Suspicion Painting

Hi Tomas, I really appreciated you bringing up the two abstract painting shots as a form of gaze towards an inanimate object. This abstract painting is certainly likely to be neglected since there is a much more realistic portrait painting of Lina’s father. But I also think that Hitchcock hid his message in these two shots, that this abstract painting is equally important as Lina’s father’s portrait in order to interpret the film. These two shots occurred before and after the two detectives conversed with Lina. Similarly, there is another shot of Benson walking away to the window (but also tentatively listening) when the other detective questioned Lina in the study . I wanted to put this other shot together with the two shots of the abstract painting, as they all involved Benson leaving the scene. As we see, Benson in the study walked to the window because the other detective gave him the implicit order to, which is different from the 2 symmetrical reoccurrences of Benson getting distracted by the abstract painting. So I think there is a lot for us to interpret. I agree with you that such shots focusing on Benson rather than the other detective and Lina would certainly distracts the audience while creates a tension or an uncertainty for the audience, where the audience is halfway confused about this seemingly distracted Benson while being super cautious and alerted about what we are going to hear (or overhear as our gaze is away from where the actual plot is). And maybe when the shot was framing Benson’s back and the painting, it was shot from Lina’s perspective. Benson is looking around pointlessly, as suggested by the non-objective / abstract / only geometric painting theme. But Lina might get nervous enough to think that Benson is looking for evidence because of her suspicion. Hitchcock used this contrast to push further Lina’s nervousness, and essentially by asking the audience to share what she is looking at (Benson’s back). Maybe to push the interpretation a little bit further, Benson’s very act of looking away from the actual plot could be seen in parallel with the audience’s gaze on the silver screen. Benson’s identity is similar to the audience, both of which are trying to see if Johnnie is involved in the crime. But at the same time, none of the two parties (three parties if we count Lina in) know where is the plot truly happening, and are easily distracted by the “unimportant details”. I kind of see this abstract painting in parallel to Hitchcock’s cameo, if we interpret the two as motifs formally. Just like sending the letter out symbolizes the original ending, and questioning this form of delayed knowledge sharing, this very act of looking in vain is also a recurring motif, where Hitchcock asked: what is important to look at? Why are we looking?