ipl-logo

How Does Hitchcock Create Suspense In Basic Instinct

989 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Racial stereotypes in movies and tv shows

Basic Instinct by Paul Verhoeven is a sexual thriller, which exploring the ideas of femme fatale women, power games and manipulation between woman and man. This is not a movie driven by its moral lessons; this is a movie about wanting the multimillion-dollar mansion of a murderess. The women in Basic Instinct kill in order to fight against restraints put on them by their families and society. The movie features three women, who in one form or another, have this as their killing aim in Basic Instinct, women kill in acts of rage directed specifically against men and the family.
If we just start from the first scene we can see how the director establishes the mood of the noir movie with an erotic bias. Let’s get closer into the details of the …show more content…

According to the definition of suspense, director gives us all the information before the action has begun in order to cause an audience to have an emotional reaction. As Alfred Hitchcock said: “It could be achieved only by giving them knowledge to get confused between the mystery story, thriller, suspense story and who done it”. The plot in Basic Instinct was constructed so that every relevant clue could’ve been read in two ways, which means that all the given solutions are not necessary true. Again as an example we can take the best moment of the movie- the interrogation scene of Catherine (Sharon Stone) at the police headquarters. When she is sitting all alone by the wall in the room, right in front of all the male officers, in white skimpy dress. She makes the audience in the room stare at her without a blink of an eye, as they get to see the most private part of her body. She is getting to play with the officer’s minds, trying to get the most attention from Nick (main character). Her body was transformed into a weapon, which she uses to control a man’s desire. Her sexuality and intellect are the bullets, which could take any man "down". Back in Hitchcock’s days it would not have been accepted to have a bisexual serial killer but someone who looks like Sharon Stone would have been a perfect suspense character for any of Hitchcock’s

Show More
Related
719 Words | 3 Pages

Rear Window is perhaps one greatest films in history. Directed by legendary film director Alfred Hitchcock, Rear Window is a mystery thriller based on the short story “It Had to Be Murder.” Rear Window tells of a photographer, Jeff, who had broken his leg in an accident. Confined to his apartment, he passes the time by looking out his window. During this time, he became obsessed with the theory that one of his neighbours, Thorwald, murdered his wife.

Read More
511 Words | 3 Pages

These are all strong characteristics of noir narrative. For instance, Norma is just delusional while Joe is caught in a moral battle of genuine love of another screenwriter and the wealth and pity of Norma. The film does use shadows most commonly when referring to Norma's past, particularly the scene where

Read More
1012 Words | 5 Pages

Femme fatales are usually destroyed in the end, either by being killed or being domesticated, as though they are being punished thinking they can compete with men. Male dominance is always restored by the end of the film. In established film noir, the new economic, social, and sexual freedom that women experienced during the war years as they joined the workplace was quite unsettling to many American men. This fear of strong, independent women and the need to show the danger of this independence was shown, whether consciously or not, in most film noir. The Maltese Falcon, like many films of its era, joins in the distrust of all things foreign.

Read More
1299 Words | 6 Pages

Film noir movies often have stylistic characteristics such as exaggerated lighting and shadows. Scarlet Street contained many subjective camera shots while also using exaggerated shadows, for example during the first scene in the movie, there is an emphasis on the mans shadow as he walks into the room. Which brings me to a crucial point, Black and white filmmaking. Black and white style is considered to be an essential attribute for a film noir movie, black and white allows the director to emphasize on distorting images, for example use of the venetian blind shot. Another continuous pattern of film noir is to include main stock characters, this film contains: an anti-hero and a femme fatale, these stock characters are always seen in noir films.

Read More
664 Words | 3 Pages

“Here is where noir comes into its own, introducing themes of true moral and psychological complexity. Cornered, The Blue Dahlia, Black Angel, Phantom Lady, Deadline at Dawn, D.O.A., The Big Clock, The Big Heat are stories of manhunts conducted by investigators with personal motives” (Hirsch 173). This is an excellent brutal crime drama that demonstrates a real threat back in the 1950s with dealing with the national crime

Read More
425 Words | 2 Pages

Alfred Hitchcock successfully performs suspense and shock in a number of ways. One way was when he reveals that the cop is following her, making us think that he found out concerning the money she stole. Another way is when we see Norman staring through the hole, examining her as if he is waiting to make his move. The last technique that Hitchcock constructed suspense is when we identify a shadowy character gazing at her take a shower, making us wonder who it could

Read More
1546 Words | 7 Pages

The femme fatale consists of two primary characteristics. The foremost being the seductive nature and the beauty of the woman playing the part. The second being the mystery behind the woman. The femme fatale in question, Ilsa Lund (Ingrid Bergman), is an excellent portrait of these two main features of the femme fatale among other additional features that are cemented into the concept of the archetype. The number of examples that exhibit these qualities in the film are on the border of infinite.

