Black Narcissus

 SPOILER ALERT! The plot will be discussed.

 

Black Narcissus (1947) deals with several themes. On the one hand, it addresses the way temptation may deviate the holy from the religious path. But, it also cleverly questions the limitations of the cloistered life that tries to deny the primitive urges of humans. The film also explores the self-destructive dangers of presumptuous pride. On another level, the movie explores how people deal with the mysterious nature of existence.

 

Mother Dorothea (Nancy Roberts) and Sister Clodagh (Deborah Kerr) are stationed in Calcutta. Dorothea grudgingly gives Clodagh the title of Sister Superior of St. Faith (faith is tested in this story) and assigns her to the remote and challenging Himalayas. Dorothea says she doesn't feel the young Clodagh is experienced enough to handle the assignment. There is to be a convent established at the Palace of Mopu, donated by the Old General (Esmond Knight) to start a school and a dispensary. The first shot is of those mountains, but the scenery, though breathtaking, was constructed on the movie set. 

 

We get exposition of the distant locale by way of a letter from the agent representing the Old General, Mr. Dean (David Farrar), who seems dubious about the project. He is the irreverent hedonist in the story who represents sexual temptation, always wearing shorts that reveal a great deal of skin. His narration is depicted, and we see how the palace sits precariously on a cliff. It is eight thousand feet up but not anywhere as high as Mt. Everest, which implies the true majesty of God’s creation, beautiful but imposing, like the deity Himself/Herself. Perhaps the height here suggests getting closer to God, but there is a lethal drop downward which implies the danger inherent in such a place if one thinks he or she has the hubris to tame the power of the Almighty. But there is also another force working here. The highest peak there is called “the Bare Goddess,” and the Old General’s father kept his concubines in the palace. We immediately have the insertion of a sexual undertone which may suggest the temptation that the nuns must confront. (Could the erect mountains imply phallic symbols?). Dean describes the inhabitants at the base of the palace as similar to people anywhere else, making them representative of all humans on earth. There is a holy man who sits on the palace grounds meditating through all types of weather, possibly in reverence to the awesome nature surrounding him. Dean says there is a quirky elderly female caretaker, Angu Ayah (Mary Hallat), who Dean labels as being loyal, if not competent. 

 

The palace has a room full of birds, implying that possibly only what can soar should be that high. Of course, the humans put them in cages which shows the human desire to tame nature. To possibly make amends for the mistresses that his father housed there, the Old General tells Angu Ayah that visitors will be arriving. But she assumes they will be like those from before, and when she finds out they are nuns, says humorously they will not be any fun, the implication being that being pious is elevated but dull. Dean and Angu Ayah do not see the benefit of altering the longstanding way of life that has been at Mopu, but the Old General wants a hospital and school for the people to benefit the lives of the natives. When Angu Ayah asks what nuns eat, The Old General points out a crate that is full of sausages. He says that, “Europeans eat sausages wherever they go.” The possible implication is that an alien influence will be invading this place, like imperialists. But, although a stretch, it may be that the sausages are more phallic symbols, another reference to the latent sexuality residing in the locale. Dean looks at a painting of the concubines that lived there before, and Angu Ayah jokingly questions how the palace could turn into a convent, given its past. Dean says maybe the nuns will not stay long, as if the place will reject them like a mismatched organ transplant.

 

Dorothea tells Clodagh that four nuns will be going with her for various reasons. Sister Briony (Judith Furse) has strength, Sister Phillippa (Flora Robson) is the gardener, and Sister Blanche (Jenny Laird), also known as Sister Honey, is “popular” and thus likable. Sister Ruth (Kathleen Byron) is a troubled woman whom Dorothea hopes will find her way in the appropriately named St. Faith convent. Dorothea tells Clodagh to make Ruth feel important. Clodagh wonders if that is a good thing, possibly suggesting that it encourages pride, a failing in those who are religious. Dorothea turns the tables on Clodagh by suggesting she, “Spare her some of your own importance, if you can.” Dorothea is warning the younger nun that she may have too much hubris. She tells Clodagh that “the superior of all is the servant of all.” Her statement not only refers to Clodagh’s new title, but also to God’s role, where the true one in control only uses power for the betterment of others. 

 

The story does not waste time on depicting the hazardous journey to the palace, but instead focuses on the tribulations of establishing a Western outpost on the ancient Eastern territory. There is chaos at first as many of the local residents appear for hospital treatment and children show up for school. The Old General paid the residents to appear to initiate the success of his project. Despite the maneuver, Clodagh actually thinks it’s not a bad idea to show the natives that the nuns are there to help. Ruth says the youths “smell.” What may be pleasant to Eastern sensibilities might be repellent for Westerners, so a point is made about relativity. One of the boys, Joseph Anthony (Eddie Whaley, Jr.), the cook’s son, becomes the translator for the nuns. Sister Blanche spreads her “honey” nature to quell the alarm of the prejudicial Ruth, who says the children look “stupid,” by suggesting how she can draw on a blackboard and have Joseph Anthony translate. 

