A Biographical & Psychological Perspective

The ”Marnie” a film by Alfred Hitchcock is a psychological thriller that is of quiet and a beautiful fantasy. The title of the movie Marnie signifies a character (Tippi Hedren) who represents a young woman who steals from one employer to another using various assumed identities. Eventually, through the playing out (through compulsion: thefts, assumed identities, avoidance of men) and revealing of Marnies pathology drives the film and delineates the eponymous character, Marnie herself is positioned within the film more so as object than subject.

The film thus through different character depict the emphasis of Freudian psychology, men control over women through appearance of attachment and love and finally different themes.

In the film, men control over women is well depicted by Mark Rutland who integrates charm and charisma with a predatory and controlling nature. It is clear that his intention in wanting to protect Marnie and as well training him to become a functioning human is suspicious and it is a though he has clinical if creepy scientific of controlling and changing her.Mark may have the intention of making Marnie his ideal sex objects as the control over her appears to be more subtle and looks far threatening in film. However it is debatable that Marnie needs to face reality seek assistance, and not in the way shes forced to challenge her past by Rutland and the approaches he uses as they are offensive (White,67).

May be Mark attraction to Marnie may be attributed to her disorder which seems to make her headstrong, intriguing and intelligent individual she is. The fact remain that once Marnie is cure she will have no different from other normal women and Mark will get tired of him and cast her aside for another flawed female to manipulate and study. On the Freudian Psychology that is covered in the film it looks naive and is practical through a means that expounds everything thats concerns Marnies inner worlds very facilely. Mostly it takes several years for specialist psychoanalyst and several hundred or thousand dollars for patient diagnosis, but in this reality it only took several minute with the assistance of few textbook and visit to Marnie mom for an amateur sleuth to work out with no fee charged. This in other terms may mean something to Hitchcocks viewpoint of psychoanalysis in psychiatry and particular usually (Wolterstorff, 112). The relationship that is depicted in the movie of that of Marnie and horses and what that means about her well-being, wish for freedom and individuality and her sexuality is labored in many instances in the course of the movie. In the instant where Marnie is enforced to shoot a horse seem all more shocking and tragic since in reality she is giving up her freedom.

In conclusion ,as well as the subject of men control over women and the emphasis on Freudian Psychology the film also included various importance themes throughout that help to bring out the movie whole main idea. One of Hitchcock theme is the theme of fluidity and fragility which is clearly depicted by Marnie behavior of taking and dropping several identities at will. These activities include deception in the form of stealing, identity fraud, sexual blackmail and the depiction of sexuality through symbolic means where this is illustrated in the film via horses. As in ”North by Northwest” and ”Psycho”, passionate desirability and sex develop as a business transaction: Mark forces Marnie to marry him with threat that failure to do so will send him to jail.

Work Cited

1. Wolterstorff, Eric, and Herbert Grassmann. “The scene of the crime: traumatic transference and repetition as seen through Alfred Hitchcock’s Marnie.” International Body Psychotherapy Journal 13.2 (2014): 29-44.
2. White, Susan. “Alfred Hitchcock and feminist film theory (yet again).” The Cambridge Companion to Alfred Hitchcock. Cambridge University Press, 2015.
3. Marnie Trailer Alfred Hitchcock (1964).
4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSlvWajeBVc

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