Ufr angellier close-up on alfred hitchcock

2.Norman’s Point of View

In his parlour

The audience starts to share Norman’s POV a few minutes before Marion’s death. When she leaves his parlour, a subjective shot shows the register that she has signed. Norman smiles because he realises that Marion has just lied to him. When she said good night to him, she stated that her name was “Crane” whereas it is “Samuels” that is written in the register. Then Norman goes back into his parlour, stands still for a few seconds as if he was hesitating about what to do and takes off a painting hanging on the wall. The painting hides a hole looking onto Marion’s cabin. At first, the audience does not know it; an extreme close-up on Norman’s profile shows him peeping at something. Then, a subjective shot shows Marion who is undressing [44:14]. This shot lasts for a few seconds and is followed by an extreme close-up of Norman’s eye which highlights the fact that we have shifted to his POV [44:18]. After another subjective shot showing Marion again, Norman puts the painting back on the hole. He looks anxious but determined at the same time and goes back to the house in a hurry. A static low-angle long shot reveals the imposing mansion that looks frightening in the darkness [44:57]. The spectators penetrate the house for the first time; now, we know more than Marion. Norman hesitates to go upstairs and instead goes to the kitchen where he sits down at a table. On a second viewing, his position (crouching in a foetus or a bird-like position) becomes a clue as to his madness, but we do not notice it the first time around. Hence the importance of watching the film again, of re-reading it.

Fig. 6: A clue as to Norman’s madness

After Marion’s death

Norman rushes into Marion’s room and goes to the bathroom. A medium close-up with a slightly low angle shows him from the back looking at the murder scene in the bathroom (Fig. 7). Film theoretician Jean Mitry uses the term “semi-subjective” to define a shot in which we both see the character and what he or she is looking at¹⁰. In Fig. 7, we find an interesting variation on this device, as revised by Hitchcock. We see both Norman and the wall of the bathroom. Yet, we do not actually see what he is looking at. The low angle combined with a tight framing foregrounding the character's back prevents us from seeing what we would like to see. This is a way for Hitchcock to tease the spectator and sustain tension, as well as deal with problems of censorship. (A more conventional semi-subjective shot can be seen in Fig. 30). In this mopping-up scene, we can consider that we share Norman’s POV – even if we do not have POV shots – because he is the only character on screen and the camera keeps filming him at a very close range.

Fig. 7: The closeness of the camera and the low angle increase the tension

by both involving the spectator and hiding the murder scene

The spectators do not see the body; our curiosity reaches a climax because we cannot see Norman’s reaction in this shot that lasts only six seconds but that seems to be much longer. Then, Norman turns around and looks horrified. He sits down on the bed as if he was wondering what to do. He switches off almost all the lights and starts cleaning everything. After putting Marion’s body on the shower curtain, he looks at his hands with disgust; they are covered in blood. The tempo of the music accelerates as Norman starts mopping rapidly [52:57]. Both his behaviour and the music convey the necessity of getting rid of everything quickly. After cleaning the bathroom, he goes back into the bedroom, carefully avoiding touching Marion’s body. We do not see her corpse but a low-angle shot shows Norman looking at her with disgust [54:08]. He leaves the room without looking back.

Once again he is very methodical and does everything he can to conceal the murder. He puts Marion’s body as well as her belongings in the boot of her car and goes back to her cabin to check if he has not forgotten anything. He notices that Marion’s newspaper is still on the bedside table. The audience is shown this thanks to a subjective shot [57:39]. At that moment, the spectators know more than Norman; he does not know anything about the theft. Therefore we wonder if he is going to unwrap the newspaper and what he is going to do with the money. What follows is full of dramatic irony since the protagonist rapidly takes the newspaper and throws it into the boot; he does not notice the money.

Then, he decides to immerse the car into a muddy stretch of water. A series of shots/reverse shots show the car sinking and stress Norman’s anxiety. Thanks to several extreme close-ups, the spectators share Norman’s fear. The sequence with the car lasts for about three minutes and, at one point [59:22], the car stops sinking. Norman’s dread is palpable; he stops chewing his candy and has a look around to check if nobody is coming. What is really striking as we share Norman’s POV is that, since he lives alone in a remote place, we tend to share his fear of others. The protagonist hardly speaks but his body language and eye movements tell a lot about who he is. Indeed he keeps on chewing candies, just like a child, as if he was not a grown-up¹¹. It gives him a childish personality and, at the same time, it shows his anxiety when he keeps on chewing. The spectators are left alone with Norman and we share his feelings. The sequence ends with a subjective shot showing the car totally immersed [59:48]. After this sequence, we switch to Arbogast’s and Lila’s POV (this will be discussed in the third subpart).

When Arbogast leaves the Bates motel, Norman looks at the investigator’s car going away, smiling [1:11:55]. He must be relieved and think that he has got rid of the detective for good. After this scene, we share Arbogast’s POV.

After the murder of the investigator, Norman hears someone (the spectators know that it is Sam) yelling Arbogast’s name off-screen. A close-up of his face shows that he is annoyed [1:19:00]. We stop sharing his POV for several minutes and we switch to Lila’s and Sam’s.

Getting rid of the evidence

After the sequence at the sheriff’s, we share Norman’s POV again. He enters his house and goes upstairs. He enters a room upstairs and the audience can hear a conversation between Norman and his mother thanks to an off-screen voice. Our curiosity reaches a climax since the sheriff has just told Lila and Sam that Mrs Bates was dead. An overhead shot is used (just like the one used a few seconds before Arbogast’s death) and we see Norman carrying his mother and going down the stairs [1:26:22] (Fig. 8). At that moment, the audience still thinks that Mrs Bates has killed Marion and Arbogast and that Norman wants to hide her in order to protect her.

Fig. 8: Overhead shot of Norman and his mother

We switch again to Lila’s and Sam’s POVs.

When Lila is investigating in Norman’s house, Sam talks to Norman in his office in order to prevent him from stopping Lila. Norman becomes suspicious and senses that Lila is in his house. He hits Sam on the head and rushes into the house.

Norman Bates versus Mrs Bates

Before we see Norman for the last time, a psychiatrist explains to Sam, Lila and other people that “Norman Bates no longer exists”. Indeed the man suffers from schizophrenia and, according to the doctor, the other half of Norman’s mind (Mrs Bates) “has taken over probably for all time”. Besides, he asserts that he has been told from the mother’s half of Norman’s mind that Marion and Arbogast have been murdered. He also explains the fact that Norman has killed his mother and her lover.

A man brings Norman a blanket and he replies “Thank you” with the voice of an old woman. We cannot see Norman yet; we can only hear him pronounce these two words in an off-screen voice. Then, we enter the room in which he is locked up and we see him seated on a chair. A tracking in is used in order to get closer to the protagonist and at the same time we hear what Norman thinks thanks to a voice-over narration. It is rather ambiguous since it is the voice of a woman that we hear. Then, a close-up of Norman shows him smiling as the audience can distinguish a skull superimposed upon his face [1:48:09]. As a result, we are led to think that it is Mrs Bates’ POV that we share at the very end of the film.