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June 11, 2007

Marnie - 7

Hitchcock calls this film a "suspense sex mystery." Somehow this film is rated PG. This is a very mature film about the psychological damage that is possible from traumatic experiences. Marnie (Tippi Hedren- also in The Birds) is a kleptomaniac, morphing from identity to identity as she gets a job and then steals from the safe before moving on. On one particular job she is hired for her looks by Mark Rutland (Sean Connery- just before his stint as Bond). He falls for her and even after finding out about her problems, is encouraged to seek a solution rather than run. This film includes a rape scene, an attempted suicide, and concludes with an intense flashback sequence in which Marnie is finally able to recover the disturbing memories form here youth that have traumatized her and left her with deep wounds and strange behaviors (All of this and the MPAA still thinks this is on the level of The Incredibles). A very interesting film in the study of psychology, pathology, and the human condition.
Hitchcock's cameo appearance/facial expression in this film is one of his funniest and his use of what I'll call a sidekick, most significantly in this film as Mark's former sister-in-law, Lil (Diane Baker) and Barbara Morton (Patricia Hitchcock- Alfred's daughter) in Strangers on a Train, as well as other films puzzles me.

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