Psycho Image Analysis

This is after the shower scene where Marion is stabbed by Norman’s mother; in that scene there is a lot of restricted narration where we hear the knife go in but we don’t see her get stabbed because of the strict Hays Code back then. This scene is very effective because of the suspense where you know something is going to happen but when (stabbing scene), Hitchcock was the master of suspense. However, the restricted narration still has power because it forces us to imagine the brutality of Marion's wounds. This image is so powerful because it shows her waste-less body has nothing anymore, and she can’t turn back the time to change anything and her blood/life is going down the drain. The drain is a perfect graphic match, because the drain represents the eye seeing her life flash a way like it’s nothing, the camera also follows the water down the drain like her future. Furthermore, her facial expression looks sad and lifeless because of the water from the shower near her eye looks like she’s crying, the montage helps with this effect where it goes fast from where she's getting stabbed and then slow again until the blood washing down the drain.