Marnie (1964)

In Alfred Hitchcock's psycho-sexual suspense-thriller, crime drama and romantic 'sex-mystery' (about frigidity, marital rape, and murder) - it told a dark, neo-noirish tale of sexual abuse, repressed memories, shifting identities and compulsive thievery. Deceitful multiple identities and appearances (the theme of Vertigo (1958)), psychological problems resulting from a past hidden murder (the theme of Spellbound (1945)), and theft from one's employer and a sinister mother figure (elements in Psycho (1960)) were all elements echoing past Hitchcock films.

Winston Graham's 1961 English novel was adapted by female screenwriter Jay Presson Allen, and provided the basis for the intriguing plot about a suicidal and troubled female suffering from compulsive kleptomania and sexual frigidity (and problems with the color red and thunderstorms), caused by a traumatic event from her past. The layers of her memories of the past were gradually and deliberately peeled back by the frigid female's predatory and menacing husband (after a forced and blackmailed marriage) so that her numerous psychological problems could be confronted and resolved.

The title character "Marnie" - a desperate, mentally-ill, cheating, lying and disturbed female, had secretly feared that she wasn't loved since childhood, and would never be loved or have children. She compensated by stealing and cramming robbed goods into her purse or suitcases (a Freudian symbol of her empty womb). She also subconsciously attempted to 'repay' (with monetary gifts) her mother for defending her and standing up for her, although she had almost entirely erased the memory of the traumatic incident that had deeply affected her, and kept her in a cycle of pain, repression and entrapment into her adult life.

The second-tier film for Hitchcock did moderately well financially - on a budget of $3 million, it grossed $7 million. The film's tagline asked the question: "Would his touch end Marnie's unnatural fears or start them again?"

• the opening title credits were composed of a 1940's styled slide-show of 19 cards with printed titles, revealed as pages turning from the right of the screen to the left
• an initial set of four brief sequences cleverly and economically introduced clues to the main female character's identity and appearance; the short segments revealed a behavioral pattern that she had established for herself; the title character Margaret 'Marnie' Edgar (Tippi Hedren) was introduced as a blonde con artist, liar and compulsive thief (kleptomaniac), who acquired power over men by stealing from them
• the camera trailed behind a black-haired woman in a tweed outfit with a yellow plastic-leather handbag (under her arm), who was also carrying one suitcase while walking down an empty, outdoor NY train station platform
• the next short sequence was in the office of Strutt & Co., where the owner Sidney Strutt (Martin Gabel), a tax consultant, yelled out that he had just been robbed: "Robbed! Cleaned out! $9,967!"; his pretty, brunette female employee "Marion Holland" had presumably stolen almost $10,000 from the office safe - discovered empty by him; to the authorities, the lecherous boss accused "Marion Holland" of committing the crime after only 4 months of work; Strutt's secretary (Carmen Phillips) admitted: "She didn't have any references at all" when she was hired; one of Strutt's long-time clients - charming and handsome Mark Rutland (Sean Connery) appeared at Strutt's door, and remembered having met the accused and "resourceful" employee: ("Oh that one, the brunette with the legs!"); Strutt was enraged and felt betrayed by "the little witch"
• walking down a hotel corridor, the alleged, still unidentified and undisclosed female thief was shown (from a rear view) with a bellhop carrying lots of packages of recent purchases of clothing into a room; inside her hotel room, the female packed up two bags of luggage (one to discard evidence of her old identity and old clothes, and one with her newly-purchased clothes, stolen cash and possessions); she also shuffled through a pile of Social Security ID cards to replace her old fake card (Marion Holland) with a different Social Security card (with her actual name - Margaret Edgar)

Hitchcock's Cameo - Watching Black-Haired Female Enter Hotel With Bellhop	Two Suitcases - Two Identities: (l to r) Dark and Light-Tan Colored
Selecting A SS Card With Her Real Name and Identity: Margaret ("Marnie") Edgar	'Marnie' After Washing Out Her Black Hair Dye To Restore Her Natural Hair Color - Blonde

