#The Original Suspicion Ending Alfred Hitchcock Wanted Us To See

In the end, Lina’s paranoia leads to her looking increasingly like one of those “hysterical” women, embodying that terrible trope often meant to discredit women. In the climactic last scene, we are led to believe that he never wanted her dead and that he truly is a good man, albeit slightly (read: deeply) flawed. Lina forgives Johnnie. Johnnie forgives Lina. And the two are seen driving off into the sunset, back to their house where they will presumably live happily ever after. It’s a bittersweet ending, one that is meant to leave us wondering whether or not we should believe Johnnie. But it’s still relatively clean without much fanfare, easy to dismiss, and slightly disappointing. However, it most certainly is not the original ending that Alfred Hitchcock envisioned when he set out to make the film.

Hitchcock’s “Suspicion” is based on a 1932 novel by Francis Iles titled “Before the Fact.” While I have not read the actual book, the plot of the film seems like it doesn’t stray too far from its source material, but it does alter the ending significantly. In the novel, Lina, completely aware of the fact that Johnnie is murdering friends and family for money, knowingly drinks a poisoned glass of milk given to her by her husband. The acceptance of her inevitable death can be understood in various ways as Lina, who is pregnant at the time she drinks the milk, perhaps choosing to save her unborn child from a life with Johnnie as their father. Or maybe she’s crazy, in love, or both.

In the movie, though, the milk is given, but Lina never drinks it. There is no potential child, and the ending is so ambiguous that it leads one to believe all of Lina’s paranoia was completely unjustified. But Hitchcock himself actually wanted the movie to end in a way that was much closer to the source material.