★ 9 / 10
The idea was to kill myself, not feed
John Chard
The idea was to kill myself, not feed the damn fish. Sometimes cited as the last decent Hitchcock film, Marnie actually should be regarded as one of the…
The idea was to kill myself, not feed the damn fish.
Sometimes cited as the last decent Hitchcock film, Marnie actually should be regarded as one of the maestro's best films full stop! A swirling mysterious tale of repressed sexuality and traumatic falsehoods, Marnie to me is one of Hitch's more accomplished works.
Tippi Hedren is Marnie, a woman who is both a kleptomaniac and a pathological liar, but her problems are more deep rooted than the surface ones we see. Sean Connery is Mark Rutland, he catches Marnie out for robbing the safe at his company and we then follow the two on a journey to get to the bottom of the demons that are gnawing away at Marnie - to the point that flashes of red and the touch of Mark send her into terrified panic.
With bleak back drops and fluctuating climate conditions, Hitchcock pulls the audience into Marnie's troubled psyche, and with Hedren's perfectly tense and wrought performance fittingly snug, the film delivers the goods for a fine Hitchcock viewing. As usual some scenes are priceless Hitch, a nightmare sequence with a tapping hand at the window hits the mark, while a scene involving a horse thumps the emotive heart and steers the film towards the special finale.
Top stuff all round from the master director. 9/10
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★ 9 / 10
A terrific, underrated movie.
Sleepin_Dragon
Marnie operates as a confidence trickster, taking her cash from her employers, and changing her identity along the way, she's spotted one day by a wealthy…
Marnie operates as a confidence trickster, taking her cash from her employers, and changing her identity along the way, she's spotted one day by a wealthy businessman named Mark, who tries to help her see the error of her ways.
This seems to be one of the more underrated Hitchcock movies, it doesn't seem to be as worshipped as the likes of Vertigo and The Birds, but I think it deserves more acclaim. Hitchcock definitely pushed the boundaries with Marnie, in many ways it was ahead of its time, tackling subjects that are this time weren't often talked about.
What's so interesting about this film, is learning what makes Marnie tick, the history with her mum, and her terror of blood, you have to wait to learn everything, but its worth the wait.
The filming and camera work are terrific, so many scenes are memorable, that moment where Marnie is raiding the safe, with the cleaner at work the other side of the door, that was great, that moment where Mark leans over her on the ship, that was also a great piece of filming.
Two incredible performances, Tippi Hedren is perfect as Marnie, she's conniving, smart, broken, but glamorous and determined. Connery is the perfect counter balance, he's tough, forthright, confident and fiendishly handsome, the pair combine incredibly well.
It deserves more acclaim.
9/10.
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4K Blu-ray...