• she washed the black hair dye from her hair in the sink, and revealed her natural blonde hair with a closeup of her face - memorably seen for the first time - as she tossed her hair back; she deposited her old dark suitcase into a NYC train station storage locker and discarded the key down a floor vent, and then took the light-tan suitcase with her - she had now returned to her actual identity; it was a common but unstable practice for her to flip her identity in order to take a job, steal from her employer, and then live off the money with her actual identity (in her mother's residence) until it ran out, and then have to again change her identity to repeat the cycle all over again
• Marnie took two trips that helped fill in her past history; she arrived by train in Virginia (near Middleburg, west of Washington, DC), and was driven in a hotel car to the Red Fox Tavern, where at the front desk, she was familiarly greeted by Mrs. Maitland (Lillian Bronson) and already known by name - Miss Edgar; she was then driven to Mr. Garrod's (Harold Gould) stable nearby where she housed her beloved, large and powerful black horse named Forio; she arrived in a drab light-tan riding outfit, ready to liberate herself by going riding; it was her one indulgent pleasure after pulling off her latest con-job
• then in Baltimore, MD, the well-dressed and coiffed female arrived in a taxi with her suitcase outside her family home in a working-class neighborhood near the port, to visit with her invalid crippled mother Bernice Edgar (Louise Latham) who she was financially supporting; the door was answered not by Bernice, but by the young blonde neighbor girl Jessica "Jessie" Cotton (Kimberly Beck) - a younger version of Marnie - whom her mother was baby-sitting and taking care of; Marnie regarded the young girl as an unpleasant reminder of her past, by remarking: "Oh, it's you"
• for the first time in the film, the female was addressed by her mother with her actual name: "MARNIE"; Marnie had brought with her a bouquet of white chrysanthemums, and seemed threatened by another woman's gift of red gladiolas in the living room; a red tint overcame her - indicating her phobia of the color RED; her surprised mother remarked that she couldn't keep track of Marnie's whereabouts - as she often jumped from place to place (such as Boston, Massachusetts and Elizabeth, New Jersey)

Marnie Threatened by Bright Red Gladiolas in Her Mother's Living Room

• it was clear from the interaction with her indigent mother that there was tension between the two; Bernice was critical of Marnie's lightened-up blonde hair (that would attract unwanted male attention) ("Too-blonde hair always looks like a woman's tryin' to attract the man. Men and a good name don't go together")
• Marnie then announced that she had spent money on her mother - a gift of a mink scarf-wrap, although Bernice questioned: "Now what have you thrown good money away on?"; Marnie's quoting from the Bible about money ("Money answereth all things") was denounced as being too "smart"; nonetheless, Bernice was astounded and impressed by her daughter's largesse: "Goin' around buyin' fur pieces like they was nothin'...I told Miss Cotton my daughter is private secretary to a millionaire. He's as generous with her as if she was his very own daughter"; but then, young Jessie interrupted them with a request to brush her hair; as Jessie went to retrieve the brush, Marnie affectionately knelt and put her head onto her mother's lap, but when Jessie returned moments later, Bernice's attention was diverted away and she complained: ("Marnie, mind my leg"); Marnie was moved out and Jessie took her place, causing obvious jealousy in Marnie for the loss of her mother's attention
• after Jessie left, both agreed that they didn't need or like men after years of mistreatment: ("We don't need men, Mama. We can do very well for ourselves. You and me"); Bernice added: "A decent woman don't have need for any man"
• as the two moved to the kitchen, Bernice hinted that she would be asking Jessie and her "decent, hard-working" mother Miss Cotton to move in with her; an obviously-jealous Marnie questioned why she wasn't loved the same way that her mother loved Jessie: ("Why don't you love me, Mama? I've always wondered why you don't. You never give me one part of the love you give Jessie. Mama - Why do you always move away from me? Why? What's wrong with me?"); Bernice responded to Marnie's appeal for affection by denying her accusation; Marnie pressed further: "My God! When I think of the things I've done to try to make you love me. The things I've done!"; she accused her mother of believing that she was indecently prostituting herself to her employer, in order to get rich and provide for them: ("You think I'm Mr. Pemberton's girl. Is that why you don't want me to touch you? Is that how you think I get the money to set you up?"); Bernice slapped Marnie, causing her to regress to her childlike self and apologize: ("I don't know what got into me talking like that. I know you've never really thought anything bad about me")
• that evening before supper, as Marnie slept upstairs in her mother's house, she experienced a recurring nightmarish dream with tapping sounds and feelings of being cold as her mother stood at her door
• in the next scene, after staying at her mother's place until her money ran out, Marnie now had reddish-brown (chestnut) hair and arrived by train in Philadelphia, PA, to apply for a new job as a payroll clerk/typist in a publishing firm, known as Rutland & Co.; she was awaiting an interview in the office, where the owner - recently widowed and wealthy playboy Mark Rutland, noticed her pulling her skirt down; she was called into an inner office (within view of a huge safe) to speak with the hiring manager Mr. Sam Ward (S. John Launer), using her new alias as the widowed Mrs. "Mary Taylor"; the predatory-male Mark sat to the side and observed; he nodded his approval to hire her (without requiring a follow-through on references from her alleged previous job at Kendall's in Pittsburgh), even though she wasn't the most qualified candidate; he rationalized his choice with Ward: "Let's just say I'm an interested spectator in the passing parade"; it was Mark's challenging intent to try and diagnose and understand her puzzling nature
• [Note: the applicant's behavior reminded Mark of his conversation with Strutt after the robbery about how the thief was modest: ("Always pulling her skirt down over her knees as though they were a national treasure"), and without giving any hint of his recognition of who she was, he realized that she was the clerk at Strutt and Co. who had allegedly robbed $10,000 dollars from the firm; however, Mark approved her hiring anyway.]

