Marnie (1964)

8 November 2020

There are a lot of powerful Hitchcock films in the director's 50+ film oeuvre. Some are iconic like North By Northwest or Psycho; some inspire remakes like Rebecca or Rear Window (Disturbia, 2007). But I think many are just a product of their own time... and probably wouldn't be remade today.

This brings us to Marnie (1964), a film about a the title character (Tippi Hedren) who at the beginning of the film is a thief and con artist. When she tries to steal from her next target, Mark Rutland (Sean Connery), she ends up blackmailed instead. The story is ultimately about digging into Marnie's past, and uncovering what happened that led her to her present day behavior. There are some scenes of voilence, abuse and rape over the course of the film. This is one of Hitchcock's more expressionist films in terms of set design and craft, although the actors themselves art sometimes stoic and detached.

The film had mixed reviews in its time, and it makes sense that it stands out less than some of his other films. Its theme is fairly dark, and if you compare it to the films that went to the Oscars (Mary Poppins and My Fair Lady were top contenders - as well as the marvelous Becket I should add) or the events that still reeled over that year (Kennedy assassination late '63). While some things feel a little stale (Herrmann's music seems a little distracting here, and the overall story feels really rough and jumbled around the edges). But the core of the story, as well as fine performances from the cast make this to be a solid late Hitchcock film, if you like Hitchcock and are ok with films containing the content mentioned earlier. 7/10