As a book, movie or opera, the story of ‘Marnie’ shows the possibility of healing and reconciliation

For the past few years, I’ve enjoyed going to Gig Harbor’s Uptown’s Galaxy Theater to see films from the Metropolitan Opera. The way the performances are filmed allows me to experience the actors’ faces in revealing close-ups, and also not miss any of the action on stage.

It’s a great experience, and fun to do with friends.

I recently attended the new opera, “Marnie.” It premiered in England in 2017. The music was composed by Nico Mulhy, with the libretto (words) by Jonathan Wright.

It’s the early 1960’s. Marnie is a beautiful young woman, prone to lies. She steals from the companies she works for as a secretary, afterwards changing her identity and moving on to the next job. She needs the money to support her disabled mother.

Marnie is guarded and secretive, but carries herself well, having taken lessons in etiquette. She meets her match when Mark Rutland, a company owner, catches her absconding with funds. He forces her to marry him, or be turned over to the police. You can imagine the complications that arise.

This opera was gripping, with discordant but compelling music, perfect choreography and costumes.

Marnie and a chorus of women who symbolize her different identities wear high heels, pearl necklaces and fashionable dresses and coats in colorful hues that would have been on the cover of Vogue magazine back then. Their blonde hair is swept up into French twists. The men wear dark suits, ties and hats.

Mulhy’s opera is a 21st century rendition of the 1961 book, “Marnie,” written by the prolific British author Winston Graham. There is also the 1964 film, “Marnie,” which was directed by Alfred Hitchcock. It’s encouraging to see a story survive in new forms over 56 years.

After seeing the opera, I rented the Hitchcock film, then read Graham’s book, hoping to learn more about the story and explore the similarities and differences among the book, film and opera. The opera is truer to the book, but the film still follows the primary plotline.

Marnie goes along with the marriage arrangement, but not happily. She feels trapped by, and resistant to Rutland. She is terrified by a raging storm. She and Mark argue. He forces himself on her, and she attempts suicide. Mark regrets his behavior and saves her life. He does care for her and wants to help.

She agrees to see a psychiatrist in exchange for Mark bringing her beloved horse to their property. The book really focuses on the sessions with the psychiatrist. After all, the 1960’s was the heyday of Freudian theory. In the film, visits to the psychiatrist are only implied, but the opera includes gripping therapy scenes.

Marnie starts to open up and trust just a little bit. She and Mark attend an elegant cocktail party, where she is spied by a previously aggrieved employer. Later, a dramatic fox hunt does not go well.

Eventually we learn that childhood trauma related to the loss of her father, and her relationship with her lonely, promiscuous mother, is the root of Marnie’s disturbed behavior. This childhood trauma takes different forms in the opera, film and book, with the book’s description the least traumatic and the opera’s the most traumatic.

The three endings are also slightly different, but all involve Marnie being forced to face her criminal past, and maybe, just maybe deciding to trust her devoted husband.

So, after all is said and done, I think all three versions of this story show the potential for the healing of psychological wounds, and the possibilities for reconciliations between the sexes. That’s a good thing!