Mark Rutland in His Publishing Firm - Observing an Interview With Mrs. "Mary Taylor"

• outside the office, "Mary Taylor" caught a glimpse of Lil Mainwaring (Diane Baker), Mark's former sister-in-law (of his late wife Estelle), who was looking to have lunch with Mark; when Lil saw the new hire, she asked Mark (who was hidden behind the frosted office door, while she was also blocking a view of the safe): "Who's the dish?"; meanwhile, "Mary Taylor" observantly and intently watched the procedure that Mr. Ward used to acquire the key to open the large office safe; later after being hired as a typist, she also intently watched on different occasions as the office secretary Susan Gabon (Mariette Hartley) and Mr. Ward acquired the 5-number combination and opened and locked the safe

Phobic Reaction to the Colors Red and White - She Immediately Rushed to Remove Her Blouse and Rinse Out the Stain

• "Mary Taylor" experienced a bad reaction (and was overwhelmed and fearful of the color red) when she spilled a bright red blob of ink on the sleeve of her white blouse - the same phobia that plagued her earlier with her mother; Mr. Rutland thought she was hurt as she rushed to the ladies' room to remove the blouse and wash out the red stain
• on a Saturday afternoon at 2:30 pm when "Mrs. Taylor" arrived to work overtime for Mark at the office, he first showed her a photo of a wild, South American jaguarundi named Sophie that he had trained to obey and trust him; he mentioned one of his side interests was zoology, and he wished for her to type a report for him titled: "Arboreal Predators of the Brazilian Rain Forest"; she became very nervous, anxious and unsettled when he spoke about the predatory nature of females in the animal kingdom ("Lady animals figure very largely as predators") - with the implication that he would reverse things and became her predatory trainer and she would become his prey; her obvious uncomfortable feelings intensified when a thunderstorm and lightning caused flashes of red and white colors in her mind - triggering fears from her past and a severe panic attack; although he grabbed her and took her in his arms to comfort and kiss her (in an extreme close-up view), she stared blankly ahead
• the next Saturday due to her avowed interest in the beauty of horses, Mark invited her to attend the races with him at the Atlantic City Race Course; while Mark was away from their table and betting on the next race, "Mary Taylor" was recognized by a man at the track (Milton Selzer) as "Peggy Nicholson" whom he had met in Detroit a few years earlier; with Mark present, she firmly denied the assertion; and then, while viewing horses in the paddock for the next race including Horse # 8 named Telepathy (ridden by a jockey wearing a red and white polka-dotted jersey), Marnie again had a phobic reaction to the colors and changed her mind about betting on the horse (even though later it won); and then soon after, she asked to leave the track

"Man at Track" Mis-Identified "Mary Taylor" as "Peggy Nicholson" from Detroit - Another of Her Identities
	"Mary Taylor's" Phobic Reaction to a Jockey's Red-and-White Jersey at the Track's Paddock

• on another occasion, Mark surprised "Mary Taylor" by taking her to his family estate of Wykwyn (in Unionville, PA, Chester County), to meet his father (Alan Napier) for afternoon tea - and introduce him as a "horse-fancier" like herself; Mark's father echoed Marnie's feelings: "Best thing in the world for the inside of a man or a woman is the outside of a horse"; after a quick tour of the Wykwyn stable with his employee, Mark kissed her and asked: "Will you come up and spend next weekend with us?", but she looked away into the distance and didn't respond
• next was a celebrated five-minute sequence of the robbery of the Rutland office safe; at the end of the next work-week, on an early Friday evening, "Mary" remained hidden in one of the stalls of the ladies' room after hours, listening to the other gossipy female employees; when all eventually went quiet, she snuck over to the locked office desk to retrieve the safe's combination, and then entered the inner office; a clever split-screen effect was created when the cleaning lady Rita (Edith Evanson) appeared with a mop bucket on the left, while Marnie was dialing the combination to open and "clean out" the safe on the right; afterwards, to quietly escape via a descending stairwell, Marnie removed her shoes and slipped them in her coat's pockets, but in a tense moment, the shoe in her left pocket slowly fell out and hit the floor with a loud thud, but Rita didn't hear it; as Marnie snuck away, a night-guard (Rupert Crosse) entered the office and spoke forcefully to Rita - revealing that the cleaning lady was very hard-of-hearing

