Comments on: Marnie (1964) – The Abusive Nature of Therapy

By: Film Log For The Second Half of 2009 « Ruthless Culture

Film Log For The Second Half of 2009 « Ruthless Culture — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 15:33:49 +0000

[...] Marnie (1964) [Ruthless Culture] : I have decided to try and build up a proper understanding of Hitchcock and, at random, I [...]

By: Lois Bernard

Lois Bernard — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 16:57:10 +0000

Really liked your review, have not seen movie but will check it out asap.

By: Guy A. Savage

Guy A. Savage — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 17:47:16 +0000

Loved Bladerunner. Still traumatised by 1642….
Yes, it might work. I read a novel a few months ago about Pennsylvania and it really grasped the devastating poverty of the region. I tend to shy away from remakes–especially if the original is good.

By: Jonathan M

Jonathan M — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 17:42:43 +0000

Hmm… it might work. I’m wary of knee-jerk reactions to remakes. Ridley Scott has made some dodgy films (nowhere near as many as Tony Scott though, he seems to be turning into Uwe Boll) but this could be good.

By: Guy A. Savage

Guy A. Savage — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 17:32:35 +0000

I’ve only watched (and enjoyed) 1974 so far. When I heard about the remake, my first reaction was “oh no!” But then the idea that it was Ridley Scott sank in. According to the Serpent’s Tail website (quoting from the Guardian) , the new film will be set in a “run-down industrial state, possibly Pennsylvania.”

By: Jonathan M

Jonathan M — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 17:13:07 +0000

My concern with the Red Riding remake is that it’s working an old saw…

“This here’s the South Boy! We Do What We Want!”

Films about the moral decadence of the Southern states have been with us since the dawn of cinema (Birth of a Nation?) but Red Riding’s treatment of the North of England is quite distinct from that in say Get Carter. Get Carter presents the North as basically broken, stuck in post-industrialising decline. but Red Riding suggests that the North, in those days, was experiencing a Renaissance. It brushes against the post-Thatcher consensus that the North is basically a huge economic sink hole for the money generated by London.

I can’t see that kind of dynamic mapping well onto the US unless you make it about culturally vibrant Black southern cities like Atlanta.

Having said that, I really enjoyed American Gangster so Scott may yet surprise me.

By: Guy A. Savage

Guy A. Savage — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 16:59:23 +0000

I have a fascination with the film/book dynamic, but then I went to find the book. Winston Graham. Is that the same Winston Graham who wrote all the Poldark novels? I was hoping for something about the quality of a Highsmith novel.

BTW, you probably heard that Ridley Scott is doing a remake of The Red Riding trilogy. He says it’s going to be set in the USA…..

By: Jonathan M

Jonathan M — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 16:47:33 +0000

Glad you enjoyed it Guy :-) I have been told though that the book Marnie is based upon is not as good as it should be. So be careful before hitting Amazon.

You’re right, that case does resemble that of Marnie in so far as the lawyer seemed to seek out the psychologically damaged woman for his own ends.

By: Guy A. Savage

Guy A. Savage — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 16:17:13 +0000

An absolutely marvellous review. I’ve enjoyed Marnie in the past, but now I want to re-watch it (and read the book on which the film is based).

Oddly enough, your interpretation reminds me of a murder case a few years ago. A woman (Elisa McNabney) with a criminal past and many aliases began to work for a much older lawyer. He caught her stealing from his wallet and later she embezzled funds from his practice. He married her. Many years later she and a female accomplice murdered the husband (used horse tranquiliser, froze him, and buried him). When things got too hot, the wife took off on a cross country run from the police. She committed suicide in jail.

Anyway, the real-life case echoes those issues you mentioned in Marnie of folk-psychology, transparency and opacity.
Thanks.