Permeated by Freudian ideas
The psychiatric Hospital "Green Manors" gets a new director (played by Gregory Peck). It doesn't take long before one psychiatrist (Ingrid Bergman) finds out that the Gregory Peck character is not the person he is pretending to be. Because she is also madly in love with him she tries to cure him. Then the story really begins.
"Spelbound" is permeated by Freudian ideas and in this respect feels a bit old fashioned. This was less the idea of Alfred Hitchcock himself as well from producer David O. Selznick. Selznick was the man who brought Hitchcock to America so Hitchcock felt he owed him something.
Freud attached great importance to the analysis of dreams, so "Spellbound" has some important dream sequences. These dream sequences were designed by the famous artist Salvador Dali and are today the main reason the film is still well known. For me they are on par with the dream sequences from "Wild strawberries" (1957, Ingmar Bergman).
Of Hitchcocks own making are the special effects in the scene where the Gregory Peck character is drinking milk. This scene is partly filmed through the bottom of the milk-glass. Hitchcock had a soft spot for special effects using a glass of milk. In "Suspicion" (1941) he used a tiny lamb in a glass of milk, giving it a mysterious "shining".
I wonder if today the psychological condition of the Gregory Peck character would still be the point of focus of the movie. Maybe today the focus would be more on the workaholism and the autism (the psychological buzzword of today) of the Ingrid Bergman character. Every period has its own psychological fashions!
"Spelbound" is permeated by Freudian ideas and in this respect feels a bit old fashioned. This was less the idea of Alfred Hitchcock himself as well from producer David O. Selznick. Selznick was the man who brought Hitchcock to America so Hitchcock felt he owed him something.
Freud attached great importance to the analysis of dreams, so "Spellbound" has some important dream sequences. These dream sequences were designed by the famous artist Salvador Dali and are today the main reason the film is still well known. For me they are on par with the dream sequences from "Wild strawberries" (1957, Ingmar Bergman).
Of Hitchcocks own making are the special effects in the scene where the Gregory Peck character is drinking milk. This scene is partly filmed through the bottom of the milk-glass. Hitchcock had a soft spot for special effects using a glass of milk. In "Suspicion" (1941) he used a tiny lamb in a glass of milk, giving it a mysterious "shining".
I wonder if today the psychological condition of the Gregory Peck character would still be the point of focus of the movie. Maybe today the focus would be more on the workaholism and the autism (the psychological buzzword of today) of the Ingrid Bergman character. Every period has its own psychological fashions!
- frankde-jong
- Mar 12, 2024