There's nothing better to do on a Sunday but to (re)watch a dark noir and espionage film about a powerful love story and some wonderful gowns, that is Notorious by Alfred Hitchcock.
Shot in October 1945 (so almost 70 years ago) and early 1946, the film starred Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman as handsome government agent T.R. Devlin and the "notorious" American daughter of a convicted Nazi spy, Alicia Huberman.
Alicia accepts to help the US Secret Services finding out the truth behind the meetings of a group of Germans living and operating around Rio, but while she's at first reluctant to get on board the operation, things change when she starts getting to know better agent Devlin. As the two fall in love, though, Alicia receives the first detailed instructions for the operations: she will have to seduce Alex Sebastian (Claude Rains), one of her father's old friends and a leading member of the group of Germans.
Things work out in her favour and Alex even asks to marry her and Alicia accepts thinking that Devlin doesn't care about her but that he still sees her as a notorious woman, that's why he seems to push her into Alex's path. It's only after the honeymoon that Alicia will discover the truth (that involves smuggled uranium to manufacture atomic bombs) about the Germans, and the events will bring back together Devlin and Alicia.
The film is a powerful psychological drama with some smashing camera frames including Devlin being shot from the point of view of Alicia as she nurses a hangover and attempst to drink an aspirin, and a poisoned coffee cup in the foreground when Alex and his mother try to quietly eliminate Alicia. While the film became more famous for a long kiss sensually broken by the director in several sections to avoid bans and censorship, the wardrobe put together by costume designer Edith Head should also be noted among the highlights.
Hitchcock was involved in all the details of the costuming, and drawings had to be submitted to him for all of Bergman and Grant's costumes. Grant used to be considered as among the best dressed men in Hollywood, and he is extremely smart in this film.
Bergman's wardrobe follows the complex changes her character goes through: when we first meet her she's still a wild girl in a striped cropped top that leaves her midriff bare matched with a long white skirt; we then see her in travelling clothes, in riding garb and, after she marries Alex, she is clad in luxurious evening gowns accessorised with glorious jewellery.
In one sequence Bergman also donned $3500 worth of crushed diamonds in her hair as Hitchcock wanted to highlight the change in her (according to cinema history sources and movie books, the RKO miniature department supplied the gems from the regular stock of abrasives used with diamond drills and diamond saws).
Minor accessories are also extremely important in this film: the scarf that Devlin ties around Alicia's waist to protect her from the cold when she's wearing her midriff baring ensemble is returned to him later on in the film, proving she had actually fallen in love with him and had kept the scarf.
The film is not just about suspense, thrills, mystery and emotional conflicts, it is also about the possibility of changing: Devlin is all about duty, but he becomes a different man when he finally lets go and admits he loves Alicia; on the other hand, Alicia proves she can stop drinking, become a honest person and leave behind her "notorious" past. This sub-theme of the film – changing and becoming a better person – actually sounds like a lovely resolution for the year that has just started, don't you think so?
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