The Wrong Man is an unusual film in the Hitchcock oeuvre. For one thing, the film begins with Hitchcock telling us that it is a true story. Like Hitchcock's television show, the introduction provides a pleasant, almost theatrical dimension. The ending of the film, on the other hand, feels helplessly disturbing.
Upon my initial viewing, the disturbing part came at the end of the film when Manny Balestrero (Henry Fonda), whose life is essentially ruined by an unfair investigation, blames the man who actually commits the crime, and not the police who proceed as if he is guilty until proven innocent.
The issue is deeper, though. As Renata Salecl states in her essay, "The Right Man and the Wrong Woman," Manny is psychotically indifferent. "The truth behind the perfect image is not a simple weakness, but psychotic indifference manifested in the total absence of guilt..." Salecl sees Manny's apparent perfections and complete assurance that things will work out, due to his innocence, as the source of every other part of his life falling apart. Guilt is deflected off of him in every instance and carried by others, most emphatically, his wife (Vera Miles).
But does psychotic indifference alone explain Manny's belief in the system? After all, where is the transference of guilt to the police officers when they learn that Manny is innocent? If we adhere to Salecl's interpretation, there would then be psychotic indifference from the police as well. The added feature of Manny's not being the only one who operates with psycotic indifference amplifies the issue greatly. Manny has sided (if not conspired) with the justice system against his wife. A "we" or an "us" for Manny is an entire conspiracy of "normal people." The fraternal aspects almost work like an initiation ritual, complete with hazing.
The question in viewing the film becomes less an issue of his indifference, but one of simply agreeing with the term "normal," even at the expense of his wife's sanity. The feeling of insanity is precisely this inability to identify with "normal," and if this amplification of Salecl's interpretation is right, the disturbing aspect of the film is not Manny alone, but that Manny is socially possible. The title of her essay would have to be re-titled: perhaps it would become "Normal Men and the Wrong Woman."
The question in viewing the film becomes less an issue of his indifference, but one of simply agreeing with the term "normal," even at the expense of his wife's sanity. The feeling of insanity is precisely this inability to identify with "normal," and if this amplification of Salecl's interpretation is right, the disturbing aspect of the film is not Manny alone, but that Manny is socially possible. The title of her essay would have to be re-titled: perhaps it would become "Normal Men and the Wrong Woman."
IMDb rates this film 7.5 stars out of 10
Film 101 rates this film 4.5 stars out of 5
Salecl's essay is available in a collection entitled Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Lacan (But Were Afraid to Ask Hitchcock), edited by Slavoj Zizek. I used the second edition, dated 2010.
