Movies That Define Cinema: Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious

Many movies can be used to define Hitchcock, who in himself defines suspense, but I feel it is Notorious that is one his more deft and subtle pictures. We are given two great actors in Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant as Alicia and Devlin. Alicia is a woman who gets caught up in a U.S. investigation into a man by the name of Alexander Sebastian, she is asked by Devlin to seduce this man and find out his secrets. Yet Alicia loves Devlin and Devlin, sometimes, loves Alicia but has a hard time loving a woman who would do what she does with Sebastian. Then there is Sebastian the bad guy who we feel for immensely because he truly loves Alicia, but is being played by her. Through just this web of love and deceit we see Hitchcock painting with broad strokes a film as much about love and desire as it is about suspense, and there is great suspense. From the moment Alicia begins her affair with Sebastian the viewer is on edge as to how all of this will play out as Devlin turns cold to her and she walks a thin line. Storytelling as only a master could tell it. Yet one cannot watch Hitchcock and not be amazed with his camera work. There is one beautiful scene at the beginning before we meet Devlin that takes place at party. Devlin sits in the foreground, back to the camera as we watch Alicia flirt and engage with the party it is almost as though the camera pivots around this shadowy figure signifying his importance without even showing his face. There is another striking sequence in which Alicia suffering a hangover wakes up shrouded in shadow, confused as she listens to Devlin speak to her. He tries to explain her necessity in the mission, and only at the end of the scene when all makes sense is Alicia in full light. The film plays out like only the best suspense can and so I do not want to ruin much only to say the end is one of immense restraint and intelligent thrill. Easier Hitchcock fare like North by Northwest and Psycho are more famous than this one, but truly as one of his earlier works this is the canvas of a master.