PSYCHO Image Analysis 3

In this scene, which is directly after the shower murder scene, the camera focuses on Marion’s body, mainly onto her eye. We reach this shot with a graphic match from the plughole. This shot mimics the plughole by tracking outwards and spinning slowly, the glazed-over eye replacing the empty darkness of the plughole. This scene is heavily filled with pathetic fallacy, the concept that inanimate objects can convey emotion and meaning; the plughole and its dark depths, with the blood draining into it, represents Marion’s life draining away. Another example of pathetic fallacy are the water droplets on Marion’s face. While we know they are left over from the shower, they almost look like teardrops, with their size and proximity to her eye. This connotes Marion’s sadness at her death, apart from obvious reasons, because she had just decided to turn her life around and return to Phoenix and turn herself, and the money, in.