The Tension-Filled Set-Piece of the Robbery of the Rutland Safe
Hiding in Ladies' Room	Combination to Safe	Opening the Safe
Split-Screen	Trying to Quietly Sneak Out	Shoe in Left Pocket About to Fall Out

• a relieved Marnie escaped from being caught embezzling funds at Mark's company, and retreated to the Red Fox Tavern to stay there while taking Forio for a ride into the countryside from Garrod's Virginia stable; Mark tracked Marnie down (she was now blonde) and stood in her way as she attempted to find a route into an open clearing; he entrapped and ensnared her escape, and forced her to switch places with him; he mounted her horse while she walked alongside him: ("You'll walk back to the stables. I'll ride")
• in her tavern room, he began to interrogate her to tell the truth about her real identity and family background ("Is Edgar your real name? And you're blonde"); she began a litany of truths and untruths; she admitted her real name was "Margaret (or Marnie) Edgar", but lied that she was from Los Angeles, CA; she told him that most of the money was being mailed to her and could be found in her post-office box in New York; she asserted that she didn't have any family: ("I don't have anybody"), and that she had no mother to whom she was giving the stolen money; she also confessed that she had lied about being a widowed "Mrs. Taylor" ("I've never been married"); and then she further described having a troublesome cousin named Jessie; he became accusatory: "You're a cold-practiced, little method-actress of a liar"; she claimed she couldn't help her lying, and continued to lie about how her mother died when she was 10
• after leaving her room and driving to a restaurant, Marnie further described how as an orphan, she was raised by a "Mrs. Taylor"; she also made up a story about how Mrs. Taylor's inheritance after her death brought her $14,000 that she used to buy her horse Forio, about two years earlier; Mark knew that her "dates were all wrong" and confessed that he had known about her deception (and theft) at Strutt & Co. months earlier; even though he knew she was a liability as a thief and liar, Mark admitted that out of curiosity, he had hired her because it "might be interesting" to keep her around, but then "things got out of control and I liked you"; when he asked directly: "Are you a compulsive thief? A pathological liar?"; she was forced to admit that she had stolen from Strutt - she said it was because she "went crazy" and "hated him"
• at a Howard Johnson's Restaurant, the discussion continued; Mark accused her of calculated thievery that wasn't due to "sudden temptation and unpremeditated impulse," because of her "chronic use of an alias"; Marnie admitted that she was scared of her blossoming romance and growing involvement with Mark at Rutland's: "I thought it was time I got out before I got hurt"
• he told her that he was dedicated to helping her (and controlling her), and that they would be returning to Rutland's: "I can't let you go, Marnie. Somebody's gotta take care of you and help you. I can't turn you loose. If I let you go, I'm criminally and morally responsible...Alright, Marnie, this is how it's gonna be"; he ordered that she would continue to work with him in Philadelphia, and revealed that he was ready to forgive her and cover up for her crime in the office: ("You're covered and I've replaced the money...Figured the loss and replaced it"); as he continued to question her, she affirmed that she had "no lovers, no steadies, no beaus, no gentlemen callers, nothing" and although many men had been interested in her, she "wasn't interested in them" - until she had met Mark who was "different" than the others and that she really "liked" him; he didn't fully believe her
• unexpectedly, as they drove to his home in Pennsylvania at Wykwyn, Mark hastily and strangely blackmailed her into agreeing to marry him by the end of the week: ("That I can't bear to have you out of my sight"); she was horrified by the thought of being controlled and forced into marriage: "You're crazy! - You're out of your mind!", and begged to be released: ("Oh, Mark, if you love me, you'll let me go....Mark, you don't know me....I am not like other people. I know what I am!"); Mark was adamant: "Whatever you are, I love you"; when she asserted that she felt like a trapped wild animal: "You don't love me. I'm just something you've caught! You think I'm some kind of animal you've trapped"; he agreed with her: "I've tracked you and caught you, and by God, I'm gonna keep you!" - he would take "legal possession" of her: "And it narrows down to a choice of me or the police, ol' girl"
• Mark's unwise decision to marry Marnie was opposed by Lil Mainwaring who wished to marry Mark herself; she gave him a big kiss at his send-off after the wedding (off-screen) on the front porch; Lil was worried that Marnie was becoming an expensive investment for Mark - his engagement ring to Marnie was six and a half carats costing $42,000 dollars plus tax; in addition, Mark's financier cousin Bob (Bob Sweeney) was also dismayed that Mark had come to him a week earlier to cash a bond and ask for $10,000 in small bills (to secretly replenish the stolen money), and had paid almost $7,000 for his "South Seas honeymoon"; Lil did some snooping into Mark's financial records and saw a suspicious reminder note he had written to himself: "Pay off Strutt"
• on their honeymoon cruise to Fiji, newly-wed husband Mark was anxious and thought that they were off to a "dangerously poor start"; in their shared suite-cabin with two double-beds, Marnie was locked up in the bathroom for 47 minutes, and Mark was becoming impatient; after she appeared in a light-blue robe that fully covered her up to her neck, he said she looked "sexy" with her face cleaned

