I could watch Ingrid Bergman and Gregory Peck whisper while staring deeply into each other’s eyes for ages, yet Spellbound still registers as a talky exploration of psychoanalysis, something director Alfred Hitchcock would later examine with more insinuating subtext in his masterpieces of the 1950s and ’60s. Bergman, with her usual verve, plays Dr. Constance Petersen, a psychoanalyst who falls hard—and immediately—for the new director of the institute where she works: Peck’s Dr. Anthony Edwardes. When he begins to suffer from mysterious, suspicious panic attacks, he also becomes her patient. While the two stars are ravishing props, the movie leans on that too much; a few more scenes convincing us of their love for each other would have gone a long way. Instead, Spellbound is more memorable for its stylistic flourishes, particularly a dream sequence designed by surrealist artist Salvador Dali (Un Chien Andalou). With its walls of eyeballs and masked figures, these scenes dive deeply and aesthetically into the subconscious with a boldness that looks ahead to the likes of Vertigo and Psycho.
(8/16/2023)
