The opposite of matricide is illuminated in Bedroom: the uncanny proximity of kissing and killing. Hitchcock’s heroines sense the danger that lies in their love and yet cannot let go of the dream of romantic happiness that they nurture alone in their bedrooms. They give themselves up to embraces, make themselves beautiful for the adored lover, but look past him as he holds her in his arms. Then they defend themselves against his violent advances; while asleep, they wish he were gone, but when he is, they cry over him. In Girardet/Müller’s montage, the passionate kiss seamlessly leads to strangulation. In the last image, the arm of one of the corpses slides slowly down the side of the bed.

Elisabeth Bronfen, I am haunted, but I can’t see by what, Album by Matthias Müller, NBK Berlin 2004