Marnie

I've come across two shops over the last several months- both with an ever flowing traffic of new and used dvd's and VHS that have had a dramatic effect on my wallet/paycheques. Still- the deals are too good to pass up and the collection is filling with some real quality, keepers and good fun.

I hadn't seen Marnie in years and I'll confess, right off the bat, although Alfred Hitchcock remains one of the giants and geniuses of film- I was never big on his films. He was technically brilliant but his direction of the writing, the actors and the characters they played, played cold. (Apparently from some of the biographical material I've read over the years- and the interviews I've watched from the actors who worked for him, he was indeed a strange man).

I think what saved him, more often than not was the material and the fact that people Like Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart, Rod Taylor, Grace Kelly, Eva Marie Saint, Paul Newman and Julie Andrews had enough talent to provide warmth above a technical cold that would have otherwise left a theatre empty.

Marnie plays rather differently than most of his work and I think, in this case, it may be Sean Connery and Tippi Hedren who dig deep to flesh it out.

The film concerns a young woman (Tippi Hedren) who is primarily a habitual thief. She moves from job to job (and in some cases, from city to city), infultrating different businesses, finding out specifically where their cash sources (safes) are and stealing their purse, then slipping away like a ghost in the night. What's important to note is, almost immediately, just as that reality is being presented in the films opening, Hitchcock blends enough background on her real life identity, in quick flashes of scenes, to show a frail, damaged woman who is desperately still seeking the love and approval of her mother.

Marnie's shaded pursuits come to a grinding halt when she begins to work for Connery, who remembers her from one of her past pursuits but employs her anyways. When she steals from him and makes her getaway, he tracks her down, finds her and instead of turning her in, holds it over her head and manouvers her into a marriage. And thus begins a very engaging study of damage, nurturing and (perhaps) healing.

Marnie's past holds a deep, dark and damaging secret that has led to her behaviour, her abhorrence of men and being touched- and her desperate need to care for and to be loved by her mother.

A number of people who have reviewed this film throughout the years have had a field day with the psychological dynamics of Mark (Connery) and Marnie's (Hedren) relationship. In watching this for the first time in years, last week, I took it differently. And I think it's in Connery's performance.

There is a controlling aspect to Mark's behaviour as he catches her, then moves into her life. But what I found interesting in watching it is- you very much have to watch the film a number of times to actually 'get it'.

I personally think that Mark was drawn to her immediately- that he in fact was someone jaded by his wealth, never required to actually feel or do something good or real with his life until he met her. And as he catches her in her lies, watches her as she slowly unravels from her rehearsed performance of cool, he sees the damage, digs to find out just what it is and why it is, then ultimately wants to help heal it.

And that's where Sean Connery (a very young Connery, too), finds a depth that Hitchcock was never reputed to have or instruct. Initially, in the performance, Connery demonstrates a calculated, cold control when he catches Hedren. But as the film unfolds, so does a gradual awakening of care and then love.

Tippi Hedren is terrific in this film. Film students will know how strange and strained her dealings with Hitchcock were. It's amazing that she could perform at all and, once again, I think she must be an amazing lady to have delivered this character study- and deliver she does in spades.

This film (released in 1964) is almost more significant by today's standards. It deals with the complexities of relationships between men and women- the hidden (and sometimes painful) emotional baggage that slices out from the past, and the layered differences between controlling, cold behaviour and caring, and more importantly, between sex and love.

Sean Connery had a really difficult role to play in this piece. It's to his credit, being so young in his beginnings and in his craft- and working in an environment that was ultimately 'technically cold' and controlled, he demonstrated an individual spirit that rose above and delivered. Tippi Hedren is the other side of that equation. To play someone so initially cold and damaged- then to display the emotional meltdown and rebirth... Incredible performance and no doubt a tough and draining one.

This isn't an easy film. It's an extremely layered one. Like I said at the beginning of the review- it requires a number of viewings to get it.

What I found most interesting is- in the end, the depth of their performances (and Louise Lathem too as Marnie's Mother), help Hitchcock's mechanics truly shine (the stealing sequence in Mark's office and Bruce Dern's attack from the flashback sequence).

For film students and anyone seeking a story that asks you to dig deep.