Honeymoon Night - Marnie Was Fully Covered From Her Neck Down When She Emerged From the Bathroom After 47 Minutes

• as she sat on the bed next to him, he advanced toward her with the intention to kiss her, but she ran off: "I can't! I can't! I can't!...I can't stand it! I'll die. If you touch me again, I'll die!"; she cowered in a corner of a sofa, where he asked her to explain what her negative reaction to him was all about; she described how she never wanted to be touched intimately:

  Marnie: I told you not to marry me. I told you! Oh, God, why couldn't you have just let me go?...The only way you can help me is to leave me alone! Can't you understand? Isn't it plain enough? I cannot bear to be handled.
  Mark: By anybody? Or just me?
  Marnie: You. Men!
  Mark: Really? You didn't seem to mind at my office that day, or at the stables. And all this last week, I've, uh, handled you. Kissed you many times. Why didn't you break out in a cold sweat and back into a corner then?
  Marnie: I thought I could stand it if I had to.

Mark's Attempted Kiss

Cowering in a Corner of the Sofa

Mark Trying to Understand Her Aversion to Him - or to Men in General

• when he directly asked why she didn't want any male to touch her: ("Why? What happened to you?"), he also wondered if she ever tried to talk about it to a doctor or somebody who could help her; she had no definitive answer except to say that she thought marriage was wrong for her: "It's degrading. It's animal!"; he stated that there was obviously something wrong with her due to her persistent kleptomania; he called her a "tempting little thing" and that she should be grateful for his "permissive" nature unlike another "sexual blackmailer" who might ultimately end up sending her to jail

After Denying She Needed Help, Marnie Turned Her Back on Mark

• she denied needing help, when he prescribed that she might need a psychiatrist to sort out her problems of compulsive thievery and a hatred of men: ("I don't think you're capable of judging what you need"); she persisted in telling him: "There's nothing to talk out. I've told you how I feel. I'll feel the same way tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after that!", and turned her back on him; he promised and gave his word that he wouldn't demand sex from her, and wished that they would be "kind to each other" - and that they would now sleep in separate beds
• after a few days of abstinence, at bedtime, he was unable to hold back his desire to sleep with her and have sex, and he ferociously approached and insisted: ("I very much want to go to bed") - as she shrieked: "No!", he ripped off Marnie's nightgown (the silky garment fell to her feet), but then he stumbled out with an apology: ("I'm sorry, Marnie"), covered her nakedness with his own robe, as he continued to tenderly kiss the side of her face

Husband Mark Rutland with Newly-Wed Wife Marnie
"I very much want to go to bed"	Marnie: "NO!"	Marnie's Nightgown Ripped Off
Nightgown Dropping to the Floor	"I'm sorry, Marnie" - Covering Her With His Robe	Kissing the Unresponsive Marnie
Marnie's Rigid Stare and Passive Unemotional Reaction to His Kisses

• the sexually-frigid, prudish, and icy blonde Marnie remained very still and unresponsive as he caressed her face and continued to kiss her; she rigidly stared upward in a frozen, paralyzed catatonic state and did not return or reciprocate his amorous advances - completely passive and lacking any passion or emotion
• the background behind Marnie changed as she slowly lowered herself (and laid down on the bed), while Mark was atop her - his face filled the entire screen; and then the camera panned away to the left to their porthole (the question was left open as to what happened next - was she passively raped?)