 

Clodagh and Briony meet with Dean, who is handsome. He takes his feathered hat off and begins to twirl it so that he communicates a presumptuous informality. When the unsmiling Clodagh says she wants to talk to him about business, he is flirtatious when he says he wondered if she wanted to talk about something else. Briony notes his audacity with a facial recoil. He says that Clodagh would like the Old General since he, too, is a superior being. He is making a play on her title but is also being sarcastic about her arrogant religiosity. Clodagh questions why he is being “rude” to her, and he basically says he doesn’t want to be talked down to in a lecturing manner, which is a judgment on his way of looking at things. He points out the erotic painting and notes that the palace was called “the House of Women,” which really means a house of prostitution. Clodagh orders that the painting be taken down and tells Dean that the reformed name of the place is St. Faith. Her defiant attitude in not accommodating for the carnal in people makes him prophetically say that, despite her resolve, the nuns will not last there long.

 

Briony visits Clodagh at night since she can’t sleep. The wind howls constantly and the altitude provides less oxygen, so they are all tired. Also, Briony says that Ruth feels the worst with many aches and pains. Could her ailments indicate that she is most susceptible to having her faith challenged? In addition, the plumbing keeps breaking down, which shows how removed they are from the civilized world. Briony points out that they all have spots on their arms which are probably due to contaminated water. This list of problems illustrates what challenges the nuns are encountering in what is a hostile setting for them. To add to the sleep-depriving situation there are drums beating constantly. Briony says that they are for the Young General, who is very sick, and if they stop it means he died. Could the drums be a sort of superstitious way of wanting to keep his heart beating? In any event, the youth does die.

 As the locals help to construct the convent’s facilities, Clodagh talks with Dean, who says, condescendingly, that the natives are like children who must be weaned off of being paid to frequent the new establishment. Clodagh says everyone needs discipline or “we should behave like children.” Dean says, “Don’t you like children, sister?” It is another veiled sexual comment about procreation. He goes on to stress the primitive nature of the people there and warns against using modern medicine since if it doesn’t work, the natives will think it is some kind of evil magic (another foreshadowing). Ruth then rushes in, her virginal white nun’s outfit stained with blood, an image of how threatening the place is. But there is more going on here. When Ruth sees Dean, his presence freezes her for a moment. Ruth recovers to say she stopped the bleeding of an injured worker, but not after a great deal of blood was lost. Clodagh chastises her for not seeking help sooner. But, Dean senses that the nun is interested in him, and Dean sees that fact as a way to pierce the high-minded attitude of the nuns. He goes out of the way to open the door for Ruth. He then thanks her for aiding the worker. Ruth, hungry for a compliment after being criticized, smiles broadly. Given the sexual context, could the blood also be symbolic of a woman losing her virginity? 

 Dean brings the very young Kanchi (Jean Simmons) to the convent. She is an orphan who kept showing up at Dean’s place and is a bit of a problem child because of her interest in sex, an insertion of the theme of temptation here. Dean says another son will now be the new Young General (Sabu). He was going to attend Cambridge, but Dean says he will now be a warrior and marry young. From the window of a classroom, Ruth smiles as she spies on Dean mounting a pony, her lustful thoughts evident in her look. 

 There is an interesting scene between Clodagh and Phillippa, the gardener, who is staring off into the mountain range, not noticing the bell ringing that summons the nuns. Clodagh notes that Phillippa has seemed detached. She says that looking out at the vastness of the natural setting brings back memories from her past that she does not want to remember. Clodagh says it is the place that is bewitching her and says they must keep working to put such thoughts at a distance. The exchange between the two brings to mind the sailors in Moby Dick who become one with the sea when they climb the high masts and then lose who they are and sometimes plummet into the ocean. It also suggests how the Romantic poets experienced the sense of the sublime in the Alps. The writer Thomas Carlyle had a similar remedy that Clodagh prescribes - get to work so as not to think too much which can lead to too much questioning of existence that can bring on despair.

 But Clodagh is not immune to thoughts of her past. She has a flashback while praying, an act that is supposed to protect her from disturbing memories. She thinks about her life in Ireland when she was in love with a young man named Con (Shaun Noble). She comes from a wealthy family, and he asks her, since she has the means, if she gets the desire to get away from there. She tells him that she wants to stay there the rest of her life (which is ironic given where she is in this story). What follows is a memory of fox hunting, as she and Con ride horses (as was noted elsewhere several times in posts here, horses symbolize male sexuality). As she thinks of this scene, Clodagh’s face register’s excitement, a very different look than the stern one she shows as a nun.

