I CONFESS
US, 1953, Black and white.
Montgomery Clift, Anne Baxter, Karl Maiden, Brian Aherne, O. E. Hasse.
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
I Confess came after Strangers on a Train, which is generally considered one of Hitchcock's best. It thus comes in a kind of 'middle' period before the director went on to make such films as Vertigo, Psycho and the other later excellent films.
I Confess generally works well within the suspense framework that it sets itself. The audience knows the truth but is invited to watch with suspense whether truth and integrity will prevail or whether fear and cowardice will get the better of the hero. However, one of the difficulties for many audiences may be the strong Catholic background of the Confessional and its seal - the fact that a priest cannot reveal, at any cost, information given him in the Confessional. For a Catholic audience this aspect of the film makes sense and given a sense of desperation to the hero's plight. Others may wonder whether such a stand on one's word is worth the suffering that a priest could be asked to undergo. Montgomery Clift gives a fine performance as the priest and the success of the film rests on him and on the atmosphere of Quebec with which Hitchcock pervades his film. The theme of mistaken identity and appearances and reality is one which Hitchcock has explored, especially in The Wrong Man, and Frenzy. This fila can be profitably discussed with The Wrong Man.
1. How typical a Hitchcock thriller was this? How successful? Audience involvement, suspense, melodramatic ending?
2. How did Hitchcock create suspense? In revealing the murder and murderer? In involving us with Fr Michael and the seal of confession? Wondering what he and the real murderer would do? Complicating the plot with Ruth and the blackmailing theme? How successful, then, was the suspense?
3. How well did the audience identify with Fr Michael? Can general audiences understand the nature of the seal of confession, his moral predicament and his fidelity?
4. Would Catholic audiences alone appreciate the seal of confession or that a man would risk his life for preserving this seal? How much Catholic background did the film presuppose? The atmosphere of the rectory, celibacy, confession, priests, etc?
5. How important was the Canadian setting and use of the Quebec backgrounds? Hitchcock's opening joke, use of the word 'direction'? Refugees from war-torn Europe? That a Catholic soutane could be worn in public in Quebec streets? What did this add to the background of the film?
6. How well did Hitchcock create suspicions for Fr. Logan - e.g. Logan praying in the church, his meeting of Ruth outside Vilette's home, being seen by Larrue, and Larrue following through the suspicions?
7. Did you have any sympathy for Seller - as a refugee, his fear, growing madness? Accusing Fr. Logan of being a coward when he was the coward? His use of the soutane and producing it against Fr Logan? The berserk killing of his wife at the end?
8. How important was Mrs Keller for the plot? Allowing Fr Logan to be tried? How much of a burden was this on her? Hitchcock's use of faces and suspicions for the Kellers fearing they had been found out? Mrs Keller giving her life for Fr Logan?
9. Were you relieved at the verdict? Were you surprised on its effect on people?
10. What judgement was being made on the crowd and their fickleness? The atmosphere of lynching, vengeance and turning against Fr Logan? were the themes of guilt, responsibility, reality, conscience, fidelity, true love explored?
11. How important was the Canadian background for the French flavour of the film, for the administration of the law, the understanding of the priest's place in Quebec society, the role of the church in French Canada?
12. How well did Hitchcock create suspicions for Fr Logan? e.g. Logan's praying in the church, his meeting of Ruth outside Villette's home? His being seen by Larrue? Larrue's following through the suspicions?
13. How well-filmed was the predicament of the seal of confession? The dilemma for Fr Michael? What he had to do? What he might like to do? Keller's use of Fr Logan's spirituality?
14. How attractive a character was Ruth? Was the background sufficiently well explained? The basis for the blackmail? Her surprise at Michael's joining the priesthood? Her marrying Grandfort? The importance of the sequence where she was forced to tell the truth? Hitchcock's device for the flashback? The 'ligature of her love for Michael and her husband? Her relationship with Robertson? His use of testimony in the trial scene and the humiliations to which she was subjected? Her satisfaction at the end?
15. How important was Larrue for the investigations? How sympathetic was he? The fact that he was a Catholic and understood Catholic things? The audience fearing that he would discover the evidence? The audience's fear of his suspicions? The relentlessness of his style? present to discover the truth?
16. Authority, in the role of Robertson? His various illustrations of balancing? His detachment in the court? His not using friendship for Grandfort and Ruth in the court? Did he handle the case well? Or go too far?
17. How much was made of the suffering for all those involved? The suffering that Fr Logan went through? His walking the city and giving himself up? His conscience and his fidelity?
18. Relief at the verdict? Surprise at the effect that it had on the people? What judgement was being made on the crowd and their fickleness? The lynching atmosphere? The vengeance atmosphere and turning against Fr Logan?
19. Mrs Keller breaking, that the truth could be found out? Why was this important for audience response to the film and the story and the theme?
20. Was Fr Logan's heroism convincing at the end? He had risked death in the court and so risked death in the face of Keller? How was he Keller's only chance? His keeping the seal of confession till Keller's death? The irony of the seal of confession making Keller tell the truth? He thought that Fr Logan was weak. He was destroyed by the seal itself. How well was this handled dramatically? Was the chase too melodramatic for this film?
