So here I finally present you with two films about Alfred Hitchcock. Both make nods to his life and work and both seemed to be marketed as showing a darker side of his character.
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One stars Anthony Hopkins (Silence Of The Lambs, Amistad, Thor), comes from the director of the wonderful documentary "Anvil: The Story of Anvil" and was shown at the cinema. Meanwhile the other stars Toby Jones (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Mist, Captain America), comes from the director of the sweet little movie "Kinky Boots" and ended up as a TV movie.
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Another big difference is that "The Girl" is based on the account of his Hitchcock's life from Tippi Hedren, an actress who starred in his two films "The Birds" and "Marnie". She has recently had some shocking stories to tell of Alfred Hitchcock's treatment of her.
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"The Girl" (HBO TV movie 2012)
Toby Jones plays Hitchcock and unlike Anthony Hopkins in the big cinema movie, he doesn't use a ton of special make up to do so. Toby Jones doesn't have Hitchcock's size, but that doesn't matter because his performance sells it anyway. I say, not a TON of prosthetics, but that's not to say NO prosthetics. The lower half of Toby Jones' face has been reshaped, but the upper half of his face has been left the same. The most expressive part of his face has been left uncovered and it is through Toby Jones' expressions that the audience is truly sold on the identity of Alfred Hitchcock.
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I am absolutely amazed by Toby Jones' range. No two performances of his are the same. I've seen him as a pompous spy in "Tinker Tailor Solider Spy", a malicious trickster in the Doctor Who episode "Amy's Choice", a timid sound engineer in "Berberian Sound Studio, and an arrogant film producer in "My Week With Marilyn". The consistent element is that Toby Jones is fantastic in all of them.
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Right from the start Toby Jones establishes Hitchcock as a deeply ambiguous figure. On the one hand he's eccentric and oddly charming, but on the other hand he's intense, unpredictable and controlling. Hitchcock is always using his intellect to impress and often succeeding and his position as a renowned director means that in all his dealing with Tippi Hedren there's a definite sense that power games are involved.
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Sienna Miller is fantastic in the role of Tippi Hedren, the model aspiring to become an actress that Hitchcock decides to make a star. She's very different here from how she was in "Layer Cake" or "Stardust" and I think she does a great job portraying the nervous yet determined star-to-be.
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Another great talent here is Imelda Staunton who plays Hitchcock's wife Alma who worked with him on many of his projects. To my shame, I have to say I've generally thought of Imelda as the second choice after Julie Walters, but it must be noted that while this is partly because the two actresses look quick similar, they also have a similarly powerful screen presence and standard of acting. As a character caught on the sidelines and with a limited number of lines, Imelda is able to make every moment count and gives us a very fleshed out character, even when she plays so small a part in the story as a whole.
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In a way, "The Girl" plays rather like a Hitchcock film. Hitchcock's level of obsession is similar to that of James Stewart's character in "Vertigo", except that Hitchcock still comes off as more sympathetic. Naturally this is just my perspective as I'm sure there are many who still found James Stewart relateable and were able to excuse his behaviour through the traumas his character had been through.
Hitchcock is known for being somewhat possessive over his actresses and while it's not clear that whether Hitchcock was inappropriate with any of his other actresses, he is certainly depicted as crossing that line here. There's a sense that he feels a strong connection with her and while it's a pretty twisted relationship, you can see how Hitchcock would justify it to himself. Hitchcock comes off as quite a bitter man, never fully satisfied with his level of success or praise.
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But Hitchcock is ever the charmer and while some have accused the film of demonising him, there are actually only very few moments in the film where we can say that his actions are in no way part of his process as a director. The Birds is a film about a woman brutally attacked by birds and Hitchcock takes as many takes as is necessary to get that vision. Then her next film "Marnie" is about a woman who is deeply psychologically traumatised by any kind of male attention and Hitchcock gets that performance out of her too. Some have suggested that this kind of manipulation and pressure was required to get a good performance out of Tippi Hedren, who the film notes had only ever been a model rather than an actress before Hitchcock decided to make her a star.
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Still while there are many points where Hitchcock's malicious intent is only implied, there are other points where it is more explicit. Naturally those who disbelieve Tippi's story will be upset by these scenes, but nothing is shown which can be ruled out by the known facts and Hitchcock's character, whether he's being charming, overly familiar or downright creepy, is always portrayed consistently and realistically.
