Hitchcock’s composition

architecture

The Architecture of Thrill: How Hitchcock Inspires Spatial Effects

In architecture the forms of transition are the consequence of previously affixed objects, and the practical necessity that the physical construction of a building imposes. For example, the walkway in the shape of a square of the transept floor in a church or the polygonal or circular form of a roof that results in a dome. The interest of a space in transition is how it changes from one form to another.

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In Strangers on a Train, there is another theme that we don’t want to leave out: the magnetism of architecture and its direct relation with the notion of suspense. The film is shot in Washington, a monumental city of great hubs and plazas. It’s revealing to observe how in the movie the confrontation between two men (Guy and Bruno), is always obstructed by architecture. The monument has the burden of staging and of being the magnetic force that adds suspense to the whole scene. The architecture in this case acts an analogy of the domination Bruno exerts over Guy.

Also present in all of Hitchcock’s movies is the mysterious relationship between central and periphery. That is, the relationship between small and large scale, where small objects take on different connotations after being immersed in a metropolitan context.