Analysis Of The Final Scenes Of Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious
After viewing Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious for the first time, the film
did not strike me as particularly complex. Nothing specific about the film
lodged itself in my brain screaming for an answer—or, at least, an attempted
answer. Yet, upon subsequent viewings, subtle things became more noticeable.
(Perhaps Hitchcock's subtlety is what makes him so enormously popular!)
Hitchcock uses motifs and objects, shot styles and shifting points of view, and
light and dark to help explain the relationships between Alicia, Devlin,
Sebastian and Mrs. Sebastian, and an overall theme of being trapped. An
analysis of the film from the first poisoning scene to the final scene in the
film shows how the ...
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but heightens the sound
it makes connecting to the table, includes it in every shot possible, and shows
us not only the full coffee cup, but the empty cup as well after Alicia has
drank it. Again, the cup is zoomed in on after Alicia realizes she's being
poisoned. Because the coffee is poisoned, the coffee itself becomes a metaphor
for life and death, supported by the fact that the poisoner herself ours it,
and the shots of the full and empty teacup. In this way, it also suggests
Alicia's inability to escape her situation—whenever she drinks the coffee, she
becomes trapped due to the poison in her cup—and the poison in her sham of a
marriage..
A repeated object not so noticeable is Mrs. Sebastian's needlework.
Mrs. Sebastian is constantly working on her needlepoint while Alicia is being
poisoned. Hitchcock, in fact, goes out of his way to make sure that a shot of
her `toiling at her work' is included several times. One cannot help but be
reminded of Dickens classic A ...
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her `real' world (her
relationship with Devlin). For example, when Alicia is unable to make contact
with Devlin due to her illness, there are several shots of her in her sick bed,
then fading to Devlin waiting impatiently at a bench. The fading between shots
usually comes at a point when Alicia is feeling trapped, and this suggests that
the fades represent her desire to escape back to her `real' world.
Since, obviously, it is difficult to use colour as a nuance in a black
and white film, Hitchcock makes use of light and dark images. When Alicia and
Sebastian are alone together, it is usually in darkness.— implying safety in
hiding, and also implying a different world. Alicia is ...
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Analysis Of The Final Scenes Of Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious. (2004, January 3). Retrieved November 22, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Analysis-Final-Scenes-Alfred-Hitchcocks-Notorious/909
"Analysis Of The Final Scenes Of Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 3 Jan. 2004. Web. 22 Nov. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Analysis-Final-Scenes-Alfred-Hitchcocks-Notorious/909>
"Analysis Of The Final Scenes Of Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious." Essayworld.com. January 3, 2004. Accessed November 22, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Analysis-Final-Scenes-Alfred-Hitchcocks-Notorious/909.
"Analysis Of The Final Scenes Of Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious." Essayworld.com. January 3, 2004. Accessed November 22, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Analysis-Final-Scenes-Alfred-Hitchcocks-Notorious/909.
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