The documentary 78/52: Hitchcock’s Shower Scene is an attempt to be the end-all discussion about the infamous shower scene in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 classic psychological thriller Psycho. The title refers to the number of distinct camera setups used to film the sequence (78 – an impressive feat considering the size and complexity of film cameras at the time) and the number of film cuts that make up the final edited scene (52). In other words, the plan is to break the scene down into its most minuscule parts and examine it from various viewpoints.
Buy 78/52: Hitchcock’s Shower Scene78/52 was directed by Alexandre O. Phillippe (Kim Novak’s Vertigo), and he has collected several types of industry people to discuss the shower scene. Most interesting are the filmmakers. Guillermo del Toro and Eli Roth articulate just how powerful the scene is and the ingrained effect it had on their own work. Since they have worked in the trenches of filmmaking, their input is fascinating. Peter Bogdanovitch not only has great stories about Hitchcock, he also does a spot-on impersonation of the man. Danny Elfman has an intimate knowledge of Bernard Herrmann’s original music as he was in charge of re-orchestrating and re-recording the score for Gus Van Sant’s 1998 remake of Psycho.
There are also film scholars on the list of interviewees. These add interesting takes on the moment-to-moment crafting of the scene. The full scene, with Marion entering the bathroom, the shower, and the aftermath is about three minutes long, while the murder takes about 45 total seconds. All three minutes took seven days for Hitchcock to film. Also, there are interesting anecdotes from those “directly” involved with the movie: Jamie Lee Curtis (Janet Leigh’s daughter), Osgood Perkins (Anthony Perkins’ son), and Marli Renfro, who was Janet Leigh’s stand-in. It is her body we see throughout the shower scene.
But for some inexplicable reason, Phillippe also includes actors who are basically just famous fans of Hitchcock who have nothing to add whatsoever. Elijah Wood is in the documentary for being an actor, and he says things like, “Isn’t that amazing how she doesn’t move her eye for so long?” Then, five minutes later, an editor shows us that her eye did actually move. There is no interaction between the editor and Wood, so we are left wondering what to make of these statements. Let’s put it this way: it is obvious who does and who does not know about the technical aspects of the film, but if Phillippe cut the superfluous sections, there wouldn’t be a whole lot of film left.
If you are a Hitchcock fan, a Psycho fan, or just a fan of the famous shower scene, then you will undoubtedly glean some “interesting” tidbits from the documentary (yes, the blood was watered-down chocolate syrup). Unfortunately, you will also hear the uninteresting ramblings of what can only be imagined to be Alexandre O. Phillippe’s cadre of pals and buddies.
