Strangers on a Train

"I like you Guy"            
            
            I've wanted to see an Alfred Hitchcock film ever since I got interested in films. That wish was replied when I got to see Strangers on a Train. This tremendously crafted film was so enjoyable I wanted to absorb every piece of detail of the film. The first time I watched this film proved to be more of a comedic-thriller rather than a psychological-thriller. If it was psychological the only thing I could think of was 'mental illness', similar to Peter Lorre as the child murderer in 'M'. When I saw this in a critical analytic way, the film drills our deepest minds. Sigmund Freud's theories of the human mind are perfect to describe the relationships between the characters, and the characteristics of the character itself.

          The film starts out with two guys walking towards a train, and as they sat down, their shoes accidently met. Bruno Anthony, (Robert Walker) asked Guy Haines (Farley Granger) whether he was THE Guy Haines, the tennis player. After some introduction until the lunch scene at Bruno's compartment, we can sense that Bruno is chatty and seductive, who knows no boundaries when talking to a stranger that he just met.  If I was Guy Haines, I would had asked him to leave or find another place to sit. We then establish Bruno as the 'Id', because after a few chat, he goes on about hating his father. He told Guy Haines that he felt like killing his father. And since before that, Guy told Bruno that he didn't like his wife, so, he had an idea, a cross-murder. Then we establish Guy as the 'super-ego' and the 'ego'. Guy is the 'super ego' because he acts like he doesn't want Bruno to go on with the murder plan, and 'ego' because he didn't want to hurt Bruno's feeling, so he mediates it by not aggressing against his murder plan, rather than just telling him sarcastically that it's a good plan. The way I see it though, maybe in Guy Haines's unconscious mind, he is telling Bruno that he don't want to go on with his plan, but he didn't directly tell him not to do so. Instead, he plays with Bruno's mind, saying "Sure Bruno, sure", after Bruno asked him if his plans were good. Even though it sounded like sarcasm to us audience, but to Bruno, his 'Id' is way stronger, and he looks at that line as a serious note that Guy wants to be a part of this murder plan.

        Besides that, in Freud's theory of development of sexuality in children, we can relate Bruno with the 'Oedipal Complex'. In other words, we call him the 'momma's boy'. In the Oedipal Conflict theory, Bruno wants more attention and affection from his mother. Just like Oedipus Rex, he wants to kill his father. Bruno knows that this is not possible. His 'ego' has kicked in. If he had killed his father some people would suspect that Bruno had done it. So, he kept disturbing Guy Haines into killing him. Bruno could not identify with his father, since he expressed hatred for him earlier in the film. So, his sense of  'super-ego' did not make him want less to kill his father, rather, his 'id' came on stronger, and that is why he blackmailed Guy Haines throughout the film until he kills Bruno's father.

       Another Freudian theory that can be applied in this film is the conscious and the unconscious mind. It is applied to us viewers, and Alfred Hitchcock does excellent with this film, that is 'voyeurism'. When we looked at Miriam, her character is not all that loving. We dislike her because she lied to Guy Haines, and she cheated on him and got pregnant by another man. Consciously, that is what we think of her. What the audience did not know was, during the scene where she went out with two guys, and Bruno strangled her. Miriam's glasses fell down, and we see Bruno strangling Miriam through her glasses. We have unconsciously killed her, because of our hatred for the character earlier in the film. We wanted her to die because she manipulated Guy Haines. So, our wish was fulfilled unconsciously. It may reflect in our everyday lives like if someone were to manipulate or lie to us, we unconsciously want to kill them, even though it is only for a short moment.

      In conclusion, Strangers on a Train proved to be a psychological-thriller, once we've analyzed it in a psychological way. If any psychologist could fit in this film, it has to be Sigmund Freud, and his theories about the human mind, the psychosexual stages and Oedipus Complex.