I've seen the Van Sant "Psycho" and I must admit that I'm even more puzzled by
it now than I was when I first heard of the idea. This is not a case of one
artist appropriating another's work and making it his own; it's more like
someone making a full-scale model of Notre Dame in his back yard out of
toothpicks...It looks just like the real thing, but it's not a cathedral.
The advance publicity for the film pays lip service to Hitchcock's film as a
"classic" etc, then contradicts itself by saying that most young movie goers
are unfamiliar with it. Van Sant says he has made a "Psycho" for a new
generation - but does that necessarily require a shot-by-shot recreation???
For those who haven't seen it or even heard much about it, Van Sant has
recreated Hitchcock's film scene for scene, shot for shot and note for note,
even duplicating the Saul Bass titles and the Bernard Herrmann score.
(Curiously, it's about ten minutes shorter than Hitchcock's version) There are
slight differences, but none that I would consider very significant. Besides
the obvious changes like color (the red when Norman cleand up the shower is
striking) stereo sound, , a bit more of Marion's body seen in the shower and
a view of Sam's rear in the first scene, and a few trivial details - like Lila
wearing a Walkman - the primary differences are as follows:
1) The Opening title card that previously read "Friday, December 11" now
includes the year "1998"
2) the series of shots from the Phoenix skyline to the hotel window is now a
continuous shot
3) When Marion says she hates meeting Sam in "a place like this", we can hear
noises from other rooms in the hotel..
4) Tom Cassidy's $40,000 is now $400,000.
5) No Hitchcock cameo when Marion is leaving town. (I had hoped that Van Sant
would have a sense of humor and take Hitchcock's place, or actually insert
Hitchcock himself, but no luck. I believe a saw Van Sant in a later scene,
though.
6) Norman masturbates while spying on Marion - though the image - his head
at the peephole -is the same.
7.) Brief, almost subliminal inserts of dark clouds during the shower murder.
8) Arbogast's line "If is doesn't gel, it isn't aspic" is now "If it doesn't
gel, it isn't Jello"
9) near-subliminal inserts of odd creatures during the Arbogast murder
10) Lila sees porno magazines in Norman's room.
11) Since end credits are longer these days, the final shot of the car being
pulled out of the swamp now continues through the end credits. This is also
the only spot with non-Herrmann music on the score. (It has a guitar piece by
Bill Frisell that uses Herrmann's themes)
There may have been a few other minor details that I've forgotten, but still
none that suggest any originality on Van Sant's part. I am curious as to what
people who feel more strongly about his other films than I do will say about
it. (Having seen Hitchcock's film at least a dozen times over the last thirty-
two years, I wonder how a viewer with no knowledge of the original will
respond to it...)
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