The Shower Scene In the Movie Psycho
The film Psycho, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, contains what is perhaps the most famous scenes in film history. Janet Leigh, the heroine of the picture, is viewed undressing and entering the shower. The film shows shots of the shower, the water running through the drain and Janet Leigh behind the shower curtain. A dark figure is seen coming closer to her, and as the shower curtains are torn open, we hear Janet Leigh scream, the intruder produce a knife, and the sounds of screeching violins can be heard as the poor lady meets her doom.
There are many reasons why this scene is so well regarded. The controversial nature of the moment and the effect this had on conservative viewers in 1960 is perhaps the greatest reason for this scene’s fame. To give you an idea of how this culture thought of film, consider that this was the first Hollywood movie to contain a shot of a toilet! You can then get an idea of how people would have felt seeing a person in a bra, undressing and getting into a shower in a Hollywood film. Then include with that the shock of seeing her murder!
Hitchcock created the film with the aim of creating something that looked a lot rawer than the films his fans was used to seeing. The film was in black and white which was uncommon in the 60’s. The edited version had a much faster pace than what was considered normal.
The structuring of this scene took Hitchcock a long time to complete, and he would work for hours on each shot and how the shots would be edited together before shooting a single minute of film. This allowed him to cut in such a way that the scene is thought of as far more explicit in the audiences mind than it actually is if you slow the film down to watch each part frame-by-frame.
But what perhaps caused audiences to be shocked the most seeing the film for the first time was the way Hitchcock had created Janet Leigh’s character up until that time. Janet Leigh was sold as the star of this movie, and was treated as the main character until the shower scene. But this moment occurs only halfway through the picture! So along with the shock of seeing a murder happen onscreen, the audience is shocked that the main protagonist of the film has been murdered before the story had found any kind of resolution.
While Hitchcock’s movies always represent a somewhat odd view of reality, there can be no questioning that he was a masterful virtuoso at manipulating the audiences emotions. The famous shower scene of this film is testament to this fact, and it is no wonder it Is become one of the most well-known, often-parodied and often-taught scenes in film history. Though some today are reluctant to see old movies, especially those in black and white, Psycho warrants a watch just so you can find out about this milestone in cinema.