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The parallels between the character Tippi is expected to play in Marnie and her situation with Hitchcock in real life are interestingly handled. I found "Marnie" to be quite a misogynistic movie when I reviewed it as part of my Hitchcock Reverse Retrospective. "Marnie" is a film about a woman who is blackmailed into marrying a man (played by Sean Connery). The suggestion of the movie is that her real reason for dismissing his affections is not actually because she doesn't love him, but rather because of deep-seated psychological trauma. In "Marnie" a male figure pursues the female protagonist in spite of her objections, because he is convinced that deep down she really loves him. There's a suggestion that Hitchcock views Tippi Hedren in a similar way.
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Whether you believe this is a realistic portrayal of either Alfred Hitchcock or Tippi Hedren is besides the point. This is an intense drama and practically a psychological thriller, featuring engaging characters who are expertly performed. The film is beautifully shot and absolutely gripping and is held together superbly by Toby Jones' central performance.
A+
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Hitchcock (2012)
After the wonderful trailer I was quite excited about this film. I haven't really heard that much in the way of online reviews of this. A Youtube reviewer I've become quite keen on called FilmMasterAdam included it in his top 15 films of 2012 (for reasons I find wholly baffling having now seen it) and Gabe Toro (fabfunk on LJ) included it in his list of ten worst movies of 2012. The Horror Etc. podcasters were very impressed though.
Hitchcock features Anthony Hopkins covered in prosthetics to make him look more like Alfred Hitchcock and I have heard high praise for his impression. To be quite frank, Anthony Hopkins looks about as much like Alfred Hitchcock in those prosthetics as Toby Jones does with no prosthetics alone (i.e. neither of them look like Alfred Hitchcock). What should sell Hitchcock to me is the performance and sadly being covered in all those prosthetics significantly decreases Hopkins' ability to emote.
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The script is full of references to Hitchcock's life and career, but they only seem to be there for the sake of it. For example there's a brief conversation about Grace Kelly going off to become a princess in Monaco. This has more relevance to the overall plot than some of the references, since it at least Hitchcock to express his attachment to his leading ladies and to express regret that he could not continue to make Kelly a star. However, with this dialogue delivered to his wife Alma while she does some gardening at their home and with the conversation quickly moving on to other things, it feels like this is more of a tick-boxing exercise than an attempt to build up Hitchcock's character.
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Inititially though there seems to be a serious source of drama in that the studios are unwilling to fund a horror movie. They consider "Psycho" to be a gamble they are not willing to take. As such, Alfred Hitchcock offers to pay for the film himself and his wife Alma, played by Helen Mirren, is deeply concerned by the idea that they might lose their big house with its swimming pool (*rich people problems!*). Apparently "Vertigo" wasn't well received (which I can understand seeing as I thought it was the worst of Hitchcock's final 20 movies, even if it's now hailed as a classic) and Alred Hitchcock becomes deeply concerned that he might be betting on the wrong horse.
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However, this source of drama clearly couldn't be sustained. We all already know that Psycho will be a success. So instead the story moves to being about Alma, which is a great idea since Helen Mirren is giving such a good performance in the role. Sadly this leads to a ridiculous side-plot whereby Alma is planning to help a friend of hers with his writing exercise and Hitchcock gets jealous. The whole relationship between the two actors becomes highly confusing seeing as Anthony Hopkins has uglifying make-up while Helen Mirren is a highly attractive woman (particularly considering her age). Nothing that happens on screen makes it at all clear why Alma puts up with Alfred, nor how they could ever have become an item in the first place. They definitely appear to have a broken marriage, but it's not obvious how they could ever have become an item in the first place. That they are friends is not hard to believe, but lovers? Certainly in "The Girl" Alfred claims that Alma is like a sister to him, so clearly the idea that their relationship became less sexual is fine. But Helen Mirren just seems a little too close to the glamorous actresses that are so out of Alfred Hitchcock's league.
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That's not to take anything away from Helen Mirren's performance of course. She does everything she can to sell us on the relationship and while delivering lines that are essentially a tick-list of Alfred Hitchcock's life story, she still manages to make every word hold your attention. She's an amazing actress. Unfortunately she is given her own side-story about a potential affair with a writer that causes Alfred to become jealous. It's an almost farcical side-plot and has very little importance to the film as a whole.
