Au-Cinema Films

Sequence Analysis Stealing The Key

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A close analysis of the sequence in which Alicia, under Devlin's orders, steals the key off Sebastian's key ring just before a reception to celebrate their recent marriage illustrates how Hitchcock's deft manipulation of film techniques induces the spectator to identify with Alicia as she undertakes her risky mission. Hitchcock could easily have captured the action of Alicia's stealing the key in one shot, but chooses instead to break up this action into twelve separate shots. Of the twelve shots in the sequence, four are long or medium shots that function to establish or reestablish the larger context of the action. The majority are close-ups of Alicia's face, hands, or the key. Five of the shots are subjective, from Alicia's point of view. Hitchcock's frequent use of point-of-view shots is his primary means of "drawing the spectator right inside the situation." Because we are made to see so much of the action through Alicia's eyes we are pulled into a strong identification with her. We understand her thought process because we are compelled to see exactly what she sees.

In the first shot of the sequence we have a rather distanced view of her. She appears in long shot, framed by the door leading from the bedroom to Sebastian's dressing room. The deep focus of this image conveys a feeling of open space, room to move around in, and a background in which to retreat. (See figure 45.) This feeling of freedom is quickly dispelled as Alicia, in the same shot, moves toward the camera into a much tighter medium-close shot, and the background behind her goes out of focus. At this point Alicia's eyes gaze intently off frame left. (See figure 46.) Shot 2 reveals, from her point of view, what she is watching so intently: the door to Sebastian's bathroom, slightly ajar, with his shadow moving fitfully across it. (See figure 47.) Sebastian's shadow flickering on the door serves the double purpose of making him a menacing figure (since shadows are often associated with danger) and indicating his very close proximity to Alicia, making her attempt to steal the key seem ter-rifyingly risky. The third shot of this sequence is a reaction shot of Alicia, who moves forward into an even more tightly framed close-up. The calm expression on her face, in striking counterpoint to the danger of

Figure 45. The deep focus of this shot of Alicia (Ingrid Bergman) conveys a feeling of open space, room to move around in. (Notorious, 1946, American Broadcasting Companies Inc.)

Figure 46. Alicia moves into a tight medium-close shot and the background goes out of focus, dispelling the feeling of freedom. (Notorious, 1946, American Broadcasting Companies Inc.)

Figure 47. The shadow on the door indicates Sebastian's menace as well as his close proximity to her as she is trying to steal his key. (Notorious, 1946, American Broadcasting Companies Inc.)

Figure 47. The shadow on the door indicates Sebastian's menace as well as his close proximity to her as she is trying to steal his key. (Notorious, 1946, American Broadcasting Companies Inc.)

her situation, makes her seem extraordinarily courageous. Her eyes glance down in the direction of Sebastian's dressing table, which, as we saw in the previous shot, is situated just outside the door to his bathroom.

Shot 4, from Alicia's point of view, begins with the dressing table seen from where Alicia was standing in the previous shot. Then the camera slowly tracks up to the dressing table, gradually revealing the focus of Alicia's gaze: Sebastian's key ring with the key to the wine cellar. The tracking shot, moreover, is accompanied by mysterious music, which rises to an eerie crescendo as the camera moves closer and closer to its target. The camera's movement toward the keys visually expresses the intensity of Alicia's desire for the forbidden object. The rise of the music's volume suggests a corresponding rise in the intensity of Alicia's emotions as she contemplates the riskiness of what she is attempting to do. The close shot of the forbidden key ring with which the shot ends signifies the huge importance of the key attached to it, whetting our appetite to discover what is behind the locked door that only it can open. Through such cinematic devices Hitchcock makes the viewer as determined as Alicia to appre-

Figure 48. Because of Alicia's closer proximity to the door, Sebastian's shadow looms larger. (Notorious, 1946, American Broadcasting Companies Inc.)

hend the key. Like so many of Hitchcock's shots which go beyond the simple function of giving plot information, this shot is instilled with nuances of feeling that can only be projected through the manipulation of the cinematic apparatus. Hence, it qualifies as a moment of pure cinema.15 In shot 5, a long shot of Alicia, she is still across the room from Sebastian's dressing table and the keys. She walks toward the dressing table until, at the end of the shot, she is framed in a medium shot. As she is about to grasp the key ring, Sebastian's offscreen voice suddenly addresses her: "I'm surprised Mr. Devlin is coming tonight." These words flow over into shot 6: a subjective shot from Alicia's point of view of the bathroom door with Sebastian's shadow moving across it. Now, because of her increased proximity to the door, the shadow looms even larger, making it even more menacing and a perfect visual correlative of her increased danger (see figure 48). Shot 7 returns us to the same vantage point as at the end of shot 5 (a medium-close shot of Alicia). She is still on the verge of grasping the key ring even as Sebastian's voice continues, "I don't blame anyone for being in love with you, darling." The question generated by