 

The Young General arrives on a horse (sexual symbolism), which connects to Clodagh’s daydream. He says he wants to study there, but Clodagh says that convents only instruct children (before puberty?) and especially girls. The Young General points out that Jesus was a man, so why do they discriminate against males? She says Jesus only took the form of a man. The conversation emphasizes how the nuns are supposed to keep men at a distance, lest they become involved with them romantically. Yet, they worship someone who was a man on Earth. When the Young General reads the schedule of attendance he has composed he says he will learn physics from the “physical” nun. It is a funny line, but it also stresses how the celibate sisters are supposed to only deal with the spiritual and not the carnal. 

 What follows is Kanchi alone doing a seductive dance in one of the convent’s rooms as she amuses herself. Clodagh then has the handsome Young General enter the room, just what Kanchi would welcome seeing. He seems to ignore her, but as she runs out when Clodagh opens the door she smiles enticingly at him just before she departs. Later Dean says to Clodagh that the two youths may cause trouble for the nuns’ way of life. Indeed, Kanchi continues to look seductively at the Young General on several occasions.

 As Dean and Clodagh walk around the property, she notes that the holy man meditates on the ground that now belongs to the convent. She confesses that he, along with other aspects of the place, which are alien to their order, are “distracting,” which ties in with what she was saying to Phillippa. The locale seems to be upsetting their religious applecart. Dean reveals that the holy man is actually the Old General’s uncle, and was a high-ranking soldier who could speak many languages, although he has chosen a wordless life. Deans says that the contemplative man disturbs the Old General. Dean suggests that he feels guilty not having revoked the physical pleasures of the world for a meditative one like his uncle. The movie seems to be implying that the distractive holy man, who the locals revere, is more spiritual than the nuns who are supposed to bring religion to the “primitive” natives.

 

The Young General gets his way and begins studies with the children and girls. In the classroom, he pulls out a scarf that has a pleasing aroma, which seems to arouse Kanchi as she inhales. Ruth also notices it, and he says that the smell is Black Narcissus. The title of the movie suggests the dark, hidden drives that are invoked when one focuses on the self. The film also implies that the male’s presence brings attention to the physical senses. Ruth acts as if she doesn’t like smells, but she is most likely in denial. The nuns later marvel at the Young General’s outfits, with their precious gems that are colorful, quite the opposite of their bland clothes. Here we have the sense of vision being addressed. The talk brings another memory to Clodagh of her grandmother’s beautiful jewels, so she was attracted to material things in her previous life. Ruth says that the Young General is vain, and will call him Black Narcissus, a nickname she says fits because he looks like a black peacock. Her comment, which takes into account color and sensuality, stresses how different the Young General, and his world, is from that of the nuns, which disturbs and also attracts them. 

 

Time passes and the chapel in the convent is completed. When Christmas arrives and there is the singing of holiday songs, Clodagh remembers a Christmas with Con and others, when he gave her some jewelry as a gift. It is another instance of the materialism of her earlier life compared to the one dedicated to the spiritual she now pursues. Clodagh comments that the Young General’s referring to Jesus in an informal way is not customary. The inebriated Dean says he should be seen that way, just like our “daily bread,” a phrase that comes from The Lord’s Prayer that mixes secular needs with godly devotion. Clodagh angrily chastises Dean for his drunkenness and tells him not to come again. He goes off singing how he will not be a nun because he is too fond of “pleasure,” an obvious preference for physical gratification. Despite Dean’s irreverence, the Young General says he likes Dean’s singing voice, and Clodagh spies Ruth in hiding, who is also being drawn in by Dean’s singing. First, we had the sense of smell, then that of sight, and now we have hearing being stimulated as the physical tugs for attention away from the spiritual.

 

Clodagh knows that Ruth’s turmoil comes from emotional preoccupation over Dean. Clodagh, looking at the Bible for reassurance, tells her so, and says Dean, despite being charming, is not a good man. She admonishes Ruth even though she herself has been having thoughts of a romantic past. Ruth senses that Clodagh protests too much, and becomes jealous, suggesting that Clodagh may be interested in Dean herself. Clodagh is of course outraged and dismisses Ruth. 

