Psycho

Synopsis

The movie's first scene takes place in a cheap hotel room in Phoenix and shows Marion Crane (Leigh) and her boyfriend Sam Loomis (Gavin) in their undergarments after a Friday afternoon tryst. Marion is clearly unhappy, torn between her desire to be with Sam and her shame at these discreet meetings. But, Sam explains that between his father's unpaid debts and alimony payments to his ex-wife he is forced to live in the back room of a store. Until his finances improve, they cannot marry. Marion returns to find that her boss has just sold a house to the rich Tom Cassidy (Frank Albertson), for $40,000. Cassidy flirts with Marion, asking if she is "unhappy." "You know what I'd do about unhappiness," he tells her, "I'd buy it off." He then plops down $40,000 in cash, explaining that his daughter has never had an unhappy day in her life and this house is to be her wedding present. Marion's boss is uncomfortable with that amount of cash in the office and asks Marion to deposit it at the bank for the weekend, explaining that he'll get Tom to write a check the next week. Instead of depositing the money she packs and leaves town, the money the ticket to her and Sam's happiness.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Hitchcock builds his trademark tension as Marion becomes convinced that people know of her crime, trading her car for another in California, because she believes she is being followed. Driving at night in a pouring rain, Marion realizes that she can go no further and turns off at the sign for the Bates Motel. The place seems deserted, but she notices the figure of a woman in the window of the now infamous house around back. Honking her horn for service Norman Bates (Perkins), runs down from the house and helps her into the office.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The motel, he explains, receives few visitors, as a newer freeway has bypassed the road she was following. Only those who are lost or take the wrong turn ever come here, but Norman keeps it open to give him some relief from taking care of his ill mother. Despite finding out that she is only 15 miles from Fairvale, and Sam, Marion decides to stay the night. Norman cheerfully offers to share his dinner with her rather than force her back out into the storm. While settling into her room Marion overhears a fight between Norman and his mother through the open window. The mother refuses to allow Marion to come up to the house, accusing Norman of a "cheap erotic mind" that "disgusts" her and of him lacking the "guts" to send Marion away. Norman sheepishly brings some food down to the motel, inviting Marion to dine in the office's parlor, which is gaudily decorated with examples of Norman's hobby of taxidermy: birds being his favorite subject. As she eats, Marion discovers that Norman's mother is not only ill, but also overly controlling of her son. "Do you ever go out with friends?" she asks. "Well a boy's best friend is his mother," he replies. As they talk Marion comes to realize that she must return to Phoenix and make amends.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It turns out that Bates' mother is not ill physically, but mentally. She stabs Marion to death in the famous shower scene (with its now trademark score by Bernard Herrmann, featuring the screeching violins). Unlike Mary from the novel, Marion is not decapitated in the scene. Bates is horrified when he finds the corpse, but cleans up as if he has done this several times before. Her car, belongings, and the money is sunk in a swamp behind the Bates' property.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The rest of the film deals with the search for Marion. Marion's sister Lila (Miles) drives to Fairvale to confront Sam, unable to believe that her sister took the money. As they talk another individual arrives, a private detective Milton Arbogast (Balsam), sent by Tom Cassidy to recover his money. Arbogast explains that he was following Lila in hopes that she would lead him to Marion. It soon becomes clear, however, that Sam is unaware of either Marion's whereabouts or the theft. Arbogast then is able to trace her to the Bates Motel, calling Lila and Sam to let them know. But Arbogast's curiosity proves fatal when, upon returning to the motel, he climbs up to the old house to talk with mother.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

When the detective fails to report back, Sam and Lila become convinced that he must have discovered something important, possibly from Norman's mother, and decide that it is time to involve the law. But the local sheriff is skeptical of their story, or that Norman's mother could have any important information. For Norman, he explains, lives alone at the Motel, his mother having died 10 years earlier in a particularly gruesome murder/suicide.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Lila and Sam realize that they must go to the motel themselves to see what Arbogast had discovered. While Sam distracts Norman down at the office, Lila goes up to the house to talk with mother. Sam tries to pressure Norman into admitting that he stole Marion's money, but the argument escalates into violence and Norman is able to knock Sam unconscious, and flee up to the house. Hearing Norman enter the house, Lila slips down to the basement only to find the corpse of Bates' mother. At that moment the killer is revealed to be Norman Bates himself (cross-dressed in his mother's clothing, complete with wig). Sam also appears at this moment and is able to wrestle the butchers knife out of Norman's clawed hand.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

At the end of the film a forensic psychiatrist (Oakland) explains to Lila, Sam and the police that Bates' mother, though dead, lives in Norman's psyche. Norman was so dominated by his mother, and so guilt-ridden over having murdered her 10 years earlier when it appeared she was about to remarry, that he had tried to "erase" the crime from his mind by bringing his mother back. Physically this was done by exhuming her corpse and preserving it with his taxidermy skills, but mentally this was accomplished by allocating half of his personality to his mother. He acted as she would, talked as her, and even dressed as her in an attempt to erase her absence. And because Norman was so very jealous of his mother, he assumed she was also jealous of any woman he was attracted to. The Norman personality had convinced itself that his mother was not dead, so it had no knowledge of "her" crimes. The last scene shows Bates totally taken over by his "mother."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~