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A superbly scripted and daring politcal thriller, elevated by the fluidity of Hitchcock’s direction and his demonstrative devices of suspense. His famous ticking clock, for example, has been widdled into a paint-by-numbers for any filmmaker shooting for thrills. Claude Rains steals many a scene here, toning down his villainy with a hilarious juvenile jealousy funneled into a smirking rage. The stoic yet sensitive Cary Grant pairs with a cunning and spirited Ingrid Bergman to ignite the screen with passion stifled by duty. Their love game boils over into their espionage, thickening the plot and intensifying their romantic tug-of-war. But unlike many films of its era, the romance is not embellished. Notorious is quite firmly a suspense film, the best of its class, fitting together like a puzzle.

Notorious é um filme nada infame de Hitchcock. É verdade que não é tão célebre como outras obras do mestre, mas é um dos seus melhores filmes. Para começar, conta com duas das maiores estrelas de sempre do cinema (na altura estavam no pico da sua forma), Cary Grant e Ingrid Bergman. Eram ambos grandes no que faziam e entregam-nos dois excelentes desempenhos.

A acção decorre, como Hitchcock fez questão de nos mostrar logo no inicio, um ano e pouco depois do fim da Segunda Guerra Mundial. Começa com um traidor de origem alemã, mas nacionalidade americana, a ser julgado a 20 anos de cadeia por ter colaborado com os nazis. Este traidor tem uma filha, Alicia Huberman (Bergman), uma pessoa de carácter duvidoso (daí o nome do filme), que gosta de beber e seduzir vários homens com os seus encantos. É na sua personalidade infame que todo o filme se baseia e cria toda a sua tensão.

Na noite seguinte ao julgamento, Alicia conhece Devlin (Grant) um agente dos EUA que a seduz com o intuito de convence-la a fazer um trabalho de espiã no Brasil. Com alguma relutância, Alicia acaba por aceitar o desafio como forma de redenção pelos pecados do pai. A tarefa que Alicia tem que desempenhar é seduzir um antigo amigo do seu pai, de forma a obter informação sobre a agenda dos nazis no Brasil. Como seria de esperar, Alicia e Devlin acabam por se apaixonar e irão encontrar vários desafios ao seu amor pelo caminho, criados principalmente pelo trabalho que Alicia tem em mãos.

Devlin é um homem céptico e pragmático, que tem medo de dar asas a um amor por uma mulher sobre a qual tem dúvidas. Os seus sentimentos por Alicia são óbvios durante todo o filme, mas é ainda mais óbvio que ele se está a resguardar com medo de sair magoado desta relação. É esta descrença que torna este filme extremamente interessante, pois coloca a protagonista em dificuldades que quase a levam à morte.

Outro aspecto que eleva este filme é a forma como foi filmado. Hitchcock tem aqui um dos seus melhores trabalhos a nível técnico. Cada plano é executado de forma bastante original e irrepreensível. Como exemplo desta perfeição está a cena em que Alicia acorda ressacada na manhã seguinte a conhecer Devlin. Existem planos nesta cena que não são comuns na maioria dos filmes, principalmente devido ao seu enquadramento.

É incrível como é impossível não gostar de um filme de Hitchcock, não é por nada que lhe chamam o mestre. Para além do espectacular trabalho feito a nível técnico, Hitchcock cria uma história de espiões tensa e original que tem por base uma história de amor muito pouco convencional. É assim mais um dos filmes do mestre que recomendo vivamente.

Hitchcock must have loved making Notorious. He managed to slip a fairly scandalous, for the time, scenario past the censors of the Breen office under the guise of a propaganda film encouraging patriotism. The morals of a party girl are fine to be employed in the name of state security it seems, even if the controllers are pimping her to a Nazi! The party girl in question is the exquisitly beautiful Ingrid Bergman, one of Hitch’s favourite heroines. The unlikely love story begins with Devlin (Cary Grant) trying to lure the daughter of a notorious Nazi, just convicted to 20 years for treason, to work against her fathers old cronies now active in Brazil. Bergman plays the daughter, Alicia, trying to deaden the public notoriety with booze and parties and men. Devlin makes his pitch, knowing that if nothing else, Alicia loves America and this would be her chance at redemption. The deal is made and Dev escorts her to Brazil where they both learn of her assignment. Grant, working with Hitch a second time after his turn in Suspicion, plays the agent with a tone of bruised detachment, a subtle and nuanced performance. He is cool and professional but is unable to resist the allure of Alicia and soon the two are in love.