Read More
856 Words | 4 Pages

After watching The 39 Steps (1935), I realized that Alfred Hitchcock really did have a talent for establishing suspense through films. Even though suspense was the primary focus, Hitchcock managed to effectively and intelligently mix humor, romance, and thriller. He uses a variety of techniques to convey these feelings to the audience. According, to some of his interviews with Francois Truffaut, Hitchcock mentions his love for The 39 Steps, specifically about the techniques he uses to create a bewitching experience throughout the film. In this film, he uses a variety of themes that he continued to constantly use throughout his later films.

Read More
1506 Words | 7 Pages

To the unknown eye, Hitchcock has carefully and skillfully used Mise-en-scene to his advantage, causing the audience to feel fear and a sense of caution towards the character of Norman Bates. It isn’t until we reflect back on the scene and notice how intelligently Hitchcock uses the positioning of props and the characters, lighting, camera angle and staging, that we notice how he has added meaning to his characters but has also to the film, creating suspense and fear from one scene to the end of the film. Ultimately proving the point that Hitchcock “the master of suspense” uses Mise-en-scene to not only help make a brilliant film but also uses it as his disposal to add meaning in his

Read More
719 Words | 3 Pages

You would be hard pressed to find a Noir without a femme fatale. There is usually some spider woman in the middle weaving the men of the plot to her plan. These women challenge male masculinity in Noir and are usually tamed by the protagonists or destroyed. In Vertigo we have Judy. She strings Scottie along acting like she is his friends wife and she is possessed.

Read More
940 Words | 4 Pages

Suspense about the characters, suspense about the plot; everything was a mystery. The narrator’s every step brought suspense, especially when he got involved with the beating of the heart. Towards the end of the story, the author leaves readers constantly wondering as the suspense is increasing - What will happen to the characters, or how will they end up? These are questions that readers often find themselves asking, although the most common question is simply what will happen

Read More
653 Words | 3 Pages

Hollywood has always done a terrible job of depicting real women in film, and although his work has a somewhat misogynistic reputation, Alfred Hitchcock has done so much involving the progression of female roles in Hollywood cinema. Although many of his female victims wind up dead, the survivors have lots of power – and without reliance on their male counterparts. Women remain the central focus in many of Hitchcock’s films, not just because of their beauty, but because the narrative is dependent on them. When you look at his work in the context of this specific Hollywood era, Hitchcock’s female characters are very much out of the ordinary. Looking past the obvious presence of gender roles (male and female) that just so happened to be a part of the social norm during that time, Hitchcock sought to represent women with having more depth, realism, and independence than ever before in women in Hollywood.

Read More
571 Words | 3 Pages

Film noir was rooted in a specific period of time during the 1940s and 1950’s after the great depression and post-war. Directors created a plot, which concentrated on cynical attitudes and sexual motivation. Many of theses films were low-budget movies made by upcoming directors. They used low-key lighting to focus on the scene because the set was not very nice. It was usually in block apartments or back alleys.

Read More
920 Words | 4 Pages

Spielberg did an amazing job at setting the mood for each scene. For instance, he would intensify the music when something significant was about to happen, putting the viewers on the edge of their seats. Spielberg also used gloomy coloring to get the viewer to feel the emotion of the characters at given times. Even the way that some scenes were shot made it more intriguing to watch. When Katherine (Meryl Streep) was on the phone discussing the potential downfall if they were to publish, Spielberg filmed an aerial shot.

Read More
1148 Words | 5 Pages

When watching the scene where Hedren in being attacked in the upstairs room, one will notice the bleeding of her face and her absolute terror. Her acting was not so much as acting as it was emotions expressed from real fear. Hitchcock took a week to film the one scene, and it led to Hedren passing out and having a bloody face. During the making of Marnie, Hitchcock tries one more time to have Hedren’s love by asking her for sexual favors. Hedren rejects Alfred and leaves the Hitchcock filming industry after the making of

Read More

More about How Does Hitchcock Create Suspense In Basic Instinct

Related Topics

Open Document