 Shots of beautiful flowers tell us that Spring has arrived, but the religiously besieged nature of the community continues. Angu Ayah whips Kanchi for stealing a chain from a church ornament, an object used for a spiritual practice, so she can, ironically, wear it around her neck to accentuate bodily beauty. The Young General arrives and asks what Kanchi has done. Angu Ayah says she is a thief and tells the young man that he should be a man and beat her for her transgression, not a Christian gentlemanly way of dealing with the girl. He throws away the whip. Kanchi is on her knees smiling up at the Young General and is very close to him, suggesting the position for a sexual act. He places the necklace on her and she embraces him. This romantic act is then contrasted with Clodagh embroidering a picture of St. Francis. 

 

Clodagh discovers that instead of planting vegetables to sustain them in their mission, Phillippa has been growing beautiful flowers instead. When confronted by Clodagh, Phillippa says she wants a transfer. She is troubled because she feels she is forgetting who she was and “was losing the spirit of our order.” The suggestion is that she is being seduced by the allure of the locale which is subverting their purpose, which was to transform the place. Phillippa says that she has come to believe that there are only two extremely different ways of living there with its temptations: one is to be like Dean, and give into it; the other is to be like the holy man, and ignore it. Clodagh states that that is not their way, which is to remain pious while engaging with the environment. The implication is that the nuns have embarked on an impossible task.

 

Even Sister Honey’s optimism is broken when a mother brings in her feverish baby and Briony can't do anything for the very sick child. Honey is hysterical that Briony will not dispense some kind of medicine to help the baby, but there is nothing she can do to stop the illness. Honey couldn’t accept such negativity so she secretly gave some medicine to the mother (only castor oil). No children show up at the school afterwards and Joseph Anthony says it’s because the baby died. The nuns discover that the Young General, Kanchi, and all the servants are gone, too. Honey feels extremely guilty that she might have caused the infant’s death. Apparently, so do the villagers, since Angu Ayah warns the nuns not to go among the natives. (She also says that Kanchi ran off with the Young General, so the young girl’s seductive abilities were effective).

 

Clodagh rings the convent bell that signals that the residents should come to the convent. Dean sits in luxury at his place drinking coffee and being waited on by servants. He decides to answer Clodagh’s signal and shows up bare-chested presenting an exaggerated image of male sexuality. He tells them that a man once was riding a pony and had the animal kick an umbrella out of the way. However, a baby was asleep under it and the child was killed. The villagers subsequently killed the man. What was only a cultural and environmental challenge has now turned into something life-threatening for the nuns. 

 

Ruth has become more manic and paranoid. She pours out some milk sent to her from Clodagh thinking she would be poisoned. She sees Clodagh talking congenially with Dean, which just fuels her jealousy. Dean notes that Clodagh has changed and seems nicer, more “human.” It appears that Clodagh takes “human” to mean that people are imperfect beings. She says that she was in love with a man and it was thought they would marry, but he was “ambitious” and wanted to go to America with his uncle to become prosperous. (In other flashbacks Con seemed to be preoccupied with finances and worldly concerns). Con wasn’t taking her with him and she believes he never intended to marry her. So, she left first so as not to let it look like he rejected her. Her becoming a nun was originally not out of religious devotion, but she says her commitment grew and she did not think of Con until her arrival at this sensual place. She is now reliving the bitterness of his leaving her. She says that the Young General reminded her of Con, and that “The world comes thrusting in behind him.” That word “thrusting” seems deliberate since it brings a sexual connotation with it. Clodagh tells Dean of her feelings of failure since Phillippa wants a transfer and Ruth is not renewing her vows, according to a letter from Dorothea. Clodagh admits that she is powerless in this place, because she can’t eliminate the presence of the holy man, the Young General, the wind, and the mountains. If anything, her pride that Dorothea noted is being humbled, as if God is teaching her a lesson. Dean says that the nuns must leave before their goal to change the nature of the surroundings destroys them.

 

Clodagh finds Ruth’s light on in her room late at night. She has barricaded the door, but Clodagh gets it open. Ruth is no longer wearing her habit. She seems mentally unbalanced, showing signs of paranoia when she says that she will not leave with Phillippa because all of the others are jealous of her, especially Clodagh, and they will lock her away. Clodagh is worried that Ruth will harm herself, so she says she will stay with her until morning, Ruth laughs manically, then sits down to apply makeup, which symbolically shows her being overwhelmed by her sexual nature that has been repressed. Clodagh’s response is to pick up a prayer book, a sort of weapon against giving into her own erotic drives, since she, too, in her daydreams, has been fantasizing about her former love interest. The image almost looks like someone using a cross to ward off a vampire. 

 

As a candle burns down, showing the passing of the night, there are shots of Gauguin-like paintings on the wall of primitive women, reflecting the primal force that is occupying Ruth’s mind. Clodagh falls asleep and drops her prayer book, implying her spiritual weapon has been neutralized. Ruth then puts on her boots, and the camera reveals her shapely legs to stress her sexuality. Clodagh wakes up just as Ruth runs out while laughing crazily. The sisters search for her calling her name.  Angu Ayah makes fun of their yells. Remember, she represents primitive sexuality, and thought the nuns did not fit in there, believing the palace was more fun with the concubines. 