Marnie Lying Back on the Bed, With Mark Staring Back at Her
Marnie's Stony-Eyed and Faced Stare As She Laid on Bed	Mark's Face Filled the Entire Screen	Pan Over to the Porthole

• the next early morning's panning transition from the porthole back to the double beds found Mark awakening and hearing Marnie leaving their cabin; he glanced over at her empty bed, and then raced up to the deck, fearing that she had thrown herself overboard; he found her attempting to suicidally drown (and cleanse) herself in the ship's swimming pool, where he resuscitated and saved her; she explained why she hadn't thrown herself into the ocean ("The idea was to kill myself, not feed the damn fish"); their honeymoon was cut short; they never reached Fiji but flew back from Honolulu
• in the next scene, the newly-weds returned to Wykwyn and were greeted by his father and a very happy Lil; Marnie remained fearful of her expected behavior in a marital relationship when Mark insisted they must keep up their "facade"; she was anxious about sharing the same bedroom with him - so they maintained adjoining bedrooms; their first morning back, Mark told her that he had anonymously paid off Strutt, one of her victims of thievery, so that charges wouldn't be brought against her; Mark wasn't aware that Lil was listening in to their conversation from an upper window; she also overheard Marnie speaking on the phone to her mother through the library door - Marnie had previously claimed that her mother was dead
• soon after, Mark moved Marnie's horse Forio to be stabled at Wykwyn and she was overjoyed to greet her beloved animal; it was the first time that Mark noticed affection and happiness in her; Marnie impulsively removed her shoes and took off riding bareback
• with her own ulterior motives, Lil suggested to Mark that she was a "good fighter" who could help him: "I have absolutely no scruples. I'd lie to the police or anything"; she suspected that he was in "some sort of fix" issue with Marnie, especially after overhearing their conversation in the morning; she was also concerned about how fast he had married Marnie: ("That Mary-Marnie, brown-haired blonde you married so fast and sneaky and tried to hustle off to the South Pacific!"); Lil dubbed herself as someone who could be a "guerrilla fighter, perjurer, intelligence agent" for him; she also shared helpful information after eavesdropping on Marnie's phone call that her mother was alive in Baltimore; Mark discounted her assistance and insinuated that Lil was growing up fast and needed a man to keep her pre-occupied: "I expect what we should do is find you some young man. What's your type?"; she responded that she was looking for someone like Mark: "I was waiting for you. I'm queer for liars"
• although Mark pretended to not be concerned about his strange-acting wife, he wished to investigate further into Marnie's past, and to play-act as an amateur psychiatrist; Mark hired detective Mr. Boyle (Henry Beckman) to research her childhood background and personal life, and was notified that Marnie's mother "Bernice Edgar" who now lived in Baltimore, had killed a man when Marnie was five years old, but there was no further information about the "child"
• Marnie continued to experience frightening nightmares, calling out: "Please don't hurt my Mama!" - transporting her back to her childhood in her mind; Mark had been playing at being a 'Freudian analyst' and was reading books about therapeutic solutions to her mental health problems and suicidal tendencies (one was titled "Sexual Aberrations of the Criminal Female"); he hypothesized that her recent recurring nightmare (signified by three taps and a request by her mother for Marnie to wake up although it was cold) was related to something that had happened to her in her past with her mother; he asked her: "Is it about something that really happened to you?"
• Marnie wanted to be left alone, and was resistant to Mark - she mocked him: ("You Freud, me Jane?") when he suggested that she read one of his books as "homework"; she made up fictitious titles to two books that he might read: ("Frigidity In Women" and "The Psychopathic Delinquent and Criminal"), and then dencounced his reading materials: "I don't need to read that muck to know that women are stupid and feeble and that men are filthy pigs!"; he continued to insist that she read "The Undiscovered Self"
• Marnie also adroitly accused Mark of being the sick one and having a "pathological fix" on her: "I'm sick? Well, take a look at yourself, ol' dear. You're so hot to play Mental Health Week, what about you? Talk about dream worlds. You've got a pathological fix on a woman, who's not only an admitted criminal but who screams if you come near her! So what about your dreams, Daddy dear?"; he simply responded: "Well, I never said I was perfect"; realizing that he was "dying to play doctor," they played a word-association game, and he suggested various words such as water, sex, and death - prompting her reactions; when Marnie feared mention of the colors red and white, she freaked out; he assured her: "I won't let anything bad happen to you. You're alright" as she begged: "Help me. Oh, God, somebody help me!"
• after two months of marriage to Mark, to spite Marnie, the crafty Lil planned a party at the Wykwyn family home, with one of the invitations sent to Marnie's former employer Strutt (and his wife); although Marnie assured Mark about the public gathering: "I'm not a bit nervous, Mark," she became distressed when Strutt recognized her as his former secretary when she was introduced as Mark's wife: ("I believe we're met before"); during the party, Marnie was visibly taken aback after being returned to her cycle of traumatic ordeals; after being recognized, later in the evening, she reacted by packing her bags to escape; she begged Mark: ("You've got to let me go. That man is going to send me to jail") - she was frantically worried that other similar victims of her crimes might come forward, and admitted to five similar crimes ("Five counting Strutt") over a period of five years, with a total take of under $50,000 dollars; to keep a lid on it, Mark promised that he would appease Strutt, and then proposed that they would pay off all the other victims of hers and have any charges withdrawn: ("With a bit of luck, we might pull it off")
• the next morning, during a fox hunting expedition at Mark's family estate, Marnie was riding her horse Forio; she reacted to the predatory hunters with some disgust after the dogs attacked their prey; and then a bright, red-coated hunter triggered Marnie's phobic response, and her horse erupted into a wild gallop; Marnie rode off from the group (followed closely by Lil) and self-destructively lost control of Forio who tragically suffered a lethally-damaging accident when it failed to clear a high stone wall; although thrown from her horse, Marnie survived and was determined to euthanize the "screaming" animal with a pistol blast, although Lil volunteered to take her place; Marnie was calmed by putting her horse out of misery: "There. There now" - destroying the one possession that represented the thing she cherished most as a result of all of her crimes
• at the same time in the downstairs of the Wykwyn home, Mark was attempting to convince Strutt to come around to his requests and not press charges against his "sick" wife; after her horse's mercy-killing, the grief-stricken and exhausted Marnie entered Mark's second floor home office to acquire two keys (one for the Rutland Office and one for the Safe Combination) from his desk drawer; she hypnotically descended the stairs and hurriedly left; in the office after dialing the safe combination, her hand became frozen as she reached out for the wads of cash
• from behind her, Mark calmly told her: "I'll take you home, Marnie"; he had trailed her and confronted her as she was again about to steal money from his safe and make a getaway; he personally tested her and urged her to take the money: ("You took the keys, now take the money! I said take it! What's mine belongs to you. It's yours! You're not stealing") - but she remained frozen and resistant
• in the conclusion of the film, during a wild thunderstorm, Mark ordered Marnie to join him to visit with her mother Bernice in Baltimore: ("Now we're going to Baltimore to see your mother"); Marnie was worried: "If you tell my mother about me, I'll kill you"; when they arrived, Mark introduced himself as Marnie's husband, and mentioned that Marnie hadn't been well since Bernice's "accident" when Marnie was five years old; Mark insisted that Marnie needed help and was mentally ill: "Your daughter needs help, Mrs Edgar. You've got to tell her the truth. She has no memory of what happened that night"

