"Notorious" responses

1) Fabe, “Hollywood Auteur: Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious”
In her close analysis of the stealing-of-the-key scene, Fabe shows how Hitchcock uses “pure cinema” to get us to identify and empathize with Alicia. Choose another scene where that happens, and explain how it’s done. (Try to include details about cinematic style, such as camerawork, décor, lighting, costuming, framing, actors’ movement in space, special effects, etc.)



In the scene where Devlin and Alicia unlock the cellar door, Hitchcock’s use of point-of-view shots and subjective shots give the viewer an insight into what the characters in the movie are experiencing. The camera follows the two into the room and the camera “eye” investigates the room just as the couple does: for the first time. While Devlin begins to inspect each bottle of wine, the camera follows his movements and when his eyes stop on something peculiar, so does the camera. As Devlin picks out a bottle with a false bottom, the camera follows the falling bottle to the ground, shards of glass shimmering in the intensely lit MacGuffin. We are seeing everything unfold from the eyes of the characters that are experiencing it. The viewer knows about the cellar only what Devlin and Alicia know so that events unfold for us just as suspensefully as they do for the couple. The camera zooms to the floor, followed by an eyeline match of the sand that fell out of Sebastian’s broken bottle. Devlin takes out a evidence bag and puts some of the ore in inside. The camera studies him as he studies the ore. Both the viewer and the couple hear noises from upstairs and Devlin panics. The camera follows his panicky feeling with shots of his distress juxtaposed with his panicky hands shoving the broken bottle and the sand under the shelf. The shot gives us insight to Devlin’s panic. The two quickly set everything straight and the camera follows them quickly outside to the patio. This sequence is a great example of how Hitchcock uses the technical aspects of film to convey true meaning.


2) Bonitzer, “Notorious” 
a) What does “uncanny” mean?
b) How does Hitchcock invite the feeling of “the uncanny” in relation to Mrs. Sebastian, Alex’s domineering mother? Specifically, what stylistic devices (such as camerawork, editing, décor, lighting, costuming, actor’s movement in space, music, etc.) create that effect?

“Uncanny” is defined as something that seems undefined and gives one much discomfort. As far as Notorious goes, Mrs. Sebastian’s pure existence is uncanny. She is not identified until late in the film and then she is only identified as Alex’s mother, not someone who controls him and how he thinks and lives. She is constantly coming out of the shadows and walking out from behind something, as if she had been snooping or hiding to her benefit (an interesting, seemingly self-referential, voyeur). She is constantly dressed very drab and looks ghostly whenever she confronts her son. It is almost as if Alex is controlled by the mere thought of his mother; haunted by the past that she has provided for him. She is the one that convinces Alex to poison Alicia but is barely even acquainted to her. The fear she invokes in the characters is what makes her so controlling and domineering. She seems to embody her thoughts in Alex’s actions, letting her take action through Alex. She is the real villain of this film.



3) Bonitzer, “Hitchcockian Suspense”
Using the stealing-of-the-key scene as an example, briefly explain what Bonitzer means by this: “Hitchcockian editing is an erotic editing.”

Hitchcock’s suspense is what makes Alicia’s sequence of stealing the key erotic. The eroticism in the editing is what keeps us wanting to watch; wanting to see what happens next. This is not literal eroticism, rather, an eroticism that leaves the viewer wanting more. When there is a prospect that Sebastian will find Alicia stealing his key, the camera follows her into a submissive hiding position. This vulnerability gives the viewer the desire to see what happens to Alicia. Who knows, she may be caught and that is what keeps us watching; the prospect that she could be caught and the knowledge that something bad will happen to her.