For years I wondered about this line... how cold and cruel it was -- if she really meant Laura.
Because the movie concentrates on "Laura's murder," you tend to forget that another girl was really murdered. It really seems that Ann was referring to Laura.
Because the statement is, under the circumstances, ambiguous, there's really nothing to contradict either interpretation. I've always gone with the one that appears obvious: Ann meant Laura.
And it
is cold and cruel. As is openly making a play for the man to whom her niece is understood to be engaged.
Because Ann wanted Shelby, she had a motive to get rid of Diane. And, I think she would have dealt with Laura (as competition) in another way.
Ann had equal motive for getting rid of Laura. Whether or not she'd have dealt with her in another way is also something about which we can speculate in any way we choose, but it's really pure guesswork; what indication does the film give that Ann would have done so?
But, Laura's total lack of reaction made me re-think it. Really... How would you react if someone -- a relative yet! -- said they truly thought of killing you?
But here's the thing: Laura
does react: having kept her back to Ann the entire time, it's when Ann says,
"That's why I know he's capable of murder. He's like me," that Laura suddenly turns and looks at Ann with alarm: she fully understands the implications of what Ann's just told her. It's only after Ann reacts to Laura's reaction - first by reassuring her (
"No, dear, I didn't...") and then immediately reinforcing the import of the earlier remark (
"...but I thought of it") - that Laura turns away again.
After the admission Ann's just made,
"but I thought of it" carries no particular surprise, just as it had when Ann said a moment before,
"I'm not a nice person, Laura."It's Laura's lack of reaction to
that statement that I find most significant, because it indicates Laura's already clear understanding of it without having to be told. This woman, her own aunt, has openly tried to seduce her fiance away from her; a moment later, admits to thinking of murdering her (under my interpretation). These things come as no surprises; it's only when Laura momentarily wonders if her aunt has just confessed to actually murdering someone - someone mistakenly believed to have been her - that she reacts with surprise.
I'm all for subtext and interpretation of unstated but subtly hinted-at clues in films, but there are also things in them that must certainly have been intended to be taken at face value, and that's what I'm doing here, because I believe this is one of them.
And the reason for that belief that's perhaps the most compelling one is this: at no time in the entire film is it ever suggested, in dialogue or by any other means, that the intended victim was to have been anyone but Laura. This is repeatedly reinforced: Laure and Diane are the same size; their hair color and style are similar; Diane is in Laura's apartment; she's wearing Laura's negligee and slippers.
It seems to me the film is pointedly
avoiding any consideration of such a red herring, and - being, technically, a whodunnit - when a red herring is deliberately avoided, I have to assume it's something the film makers don't want viewers even thinking about.
Finally, what motivation would Ann have had for telling Laura she
"thought of" killing Diane? I can think of only one: as a warning. Which would be, essentially, the same as telling Laura she thought of killing her, bringing us right back to the statement in question.
It's not my purpose here to change anyone's mind about their interpretation; merely to state my own and the reasons for them.
Poe! You are...avenged!
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Gubbio
8 years ago
Because the statement is, under the circumstances, ambiguous, there's really nothing to contradict either interpretation. I've always gone with the one that appears obvious: Ann meant Laura.
Thank you for your input. But, I still have a hard time believing Ann could actually admit (to her face) that she'd considered murdering Laura.
Here's another piece of writing I'd like your opinion on:
In her apartment (Ann's), discussing with McPherson identifying Laura's body at the morgue, the conversation turns
very briefly to Laura's relationship with Bessie.
Ann states: "Oh, she (Bessie) worshipped her. Laura had had her for years.
I'll never forget her scream when she saw Laura lying there."
Now, are we to assume that Bessie was also at the morgue?
"
When she saw Laura lying there," always gave me the image of Bessie finding the body when she came to work Saturday morning. I doubt Ann would have been present at that time -- or she had excellent hearing and could hear Bessie scream from her own apartment!
Am I interpreting it wrong -- or was this clumsy writing, an error of continuity?
Either the writing was bad, or Bessie accompanied Ann to the morgue. It's never spelled out.
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Gubbio
8 years ago
Additional thoughts:
Later in the film, when Bessie enters the kitchen and find's Laura alive, she's naturally in shock.
Bewildered, she says, "I found you, and you were dead."
This cements my image of Bessie finding the body.
After the shock of finding "Laura" dead, would it be necessary for Ann to drag Bessie to the morgue? Bessie doesn't seem like the type who can stomach such things.
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Doghouse-6
8 years ago
Yes, I was thinking about that scene while reading your earlier post.
Seems like there are only two possibilities: Ann happened to arrive at Laura's apartment at the same time Bessie did for her day's work and the two of them found the body, but it would be odd not to mention that, and then there's Mark's remark, "You collapsed when you identified the body;" the other, as you say, is that Bessie was at the morgue with Ann, which does seem both unnecessary and unlikely.
Well, maybe there's a third possibility: the line was deliberately inserted to cast suspicion upon Ann; the type of "slip" someone makes that an investigator zeroes in on later. But inasmuch as the murder took place Friday night and Bessie found the body Saturday morning, that would require Ann, had she been the killer, to have been hiding, either in the apartment or the hall, all night. What on earth for? And she wasn't the killer anyway.
There seems no logical way to reconcile it. I have to conclude the only ones making a slip were the writers; just careless.
Unless...how's this? The morgue was never actually mentioned. Could/would the police have summoned Ann to Laura's apartment to identify the body in situ? After being photographed, the body's covered, Ann then arrives, and when it's uncovered again for her identification, Bessie, still in the room being questioned or whatever, screams (as Ann collapses).
That's the best I got.
Poe! You are...avenged!
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Gubbio
8 years ago
The morgue was never actually mentioned. Could/would the police have summoned Ann to Laura's apartment to identify the body in situ?
Good call. Other than a slip of the writers, that's the only thing that makes sense.
All the talk about "identifying the body" conjured up "morgue" in my mind.
As "ecarle" always says on the "Psycho" board, a lot of what "see" occurs in our mind -- the result of suggestion and a good script.
Thanks!
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Doghouse-6
8 years ago
All the talk about "identifying the body" conjured up "morgue" in my mind.
Mine too. It was only while reviewing the scene just before posting that I suddenly noticed the absence of the word, hence the additional afterthought.
As "ecarle" always says on the "Psycho" board, a lot of what "see" occurs in our mind -- the result of suggestion and a good script.
Yep. Smart and perceptive guy.
Poe! You are...avenged!
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