Mark's Intrusion to Meet Marnie's Mother Bernice and His Threats to Reveal Marnie's Past In Order to Help Her Daughter

• Mark insisted that Marnie had to learn what happened and "remember everything"; he threatened Bernice that if she didn't cooperate, he would divulge everything: "If you won't tell her, I will. I know everything that happened"; due to his own lustful and sexual desires for Marnie that were denied to him, Mark claimed that Marnie was entitled to know why she was frigid with men, and that Bernice owed it to her daughter to inform her why: ("Don't you think you owe it to her to help her to understand what happened - to make her like this?")
• as a result of his detective's research work, Mark informed her what the court records had reported about her trial for murder, including the truth of her risky occupation as a prostitute during a stormy night: "In the records (of your trial for murder), it states quite plainly that you made your living from the touch of men, and it was one of your clients that you killed that night" - lightning struck to emphasize his point; Mark also mentioned how there was a storm on the night of the murder, and it had caused Marnie's phobia about storms
• Bernice began to hysterically attack Mark in Marnie's presence and screamed out: "Get out of my house. You get out! I don't need any filthy man comin' in my house no more!", Marnie remembered, and relived in a scary flashback - a repressed, traumatic childhood experience that occurred during another thunder and lightning storm, when a 'white-suited' sailor assaulted her Mama: ("You let my Mama go! You're hurtin' my Mama!...You're one of them. One of them in the white suits"); she also recalled what the tapping meant: "It means they want in. Them in their white suits. Mama comes and gets me out of bed. I don't like to get out of bed"

Bernice to Mark: "Get out of my house!..."

Marnie Triggered by Her Mama's Outburst: "You let my Mama go!"