 

The night adds metaphorically to the dark impulses driving Ruth. She runs into the jungle, a place divorced from civilized behavior. The noises of animals reflect the instinctual forces inhabiting Ruth. She goes to Dean’s place and says she has revoked her vows. He does not respond the way she hoped since he offers to have her stay at a guest house and then arrange to have her leave the next day. Ruth confesses her love for Dean, who says he doesn’t love anyone, which shows his capitulation to an amoral life devoid of human commitment. He tells her to go back to Clodagh who will help her. She is driven mad by her jealous nature now and faints, yelling Clodagh’s name over and over. When she awakes, she agrees to go back to the convent, but only if she travels alone. When Dean puts a coat over her, she takes the opportunity to kiss his hand. The sensual aspect of touch is now added to the senses that are invoked here.

 

Clodagh has been up all night looking for a sign of Ruth. She heads back to the chapel, exhausted. Her cloak is stained by mud, possibly suggesting how the locale has darkened her perception of religious purity. Ruth hides in the shadows and the camera focuses on her sinister, unblinking eyes. Ruth sneaks in past Clodagh, who then takes a physically and, symbolically, spiritually perilous walk around the perimeter of the palace. She looks over the edge and seems shaken. Is she fighting her own urges that could lead to self-destruction? She begins to ring the bell as she says the Hail Mary prayer to shore up her spiritual strength. At this moment, Ruth emerges with her demonic look. She tries to push Clodagh, whom she considers her romantic rival, off the mountainside. Clodagh holds onto the rope attached to the bell, like a lifeline to God. She climbs back up and in the process Ruth tumbles over the side to her death. Drums that were beating cease, signaling the end of life, as it did for the previous Young General. Perhaps the movie is suggesting that Clodagh and Ruth are parts of the same character, Ruth being the primitive sexual underside of Clodagh’s pious spiritual outward self and the two are at war with each other. 

 

The Young General returns to offer his confession about running off with Kanchi. He says he has made a mistake and will change and commit himself to being like his ancestors who were upright in their morality. So, the jungle does not always win, if he follows through. But, the sisters could not conquer the powerful forces at work high up on the mountain. To try to do so would be presumptuous, almost God-like. As she leaves, Clodagh looks up at the palace high above her and the mist blocks it from her sight. The image shows that her quest was doomed from the start because it was beyond her reach. She tells Dean that she will be transferred to a place where she will no longer be in charge, probably because of the death of Ruth. It may be hard for her to swallow her pride, but she says, “I shall have my ghosts to remind me.” Her experiences have shown her that despite taking on a religious vocation, she has all the flaws of every human.

The next film is Glengarry Glen Ross.

Marnie

SPOILER ALERT! The plot of the movie will be discussed.

Yes, another Alfred Hitchcock film. And, it won’t be the last. The director just offers so much to talk about. Although many of his movies deal in some form with sex, this 1964 piece is probably his most overt on the subject, and its lack of subtlety may lessen its accomplishment. But, it still lends itself to meaningful discussion.

Hitchcock recycles elements from previous projects here. The first shot in the film is at a train station. Not unfamiliar territory for the director. He used a train and a tunnel in North by Northwest to imply sexual intercourse, and it’s possible the opening scene harkens back to that suggestion. The title character’s trauma induced amnesia is reminiscent of Gregory Peck’s condition in Spellbound, and both characters have an adverse reaction to a color related to the traumatic event: for Peck’s character it is black lines against a white background, and in this film, it is red (Marnie becomes upset when she sees clothing, flowers, or ink which is colored red, and the film turns red, mirroring what is going on inside of Marnie’s mind). The opening has the camera focus on a purse. We then cut to a scene where Sidney Strutt (Martin Gabel) tells the police that an employee by the name of Marion Holland stole $10,000 from his business. In the film Psycho the similarly named Marion Crane steals money, and we also see it stashed in her purse. Psycho dealt with the love-hate relationship between a son and his mother. Here, it is between a daughter and a mother. When we hear the line, “I always thought a girl’s best friend was her mother,” it echoes the one used by Norman Bates, who says, “son” instead. Like Psycho, we have a dysfunctional relationship with a mother, and the psychological fallout resulting from that family dynamic. 

