Analysis

Rating: Null/10 (1 October 2012)

At the starting scenes the camera's subjective eye fly over a town and approaches several windows what gives the audience the feeling that they can choose which window to look through. The way the main character is portrayed at the beginning of the movie shows that Hitchcock wanted the audience to sympathize with Marion, so now the audience experiences Marion's frustration, fear, anxiety. The constant use of imaginative voice-over experienced by the main character's conscience intensifies the emotional sharing. Throughout the movie the music suggests characters are in danger, experiencing anxiety or looking for something. Whenever the scenario presented is not in those conditions, the characters find themselves engaging in normal behaviors with little suggestion about what is prone to happen. Marion, at her workplace, engages in a talk with Cassidy (the drunk client who is buying his daughter a house), the way he acts makes the audience to sympathize even more with Marion's feelings and intentions. Various close face shots: Marion looking at her mirror, a hotel window reflecting Marion and Normal together, suggests some type of voyeurism where questions of privacy are inferred, portraying that a character is never alone and that there is always someone watching/being watched. From the moment Marion is on the run to California to be with Sam, with the money she stole, the scene where she pulls over to the side of the road to sleep and the police officer questions her sets the climate for the rest of the movie where again, close face shots are used and Marion's thoughts can be heard. Marion seeks shelter in a motel by the road when she faces a storm on the way to California, the remoteness of the motel she stays at intrigues the audience with what is about to happen. It's easy to assume that Marion is about to do something she shouldn't due to her reaction when she sees her boss crossing the street. Some events like Marion being by herself most of the time, seeking shelter in unknown places, being in a hurry when trading her car, suggests that she is in danger and creates a powerful suspense due to the fact that by today's standards someone in the situation she is, might be too vulnerable. The killer in this movie, normally portrayed as a "monster" to scare the audience, is shown as someone normal, which is scarier and creepier. The audience is presented with Norman's private world towards the end where an investigation is taking place. Masked shots gives the audience a peephole to watch the scenes through what intensifies any association the audience my have with Norman.
This review points out fundamental elements viewed in the movie to link the audience's experience along with the characters' emotions. Elements that might have been unnoticeable for some are explained as the movie has little elements presented that bring the audience to experience what the characters experience.