Marnie (1964)Marnie (1964)

Abstract “Marnie (1964): Restroom” examines Alfred Hitchcock’s Marnie, a film that is perhaps most loved for its sadness, though the location and nature of that sadness are not the same for all. Rather than turning to one of the film’s more celebrated or signature shots, this chapter turns to the shot of Marnie waiting in a women’s restroom and argues that this seemingly minor shot can sharpen our ears to the currents and sites of sadness within the film. Taking its cue from Tania Modleski’s discussion of how recent Hitchcock criticism has marginalized or dismissed the place and roles of women in Hitchcock’s work and paid little attention to questions of gendered spectatorship or feminist criticism, the chapter is attentive to the female “counter voices” that might be audible in or through the film for a feminist spectator.