One may find that Hitchcock is presenting a misogynistic view here of female sexual deviance and criminality. Even the book Sean Connery’s Mark Rutland reads is entitled Sexual Aberrations of the Female Criminal.  However, I think it’s more objective to approach this motion picture as a case study primarily of one traumatized female. To counter the anti-female argument, Hitchcock immediately shows us the male preoccupation with sex by how detailed Strutt describes the thief, saying she was “five-five, 110 pounds, size 8 dress, blue eyes, black wavy hair, even features, good teeth.” He lingers over his words, suggesting he is enjoying the picture he conjures. He hired her even though she had no references, which shows his interest in her was purely physical. He gripes by implying she held a high opinion of her looks because she would tug down on her skirt, as if she were hiding a “treasure.” Of course, this comes off like he was angry because he couldn’t get a decent look at the goods. Mark happens to be in the office because he does business with Strutt, and the former’s sexist aspect comes out because he urged Strutt to pretty his place up with attractive women. While talking with Strutt he realizes that he has seen the criminal before, describing her as the “good looking one with the legs.”

We see Marnie (Tippi Hedrin), her real name, washing out the dark coloring to reveal her true blonde hair. She has taken on numerous identities as we see her sorting through several Social Security cards with different names. We, thus, realize that she has committed a number of these thefts. But, it also implies that she may not know who she really is, what is the true nature of her personality. She escapes to a stable in Virginia where the workers know her by the name of Edgar, her true last name. She enjoys riding her beloved horse, Forio. In mythical literature, the horse can symbolize sexual power. Or, in this case, it could be that Marnie, who we later learn is sexually “frigid,” is displacing her sexual desire by riding a horse because in her mind she could never “ride” a man. In fact, there are many references to animals in the movie. Marnie applies for a payroll job at Mark’s office. He appears to recognize her, is intrigued as she again tugs down at her skirt as he observes her, and allows her to get the job. He later says he wanted to be a zoologist and once trained a wild jungle cat, getting the creature to trust him. This story implies an analogy to his developing relationship to Marnie. He solidifies this connection when he says he studied the instinctual behavior or predators, and females in the animal world are mostly predatory, as Marnie has been in her preying on employers. He seems almost cold at times, like a detached scientist studying a specimen. They go to the horse races in Atlantic City, and, in addition, Mark’s father loves horses. Mr. Rutand (Alan Napier) says that “the best thing for the inside of a man or a woman is the outside of a horse.” This line sounds like he is just talking about riding, but the act of wrapping legs around a horse, and the idea that it’s best for the “inside” of a person, sounds sexual, and later Mark says his father understands “basic animal lust,” and judges people by their “smell,” which associates men with primal physical sensation. On the other hand, Marnie, despite her affection for Forio and the subconscious need for intimacy it indicates, says that the whole idea of intimacy in marriage is “degrading, it’s animal.” Later in the story, Marnie says that Mark acts like, when it comes to her, he has caught an animal. He says that is true, a wild one. It is probably her wildness that brings out both his interest in animal behavior and his more intellectual interest in solving her psychological mystery. It is no big surprise that the movie presents men as accepting the basic instinctual sexual drive that is associated with animals since humans belong to that family. For Marnie, however, her experiences have alienated her from her instincts.

Let’s get back to Marnie’s visit with her mother after her trip to the stables. She goes to Baltimore to see Bernice Edgar (Louise Latham). We learn that the money Marnie has been stealing is not for herself but instead for her mother. She has not been at home much, probably because she does not feel accepted there. She appears to be trying to buy her mother’s love which she has found elusive for many years. Bernice lavishes more attention on the bratty neighbor’s child, a substitute Marnie who also has blonde hair, than she does on her own daughter. Marnie notes how her mother avoids contact with her. Marnie says she feels there must be something wrong with her that her mother doesn’t love her own daughter. This parental modeling has not helped with Marnie’s inability to deal with intimacy. In addition, mom’s disgust of men has shaped the child’s attitudes toward the male gender. Bernice does not like the highlights in Marnie’s hair, thinking it is meant to draw the attention of males. She says, “Men and a good name don’t go together,” and “Decent women don’t get mixed up with men.” For Bernice, a “good name” and being “decent” mean a woman does not appear sexually easy. Marnie does not drink, smoke, or dress suggestively. She reassures her mother by saying that they don’t need men and that they can do okay for themselves. Today this attitude might indicate an attempt at declaring female empowerment. However, in the context of this story, Marnie and her mother are not examples of independence but of damaged aversion toward males.