Marnie's Fearful Recollections of the Traumatic Incident

• during the intense flashback (filmed expressionistically with disjointed angles), the root of Marnie's problems was revealed to have occurred in the Baltimore home of her 20 year-old crippled war-time prostitute mother Bernice Edgar when Marnie was a 5 year-old girl (Melody Thomas Scott); during a late night visit (after tapping at the door) of one of her mother's abusive sex partners, during a thunderstorm, Marnie was awakened from her bed and moved to the living room, while her mother and a male client - pedophilic sex partner and white-suited sailor (Bruce Dern) - used the bed in the one-bedroom apartment; Marnie then recalled: "He come out to me," and comforted her during the storm by stroking her hair, kissing her, and molesting her; Marnie sobbed and protested: "I want my Mama! I don't want you! Let me go! Mama!"
• when her protective mother saw them together, she cried out: "Get your damn hands off my kid!"; she intervened when she saw Marnie upset and begging: "Make him go, Mama. I-I don't like him to kiss me. Make him go, Mama!"; Marnie's mother and the sailor wrestled together above the young girl; as she witnessed her mother being hit and attacked, Marnie screamed when she saw her mother defending herself by grabbing a fire poker, but the strong male overpowered her and fell on her (and broke her leg, the cause of her later disability), and the weapon dropped from her hands

Marnie's Traumatic, Nightmarish Flashback to Murder During Her Childhood
Marnie Displaced From Warm Bed	Marnie Moved to the Living Room	White-Suited Sailor: "You ain't afraid of a little lightnin', are ya?"
Bernice: "Get your damn hands off my kid!"	< Marnie In Fear	Sailor Wrestling with Marnie's Mother
Reaching For a Fire Poker	Marnie Watching Her Mother Fighting Back	Marnie's Mother Striking Sailor with Poker
Sailor Falling Onto Marnie's Mother and Breaking Her Leg	Marnie Picking Up Poker and Swinging It at the Sailor	Marnie Striking Sailor In the Head and Killing Him

• when her mother screamed out: "Marnie, help me," young Marnie picked up the fireplace poker and defensively delivered a blow to his head: ("I hit him, I hit him with a stick, I hurt him") - and murdered him; Marnie was relieved when the incident ended: "There, there now"; crimson blood ran down the white T-shirt of the mortally-wounded seaman; after the retelling of the incident, Mark and Marnie listened as Bernice explained how she thought it was a sign of God's forgiveness that Marnie had repressed her memory of the awful night: ("It was a sign of God's forgiveness"); Mark explained that Marnie's mother took the blame and stood trial for the self-defense murder of the sailor
• these events were revealed to be the source of all of Marnie's deep-rooted psychological problems, neuroses, phobias, prudishness (in sexual situations, she wouldn't allow a man to be intimately close to her), recurring nightmares and her fear of the colors red and white
• after the revelation about the murder to Mark, the mother confessed how the authorities threatened to take her daughter away from her, but that she refused to be separated from Marnie because of her love for her; Marnie was truly touched: "You must've loved me, Mama," and her mother added: "You're the only thing in this world I ever did love. It - it was just that I was so young, Marnie. I never had anything of my own"
• Marnie's mother admitted how her daughter had been conceived at the age of 15; she wanted the basketball sweater of a boy named Billy and allowed him to have sex with her: ("Billy said that if I let him, I could have the sweater. So I let him"), but afterwards when she became pregnant, the boy had abandoned her
• when she was in the hospital for treatment of her leg, Bernice steadfastly vowed her love for Marnie by choosing to adopt her: "And after the accident, when I was in the hospital, they tried to make me let you be adopted. But I wouldn't. I wanted you. And I promised God right then, if he'd let me keep you, and you not remember, I'd bring you up different from me. Decent"
• Marnie agreed that she was decent, but also much more: "I certainly am decent. Of course, I'm a cheat, and a liar and a thief, but I am decent"; Mark provided assurances when he spoke to Marnie and tried to convince Marnie to think more highly of herself and not regard herself as a cheat, a liar and a thief: "Marnie, it's time to have a little compassion for yourself. When a child, a child of any age, Marnie, can't get love, well, it takes what it can get, any way it can get it. It's not so hard to understand"
• Marnie asked Mark what was going to happen to her, and then told Mark that she wanted it "all cleared up." She worried: "Will I go to jail?" He vowed to defend her, told her that she wouldn't go to jail, and that they would work out their mutual marital problems: "No. Not after what I have to tell them"

The Ending Scene: Reconciling with Mark

• as they were departing, the future was uncertain and left ambiguous - Mark said he would bring Marnie back at some future time; Marnie's mother said farewell with an affectionate: "Goodbye, sugarpop" to her daughter (the words she had earlier used for young "Jessie")
• standing on the front doorstep, they spoke one more time, as Marnie told Mark that she preferred being with him rather than serving a jail sentence:

  Marnie: Oh, Mark. I don't want to go to jail. I'd rather stay with you.
  Mark: Had you, love?