Their reverie is abruptly interrupted by the nature of the work. Alicia is required to seduce one of the Nazi clique, co-incidentaly an old acquaintance, Alex Sebastian played with style by Claude Rains. Alex is smitten again by Alicia, but in order to prove she’s not interested in Devlin, she’s asked to marry him. She asks advice from her handlers, hoping Dev will speak out against the arrangement but he’s unsure as to whether the party girl has changed her spots and if she really loved him at all. He stays silent and she takes it as a betrayal, and therefore agrees to marry Alex, against the wishes of his domineering mother, superbly played by Madame Konstantin. Hitch and co-writer Ben Hecht added an ‘atom bomb’ sub-plot, as the fear that other countries would be nuclear capable post WW2 was a key driver to the forthcoming cold war. Hitch was responsible for assembling documentary footage of the Nazi death camps for the British government, but it was deemed to be too demoralising to be released to the general public, but the experienece profoundly affected him and any anti Nazism stance was to be encouraged. The substance in the wine bottles found by Devlin is meant to be uranium.

The ‘elephant in the room’ is the fact that Alicia will be sleeping with the enemy. In an era when sex between the hero and heroine was barely mentioned, this is a very bold undertaking. Alicia’s morals are derided by her scheming controllers, and her agreement is not viewed as the sacrifice we know it to be. the value of a woman for them is her ability to turn a man’s head, this time in a ‘noble’ cause. Alicia is out to redeem her family debt to her country, even at the expense of her true love and reputation. Hitch uses the odd trademark visual devise, the most obvious the remarkable high to low shot ending on the key in Alicia’s hand at the large party. Rains plays his villian with a degree of sympathy and charm, maybe making the audience subliminally less judgemental of Alicia’s actions. The tension builds as Alicia uncovers the nature of the Nazi plot. Devlin is about to leave her to her job, but mysteriously she fails repeatedly to front up to their clandestine meetings. Concerned he visits the Sebastion mansion and finds her there ill and bedridden, being slowly poisoned by her husband and mother-in-law. The stand-off as he carries her out, is truly memorable and tense.

Visually unfussy, but crisp and lean in glorious black and white, the whole film turns on the sexual dynamic between Bergman and Grant. It is easily one of the best pairings in a Hitchcock as their scenes together have a spark and conviction that takes them out of the sterile screen lovers stereotypes that were so common in the 1940’s. Hitchcock also had a tendancy to employ rather clunky pop psychology in some of his scripts at the time, but in this one the motivations and the character outlines are well delineated and devoid of faux Freud. The ending also works superbly as a modern fairy tale… Princess in castle with wicked relatives is rescued by dashing Prince after eating the poison apple anyone? The fact that the Princess had a less than ‘pure as driven snow’ history must have tickled Hitch no end. One of his very best.

This is a wonderful film full of elegance in absolutely everything from the script and the shots to the acting and costume design. The subject is defnitley the greatest element in this story of love and betrayal. Hitchcock showcases illusion slowly becoming a frightening reality to those who have been deceived by it, and that’s what makes this film different from other ones by Hitch, since this time, differently from Spellbound or The 39 Steps, it is the bad guys who are being drawn to danger through the sacrifice of a woman who would be considered immoral by her peers, but is actually nothing less than a heroine sacrificing her time, her life and her chance to be loved.
Cary Grant has a great challenge ahead of him since he is a good guy asking Ingrid Bergman to become Claude Rains’ shadow knowing he loves her, and eventually advising her to marry him while he is having a relationship with her, and all to destroy the remnants of the Nazi empire. Sacrifice is the element that links our heroes in search for the greater good.