The scene at Mark’s place of business when Marnie is working there on a Saturday is a psychologically symbolic one. A violent storm erupts while Marnie is inside his office. He keeps reassuring her, but her fear of the storm seems to have triggered a re-experiencing of a trauma as she presses herself against the door, as if trying to escape, saying she wants the “colors” to stop. The wind causes a large tree branch to break through the huge picture window, shattering the glass. One could interpret the storm as an expressionistic projection of the turbulence inside Marnie since she is attracted to Mark at the same time she loathes him as a man. The thick tree wood appears phallic as it thrusts through the protective interior of the supposedly safe housing. Mark then calms Marnie, comforting her with gentle forehead kisses and an embrace. Is this scene a foreshadowing of the sexual act later between Mark and Marnie? Is this just an incident that draws Mark into wanting to understand the mystery behind this woman? Is it symbolic of a breakthrough toward which Marnie is heading in trying to gain self-understanding? It may be a “breakthrough” for Mark, also, to move forward because the storm destroys the Pre-Columbian art pieces that belonged to his deceased wife. After Marnie says she is sorry that the storm destroyed them, he says everything “has to go sometime.”

Marnie and Mark spend a lot of time together, and she even has a room when she wants to stay at the Rutland family home. Mr. Rutland says his son is sneaky, illustrated by the way he hides booze in tea, and later Mark steals a hidden kiss from Marnie in the stables, an appropriate place where Marnie temporarily associates him with the area where horses reside. But, she robs his office, too. He catches her in the act, tells her she he knows about her lies, even about the fact that she is really from the south by the way she pronounces words. She tells him some truth about growing up poor in Virginia, and reveals her real name. He says it’s his lot in life to have fallen in love with a liar and a thief. He covers up her theft, and eventually anonymously pays back Strutt for the money she stole.

On the one hand Mark is not romantic in the least. He says Marnie will marry him and that way she doesn’t have to steal since she will be part owner of his wealth. He says the marriage will make her his legal possession, because it would either be him or the police. After the ceremony, he sarcastically tells the preacher thanks for being there because without him, it wouldn’t have been legal. On their honeymoon cruise he learns that Marnie can’t bear the thought of physical intimacy. The thought of him touching her makes her feel like she’s going to die. He says she needs a psychiatrist. Her response is “Oh men! You say ‘no thanks’ to one of them and Bingo! You’re a candidate for the funny farm.” Again, her words do hit accurately at the male ego in a general sense, but in Marnie’s case, she actually does have a mental condition, which today would probably fall under a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder. He promises to be kind to her. They sleep in separate beds. But her adversity finally gets the better of him and one night he bursts into her room and pulls off her robe. He then is sorry for his action, and covers her back up. Some may say what follows is a rape, but Marnie voluntarily lies back on the bed and allows Mark to have sex with her. However, she looks like she goes into a type of catatonic state to remove herself mentally from what is to her an intolerable act. The next day she tries to drown herself in the ship’s swimming pool. Mark wants desperately to find out about Marnie’s past. She says to him, “You’re dying to play doctor,” which also carries the sexual connotation of the game sexually curious children play. Her response of “church, purify, cleanse” to the word “water” implies her desire to be her mother’s version of “decent.” When he says “sex” she first says Jack and Jill, innocent gender roles, but then progresses to “masculine/feminine” which makes her think of physical intimacy that leads to her aversion when she says, “I’ll slap your face if you come near me again.” She says “me” in response to “death” which shows her distraught state, and she counters the word “red” with “white” wanting to blot out her fearful past. She then begs for help. They cut the honeymoon short and return home. They begin to make some progress together.

However, Lil (Diane Baker), the sister of his deceased first wife wants Mark for herself. She overhears about Marnie’s past as the newly married couple talk and invites Strutt to a family dinner party hoping that the businessman will recognize the woman who stole from him. He does, but Mark uses his influence to keep the theft a secret. Lil is another negative female character in the film, presented as a gold-digger. But, Hitchcock balances her marriage-for-money schemes with Mark’s admitting that the Rutland family would get out of economic woes by marrying the occasional heiress. It appears both sexes can use the marital arrangement for financial gain.

Mark eventually brings Marnie’s horse Forio to the Rutland home, smoothing the way psychologically for her to transfer her feelings from the animal to him. When she must kill her horse after the accident of jumping over a wall permanently injures the animal, it can be seen as symbolic of her painfully freeing herself of the sexual surrogate. However, her first impulse is to steal from the safe in the house and pack so she can run away. Mark stops her and she breaks down in his arms, feeling emotionally broken by her mental state. Lil actually helps Mark by overhearing Marnie talk to her mother living in Baltimore. He has a private investigator find out about Bernice Edgar’s past, including the fact that she killed a man when Marnie was six years old. Mark brings Marnie to her mother’s house to bring everything into the open. Bernice was a prostitute once, and on a stormy night one of her men (Bruce Dern) in white suits (sailors) went into Marnie’s room and caressed the girl. Bernice came in to stop him, but the sailor fell on the mother, hurting her leg. Marnie was the one who actually killed the sailor, hitting him with a fireplace poker. The blood flowing down the man’s head is the reason for her reaction to the color red, and the weather of that night caused her fear of storms. Bernice said she was the one who killed the sailor out of self-defense, fearing that the authorities might take Marnie away from her. She admits to becoming pregnant with Marnie at the age of fifteen, when she was lured into having sex with a boy whose sweater she wanted. She finally tells her daughter that she was the one thing in the world she truly loved. Marnie’s revulsion concerning sex came from her mother’s sexual promiscuity leading to the violence, and Bernice’s subsequent preaching of negativity toward intimacy with men.