Figure 49. A subjective shot of the key. Everyone can identify with the difficulty of getting a key off a key ring. (Notorious, 1946, American Broadcasting Companies Inc.)

the way this sequence is edited is: Will Alicia have the nerve to attempt to steal the key with Sebastian so palpably present immediately offscreen, as was first indicated by his shadow and now by his offscreen voice?

Shot 8, a big close-up of Alicia's intrepid, determined face glancing down at the key chain answers the question. Shot 9 is a subjective shot, a big close-up of Alicia's hands struggling to remove the wine cellar key from the ring, identifiable by the initials unica, which in Spanish means "the only one." (See figure 49.) Placing the forbidden key on a key ring was a brilliant touch, because everyone can identify with the difficulty of getting a key off of a key ring. By making this a subjective shot, Hitchcock once again compels the viewer to identify with Alicia's dangerous and compromising action. Sebastian's voice continues from shot 8. He is still alluding to his discomfort at having Devlin at the party: "I just hope that, uh, nothing will happen to give him any false impression. . . . Be with you in a minute." Shot 10 is another close-up of Alicia looking toward the bathroom door, followed by shot 11, another subjective shot, from Alicia's point of view, of Sebastian's looming shadow. These shots are a reminder of how close she has just come to being caught. The tension is finally broken momentarily in shot 12, a long, deep-focus shot of Alicia returning to her bedroom, presumably with key in hand. In the very next shot, without missing a beat, Sebastian strides out of the bathroom, making us fear that he might be aware of the theft.

In the sequence just analyzed, Alicia is presented as extraordinarily brave in undertaking such a risky endeavor. She steals the key, as it were, from under her husband's nose, and Hitchcock's technique intensifies our awareness of her danger by putting us in her place. But our reaction to her physical danger is complicated and heightened by the morally ambiguous nature of the theft. It is one thing to steal a key from a villain for a good cause, but in this case the villain is also Alicia's husband, a man who loves and trusts her. She is taking advantage of her intimate access to his personal possessions in order to rob him. On top of this, the man for whom she is stealing the key is not just an agent of the law, but the man she loves. Because of these emotional complications, Alicia's theft of her husband's key is not just an uncomplicated heroic action done for the good of her country. She is also cuckolding and symbolically castrating him. Through the combination of close-ups and subjective shots, Hitchcock situates the viewer inside the action, giving us first-hand knowledge of what it feels like to be someone who is so desperate to redeem herself, to win love and self-acceptance, that she is willing not just to put herself in grave danger, but also to become a traitor and a thief. The suspense generated is so great because so much is at stake if she is caught, not the least of which is having to face the man she has falsely loved and betrayed. Hitchcock's systematic use of point-of-view or subjective shots implicates the viewer not just in suspenseful situations where one's life is at risk, but in actions so dangerous and subversive that what is really at stake is one's soul. If we allow ourselves to become engaged, pulled in by Hitchcock's seductive techniques, we learn about dimensions of our psychic and moral life that surprise us and give us pause.

Hitchcock summed up his motivation for making films in his interview with Truffaut: "My main satisfaction is that the film had an effect on the audiences, and I consider that very important. I don't care about the subject matter; I don't care about the acting; but I do care about the pieces of film and the photography and the sound track and all of the technical ingredients that made the audience scream."16 Elsewhere, Hitchcock has said, "I aim to provide the public with beneficial shocks. Civilization has become so protective that we're no longer able to get our goose bumps instinctively. The only way to remove the numbness and revive our moral equilibrium is to use artificial means to bring about a shock. The best way to achieve that, it seems to me, is through a movie."17

Whether or not we scream at a Hitchcock movie, the best ones put us through an experience that frightens us, shatters our complacency, and brings us knowledge of parts of ourselves of which we may have been unaware. Hitchcock's genius is to create films that exploit the resources of the film medium to make us react, make us feel fear, or make us experience not just the chaos that may erupt from without, but that which unfurls from within us. His movies fit Kafka's definition of a good book: "an ax for the frozen sea inside us."18 Hitchcock managed to be a superb entertainer whose films nonetheless have a very sharp edge.