Spellbound (1945)

Why did I watch an Alfred Hitchcock movie with all that suspense music and Gregory Peck's huge eyes at midnight? I should have known better. But it was well worth it.
Spellbound stars Ingrid Bergman as psychoanalyst Dr. Constance Petersen and Gregory Peck as "Dr. Edwardes"/ J.B., a man suffering from amnesia and a guilt complex. After introducing himself as the new head of Green Manors, a mental hospital, a few instances reveal to Dr. Petersen that Edwardes is not who he says he is. After developing an intimate relationship with one another, he confides to her that he has killed the real Dr. Edwardes and took his place.

Oh, I have so much to say about this movie and I have no idea where to start...


After the opening credits, we see this quote from Shakespeare:

This sets the baseline for the story: we cannot blame fate for what happens in our lives. We must be ready to face the consequences for any wrongdoings on our part and know that only we are to blame. I'll come back to this in the end to make some sort of conclusion as to why I think Hitchcock chose to include this in the very beginning of the film.

Being a Psychology major graduate, I was very excited when I learned that the film dealt with psychoanalysis. One major topic discussed is the guilt complex. Dr. Petersen (Bergman) simply explains to a patient that this complex usually goes back to a person's childhood. The child wishes something bad would happen to a person and if something does indeed happen, the child feels guilt and thinks that he/she is in some way the cause of the event. This belief haunts them throughout their lives and disconnects them from reality. When "Dr. Edwardes" (we eventually find out that his real initials are J.B.) claims to have killed the real Dr. Edwardes, Peterson is convinced that he is not capable of committing such a crime and insists that he is suffering from a guilt complex (this is, of course, due to the feelings she has developed for him). Throughout the movie she strives to help him overcome his amnesia to remember what events led up to the crime and to also understand what has caused his ongoing guilt.
We learn that his anxiety is triggered after seeing dark lines on a white background. We witness this after Dr. Petersen attempts to draw a figure with her fork on a linen tablecloth and J.B. becomes suddenly agitated. He exhibits the same reaction after seeing the dark lines on Petersen's robe, train tracks, and the dark lines on a bed sheet.

Gregory Peck delivers a perfect performance as an amnesiac who suspects himself of murder and at the same time has fallen in love with the only person who can save him. His expressions when he describes his dream and when he is able to recall haunting memories from his past are just plain scary; and since this movie is all about visuals, these expressions are essential. In a scene he may be perfectly fine, and then suddenly something triggers his guilt and he is reminded of the crime he believes he has committed, and his face shows it. These are some examples of his change of expression:

After seeing the figure Dr. Petersen has made on the tablecloth.

After listening to a patient with a guilt complex, thinking of his own experience.

Before kissing Ingrid...

...after the kiss and seeing the dark lines on her robe.

Recalling that he has killed Dr. Edwardes.

It's amazing how he's able to transit from one emotion to the next in only a few seconds.

In the movie amnesia is described as a mechanism one uses to stay sane: "You remain sane by forgetting something too horrible to remember." Since Petersen is a psychoanalyst, she also incorporates interpreting his dreams in order to unlock his memories. Petersen and J.B. take refuge in her old teacher's home, Dr. Alex Brulov (played by Michael Chekhov), to hide from the police and seek his psychiatric help as well. J.B.'s dream is filled with psychoanalytic symbols such as eyes, gambling, a man standing on a roof, a wheel, and wings. All the symbols are somehow linked to the traumatic event that caused his amnesia and stimulated his guilt complex.


Chekhov gives a wonderful and playful performance as psychoanalyst Dr. Brulov, turning almost every conversation into a psychological discussion:

• "Good night and sweet dreams...which we'll analyze at breakfast."
• "Women make the best psychoanalysts until they fall in love. After that they make the best patients."
• "This is the way science goes backward. Who told you what he is? Freud? Or a crystal ball?
• "We both know that the mind of a woman in love is operating on the lowest level of intellect."

Michael Chekhov as Dr. Alex Brulov, bearing a strong resemblance to Freud.

Now going back to the Shakespeare quote in the beginning: J.B. is suffering from a psychological disorder but he is not doomed to it, he can be cured. His situation can be helped. If we find ourselves incapable of something we mustn't blame our luck or fate, we should look at the different alternatives that are before us and choose the best option to solve our problems. This will result in our own personal growth as a human being. I think Hitchcock's intention of including the quote was somewhere along this line.

Didn't say much about Ingrid, did I? Hmm... While she played her part well as a love-stricken psychoanalyst, her insistence that J.B. did not commit a crime was a bit annoying. I think it would have been more realistic if she had also given a slight consideration that maybe, just maybe, he wasn't innocent. That would have been more believable for me. But then again, love is blind, right? (And hey, this is Gregory Peck we're talking about. I guess I would also try and prove that good-looking face never committed a crime either!)

But one more thing about Ingrid: isn't there a striking resemblance between her and Debra Messing??

Just saying...