Marnie says that she grew up “decent” by her mother’s sexual definition of the word, but she was also a liar, a cheat, and a thief. Sexual repression has a tendency to surface in distorted, sometimes, anti-social ways. Marnie and Mark leave the house. They hear girls singing a song that was heard earlier in the film when Marnie first visited her mother. The lyrics include the word “purse,” which is a slang term used by prostitutes to refer to a vagina, and which reminds us of the yellow purse, the creased end of which resembles female genitalia, carried by Marnie in the first scene. Does the ending suggest an alternate version of the Adam and Eve story, that the innocence of girls is always in jeopardy of being corrupted by men?

The next film is Altered States.

The Girl with a Pearl Earring

SPOILER ALERT! The plot will be discussed.

I admire a good painting, but I go to the movie theater to see motion pictures. So, I was skeptical about a film whose focus was an unmoving image. But, this story is about the people that created the famous painting. If you are a fan of sexual tension, this film throbs with it as it suggests the possible back story behind the portrait with the above title by Johannes Vermeer. The director, Peter Webber, absolutely makes you feel as if you are inhabiting the damp (should I say fertile?) canal streets of 17^th century Delft. I had the urge to buy wooden shoes after seeing this movie. Scarlett Johansson is perfectly cast as Griet, an alabaster beauty cowled in a white head cover, her mouth always parted as if unconsciously and sensually waiting for her sexual hunger to be fed. She is the maid who has come to work in the Vermeer household containing Vermeer's wife, mother-in-law, his children and other servants.

Colin Firth does not speak many words as Vermeer. But, he tells us what he is feeling with his brooding looks that show how he can barely contain his seething passion for Griet, who he quickly realizes understands the power of color and light. They are kindred souls in this sense, but their non-sexual sexual affair can only be realized in displaced ways. He teaches her how to make paint in a very sensual, tactile scene filled with the colorful mashing of ingredients and mixing of fluids. He puts his robe over the two of them, as if under bed covers, as they look into a camera obscura. When she eventually sits as the subject of the painting, he must pierce her ear so that she can wear the pearl earring. This scene suggests sexual penetration as he plunges the needle through her earlobe, spilling the virginal blood. He knows that their connection is illicit, as is seen when he tells her to buy materials for his paint, but says that his wife need not know about her errand for him.

The film is filled with sexual displacement and frustration. Vermeer cannot have Griet, or women like her of a lower order, so he keeps getting his wife pregnant. But, continues to feel unfulfilled. His wife has Vermeer as her husband, but she is unable to understand his art, and thus, is unable to satisfy him. So, she is jealous of Griet. The mother, wanting the family to financially prosper, basically acts as a madam, urging Griet to get her son-in-law's creative juices flowing. She procures her daughter's testicular-shaped pearls for the artistic climax. Tom Wilkinson plays the lascivious patron, who lusts after the objects of Vermeer's portraits, and almost rapes Grief, but can in the end only possess the two dimensional female depictions. Right after the ear piercing scene, Griet runs off to a bawdy bar, seeks the butcher boy who wants her, and indulges her lust for Vermeer by having sex with the boy. Vermeer's daughter, filled with Freudian jealousy toward Griet, tries to frame the maid for stealing. She also smears with mud the white (sexually unsullied?) hanging sheets that Griet has cleaned, painting her own canvas almost in rebellion against her father's art.

At one point, Vermeer wants to know why she has moved the chair next to the female subject that he is painting. Griet says, "She looked trapped." Giet is trying to be free herself, but it is difficult given the time in which she is living, and her station in life. Vermeer has the power as employer, and orders her to make time to make the paint and sit for him. He uses her despite the fact that he puts her in jeopardy by inciting his wife's jealousy. As the mother-in-law says to Griet, "You are a fly in his web. We all are." 

Griet may not be able to be Vermeer's lover, but she has enough influence to get him to clear her name of theft and she can refuse to uncover her head despite Vermeer's demands that she do so. When she sees the painting, she says to him, "You looked inside me." So, there is a spiritual penetration, if not a physical one. In the end, he sends her the pearl earrings, a tribute to how important she was to his art.

Next week’s movie is Touch of Evil.