going to happen in terms of this. Suspense is therefore sustained throughout this enigmatic period. In psycho, the enigma comes with the silhouette of a figure who appears behind the shower curtain. Even after the climax has been reached, the face of who we now know to be a murderer, is still not revealed. This allows the story to continue with the audience still intrigued. This technique is used in many thriller films because of the dramatic effect it has on the audience. The best example would be in the opening of 'Kill Bill' by Quentin Tarantino. Main character Beatrix has been violently attacked by a man who stands above her although out of view of the camera.We only hear Bill's voice, his hand and a reaction to him, but not actually him in his whole being.

Sympathy: Several things occur in this scene which automatically allow us to put ourselves in the perspective of Marion Crane and thus sympathise with her. For example, the fact that she is undressing in front of our eyes as an audience, leads us to believe that she is ok with us joining her in this private experience and makes us think that we are close as a result. Soon we hear the diegetic sound of water gushing from the shower head. This drowns out any other noise previously heard, and because this sound is the sole noise we are consuming as an audience also, we do not know what else could be going on, much like Marion. We do however, see the shadow behind the curtain coming, and although we are not entirely sure what it is, we are more alert than the character. When the audience knows more than the character in the film, like the example stated, it is known as dramatic irony.

All in all, this scene is arguably the most successful of all time in creating suspense amongst the audience with a clever use of: close-ups, location and enigma. All these classic thriller techniques are used to perfecion by Hitchcock so that timing for the climax is just right, causing shock amongst any who watch.