Many of Alfred Hitchcock films all seem to revolve around the noir genre of films, but Notorious (1946), is a film that is focused on a combination of romance and suspense. This film can also be considered as one Hitchcock’s favorite films since it was one of his first work as a producer. Personally, this film seemed to have a lot going on but in a very simplistic way. The use of “pure cinema” was also used in a variety of cinematic shots of pure genius to helped take the audience in a romance and suspenseful journey through the female gaze of Alicia Huberman (Ingrid Bergman). Hitchcock’s main goal throughout Notorious was to focus on the relationships that were developing, all while putting in the “MacGuffin” in the plot that leads the characters
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In order to tell the story, he wanted through a rectangular film, Hitchcock really used every shot as a point of reference to other symbolic moments of the film. As known in “pure cinema,” dialogue is never the main technique to tell a story. Instead, Hitchcock relied on the shots he took of the actors and certain items found near by the actor. For instance, drinking and alcoholism is strongly referenced throughout the film by the focus of close-up shots. We see this in the scene where Alicia is lying in bed after a hangover with a close-up of the fizzling glass of aspirin that is beside her bed. Hitchcock is well known for his close-up shots and many of them do not need dialogue to tell what is happening. In this case many of the close-up shots that Hitchcock used were to reference the “MacGuffin.” We see this in the case of the close-up with the wine where a man makes a scene at the dinner table. And then again when Devlin (Cary Grant) leaves the wine bottle in Prescott’s office. From these close-up shots the audience can infer that the MacGuffin is connected with the wine bottle, which is the uranium found inside the wine bottle. The “MacGuffin” found in Notorious is the most realistic MacGuffin in all of Hitchcock films. The MacGuffin in this case could have been anything and the plot would still have not changed, which, …show more content…
Hitchcock really changed that in the film Notorious by creating shots of a female glance through Alicia’s eyes as an American agent. At the time Notorious was released in 1946, the audience was usually used to seeing female gaze through the eyes of being controlled by men. Although in this film, Hitchcock seems to give Alicia more depth and power by showing us just how she is experiencing the journey. We first see the female gaze through her eyes when she is lying in bed and the shot is then turned upside-down where we see an upside down Devlin. We can also see her perspective through scenes where she has realized that Alex and his mother (Madame Konstantin) were poisoning her through the coffee. This shot is also a use of “pure cinema” where not much dialogue was needed to let the audience know that Alicia had discovered the sinister plot against her. Hitchcock, was a master at using “pure cinema” through the female gaze of Alicia distorted image of the two shadows fusing in as
In order to tell the story, he wanted through a rectangular film, Hitchcock really used every shot as a point of reference to other symbolic moments of the film. As known in “pure cinema,” dialogue is never the main technique to tell a story. Instead, Hitchcock relied on the shots he took of the actors and certain items found near by the actor. For instance, drinking and alcoholism is strongly referenced throughout the film by the focus of close-up shots. We see this in the scene where Alicia is lying in bed after a hangover with a close-up of the fizzling glass of aspirin that is beside her bed. Hitchcock is well known for his close-up shots and many of them do not need dialogue to tell what is happening. In this case many of the close-up shots that Hitchcock used were to reference the “MacGuffin.” We see this in the case of the close-up with the wine where a man makes a scene at the dinner table. And then again when Devlin (Cary Grant) leaves the wine bottle in Prescott’s office. From these close-up shots the audience can infer that the MacGuffin is connected with the wine bottle, which is the uranium found inside the wine bottle. The “MacGuffin” found in Notorious is the most realistic MacGuffin in all of Hitchcock films. The MacGuffin in this case could have been anything and the plot would still have not changed, which, …show more content…
Hitchcock really changed that in the film Notorious by creating shots of a female glance through Alicia’s eyes as an American agent. At the time Notorious was released in 1946, the audience was usually used to seeing female gaze through the eyes of being controlled by men. Although in this film, Hitchcock seems to give Alicia more depth and power by showing us just how she is experiencing the journey. We first see the female gaze through her eyes when she is lying in bed and the shot is then turned upside-down where we see an upside down Devlin. We can also see her perspective through scenes where she has realized that Alex and his mother (Madame Konstantin) were poisoning her through the coffee. This shot is also a use of “pure cinema” where not much dialogue was needed to let the audience know that Alicia had discovered the sinister plot against her. Hitchcock, was a master at using “pure cinema” through the female gaze of Alicia distorted image of the two shadows fusing in as