PSYCHO DIALOGUE

By William C. Martell

A superb example of intersecting monologues is Joseph Stefano's screenplay to 1960's "Psycho" (based on the novel by Robert Bloch).

Marion Crane is trapped in a dead end job. Her boyfriend, Sam Loomis, is trapped in debt. When he boss gives her $40,000 in cash to deposit in the bank, she decides to steal it... falling into yet another trap. A fugitive on the run from the law, she stops for the night at the Bates Motel. When Norman asks her if she'd like to have dinner with him, she accepts.

                                     NORMAN
                         You eat like a bird.

                                     MARION
                              (Looking at the stuffed 
                              birds in his den)
                         You'd know, of course.

                                     NORMAN
                         No, not really. Anyway, I hear the 
                         expression "Eats like a bird" is a 
                         false..  false... falsity. Because 
                         birds really eat a tremendous lot. 
                         But I don't really know anything 
                         about birds.  My hobby is stuffing 
                         things.  You know, taxidermy.  And I 
                         guess I'd rather stuff birds because 
                         I hate the look of beasts when they're 
                         stuffed.  You know, foxes and 
                         chimps... Some people even stuff 
                         dogs and cats... but I couldn't do 
                         that. Only birds look well stuffed 
                         because - well, they're kind of 
                         passive to begin with.

                                     MARION
                         It's a strange hobby. Curious.

                                     NORMAN
                         Uncommon, too.

                                     MARION
                         Oh, I imagine so!

                                     NORMAN
                         And it's not as expensive as you 
                         might think.  It's cheap, really.  
                         You know, needles, thread, sawdust. 
                         The chemicals are the only thing 
                         that costs anything.

                                     MARION
                         A man should have a hobby.

                                     NORMAN
                         It's more than a hobby. A hobby is 
                         supposed to pass the time, not fill 
                         it...

                                     MARION
                         Do you go out with friends?

                                     NORMAN
                              (resigned)
                         A boy's best friend is his mother. 
                         You haven't had an empty moment in 
                         your entire life, have you?

                                     MARION
                         Only my share.

                                     NORMAN
                         Where are  you going?  I didn't mean 
                         to pry.

                                     MARION
                         I'm looking for a private island.

                                     NORMAN
                         What are you running away from?

                                     MARION
                         Why do you ask that?

                                     NORMAN
                         You know, people never run away from 
                         anything, really. You know what I 
                         think? I think we're all in our 
                         private traps.  Clamped  in them.  
                         And none of us can ever get out.  We 
                         scratch  and we claw, but only at 
                         the air.  Only at each other. And 
                         for all of it, we never budge an 
                         inch.

                                     MARION
                         Sometimes we deliberately step into 
                         those traps.

                                     NORMAN
                         I was born in mine.

Private traps... Both Norman and Marion are in their own private worlds, and the dialogue reflects that. This isn't as much dialogue as it's intersecting monologue, Marion focused on her private trap and Norman on his. They seem to be talking to each other, but they are actually talking to themselves. When Norman talks about Marion's private trap, he's really talking about his own trap. When she talks about deliberately stepping into a trap, it has nothing to do with Norman's situation... it's almost as if she wasn't listening to him at all. It seems as if they are responding to each other, but they aren't. Norman goes off on a personal tangent based on whatever Marion said last... and she does the same.

Stefano uses the style of conversation to show the isolation of each character. By the end of the conversation Norman realizes that he has to escape his domineering mother if he's going to survive and Marion realizes she can't run forever... that's a trap in itself. She decides to drive back to Phoenix in the morning and return the $40,000. Each has made the decision on their own. Bouncing words off each other like a ball bouncing against a wall.

FADE OUT

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copyright 2010 by William C. Martell