Phoenix office worker Marion Crane is fed up with the way life has treated her. She has had to meet her lover Sam in lunch breaks and cannot get married because Sam has to give away most of his money to alimony. One afternoon Marion is trusted to deliver $40,000 into the bank by her boss. She decides to steal the money and start and new life. She leaves the town going towards Sam's shop in California. Being tired and caught in a storm she decides to take a break and she stops at Bates Motel. The motel is managed by a quite young man called Nathan who seems to be dominated by his mother.
Whats unique and brilliant about this film is that audience thinks the film is centered around the $40,000 therefore murder of what the audience thinks is the main character comes as a big shock , it seems as if anything can happen with the plot now which creates suspense. We could see the $40,000 dollars as a macguffin because it is what drives the plot however it becomes insignificant to the audience when murder becomes involved.
After the murder of Marion the audience knows there was a killer , and he or she was in the house/motel. They do not know when he will strike again , which builds suspense because it could happen at any point. Hitchcock stresses that as the apprehension increases the violence on screen decreases.
In the shower scene Hitchcock uses back lighting on the murderer to create a silhouette. Even though we can make out a basic outline of the face it hides away the face of the murderer , he did this to make the audience think that it was the mother killing all those people but infect it is not. Back lighting also makes the person look more evil and supernatural so its as if the victim is powerless against them.
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