#suspicion 1941

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SUSPICION (1941) dir. Alfred Hitchcock

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SUSPICION (1941) dir. Alfred Hitchcock

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If you're going to kill someone, do it simply.

Suspicion (1941) dir. Alfred Hitchcock

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suspicion (1941) dir. alfred hitchcock

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rather cool suited lady in suspicion (1941)

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Suspicion 1941

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Cary Grant in Suspicion (1941)

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The ending of Hitchcock’s Suspicion: Copping out or hoodwinking the censors?

Anyone’s initial viewing of Suspicion seems doomed to be frustrating, not because the movie on the whole is bad, but because of a botched landing.

Suspicion follows Lina, a meek English heiress. Terrified of spinsterhood, Lina falls into the arms of Johnnie, a charming rogue with a few bad habits, all involving money. Not inclined to work or to save what he has, Johnnie lives off loans from relatives and friends, suggesting that his quick marriage to Lina is financially motivated.

For a while, the two live happily, until Lina starts becoming more aware of Johnnie’s tendency to lie to her. Johnnie also proves a thief—and perhaps a murderer, though Lina cannot be sure. Eventually, it seems Lina herself might be Johnnie’s next victim.

Sounds great, right? And it is for 99% of the runtime, a true classic psychological domestic thriller.

But then there’s the final 1%...

The ending of the original novel ended with Lina willingly allowing herself to be killed by Johnnie out of amor fou. Compromised by the Production Code and the studio’s desire to keep Grant’s onscreen persona unsullied by true menace, Hitchcock’s film ends on a ludicrous note: it turns out, it was all in Lina’s head and Johnnie was (apparently) experiencing suicidal ideation due to thinking he wasn’t good enough for Lina! How dare she not think of HIS feelings after he’s lied to her repeatedly and betrayed her trust time and again!

I remember being so angry by this ending that I immediately disregarded any of the film’s positive qualities. Joan Fontaine’s psychologically fraught performance (much better than in her previous Hitchcock collaboration Rebecca IMO), Cary Grant’s low-simmering menace, the tense domestic atmosphere, the slow-burn piling up of evidence against Johnnie—all of that was quickly forgotten in the nauseous afterglow of that BS finale.

I recently decided to go through Hitchcock’s entire theatrical filmography and make a ranked list, just for fun. However, the prospect of having to rewatch Suspicion filled me with annoyance and dread. I forgot most of the movie and only recalled how angry the ending made me.

Surprisingly, my opinion of the film went up, but I think that favorable reassessment was aided by my watching this video essay detailing the film’s proposed multiple endings and a more ambiguous interpretation of the one that remains in the finished film:

Is it possible that the ending does not clear Johnnie at all? The way Grant shifts his eyes when Fontaine starts to breathlessly (desperately?) explain away his suspicious behavior suggests something going on beneath the reassuring dialogue and the joyous final shot of the spouses reunited. If this idea has merit, then Lina is not getting her happy ending. She’s only postponed her own execution.

Of course, I still think even with this interpretation, the ending is still unsatisfying and abrupt. Even the ambiguity that could be there is hair-thin.

Whatever the case, Suspicion is still a pretty good movie—the ending is flawed from any angle, but the movie itself deserves more than the flip dismissal I originally gave it.

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SUSPICION (1941) | dir. Alfred Hitchcock

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Suspicion (Alfred Hitchcock, 1941)

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SUSPICION (1941) dir. Alfred Hitchcock

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Suspicion (1941, Alfred Hitchcock)

06/09/2024

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(via Greenbriar Picture Shows: Anything But a Happy Ending)

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Al Hirschfeld, Suspicion, 1941

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