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Of course, the main focus of the film is the creation of the movie "Psycho". Plenty of shots made me think of specific scenes in "Psycho" and as a result I wished I were actually watching "Psycho" rather than this slow-moving drama-free dross. There's very little insight into what working on "Psycho" was like outside of the scepticism that some felt about beginning the project. We hear Alfred Hitchcock explaining to the main actress what her character should be feeling as she's making that fraught car journey at the beginning. We see the characters running up the stairs during the final revelation of the inside of Bates' mother's house. And during the final screening of the movie, we see Alfred Hitchcock seemingly re-enacting the knife scene in the lobby while he listens to the gasps of the patrons watching the scene in the cinema screening room at the film's premiere.
In many ways these scenes made me feel like I was stuck in the lobby myself. Like the movie was one long featurette telling me how excited I would be when I finally got to see the main film. I felt like I'd have been better off with a documentary, since there was little in the way of narrative structure here to engage me.
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There are a few points where the film tries to introduce tension, but not in a terribly inspired way. Alfred keeps seeing visions of Ed Gein around the place and sure the idea that he is haunted by visions of the serial killer who inspired his story is all very well, but let's not forget that "Psycho" is not actually about Ed Gein. These visions have very little relevance to the film. One comes straight after Alfred Hitchcock is shown grabbing a knife and taking over the stabbing for the shower scene. Everyone has just felt absolutely shocked to see Alfred violently swinging a knife at the starlet of the film and then he walks away and has his vision of Ed Gein. But we never actually get any sense that there were any consequences for his actions. No one ever mentions his decision to contribute knife swipes to the shower scene again and no one seems particularly concerned by it. A lot of scenes in "Hitchcock" are like this. Events happen because they are believed to have happened in real life - and then the film moves on to something else.
This comment from Gabe Toro puzzled me at the time: "according to “Hitchcock” [Psycho] was more or less a self-directed accident." I pushed for more information and apparently he means, just to clarify, that Psycho pretty much directed itself. That it all came together by accident with no real direction involved at all.
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Now that I've seen the movie I can see what Gabe means. There does not appear to be any decision-making involved in "Psycho". No one ever wonders what to do. They just film the scenes and finish the movie and we have a successful premiere at the end. Picking the actors and actresses is easy, the script falls into place eventually, the scenes are filmed with little insight into planning or directorial choices. Perhaps the best example of just how little insight into the making of "Psycho" is given here is the choice of music for the shower scene. We are told during the post-production stage that test audiences aren't impressed by the shower scene. In a matter of seconds the decision is made to introduce some music. Bernard Herrmann did the music for the whole movie and apparently insisted on creating some music to increase the effect of the shower scene, but in the movie "Hitchcock" Bernard Herrmann is nowhere to be seen. It's as if Bernard Herrmann's shower scene score was on a tape they had discarded round the back and they'd simply forgotten to include it in the movie initially. No big decision-making involved. "Shower scene doesn't work without music? Well I guess we'd better add some then! Oooh this Bernard Herrmann guy happens to have a piece of music that'll fit perfectly. Great!" "Hitchcock" makes it seem like the movie "Psycho" was made on a conveyor belt with various parts being slotted into place along the way. It's very artificial.
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A lot of people have pointed out how wonderful James D'Arcy is as Anthony Perkins in "Hitchcock". He absolutely gets Anthony Perkins mannerisms down to a tee. It's quite amazing. Unfortunately we see very little of him after his interview. D'Arcy only has a very small part here. I suppose there must not be many interesting anedotes about Anthony Perkins' involvement in the movie "Psycho" (or at least very few the scriptwriters here feel the need to repeat).
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While "Hitchcock" doesn't make Hitchcock out to be the dark character we see in "The Girl" it doesn't make him too clean cut either. Part of that is the ridiculous Ed Gein visions which are only really a token gesture in suggesting that there might be darker facets to Alfred Hitchcock's personality, but do little to explore it. The main sign we get that Alfred might be an overbearing character is discussions between his actresses. Jessica Biel is surprisingly good as Vera Miles (the actress who plays the female protagonist's sister in "Psycho") and there's some discussion of Alfred's frustration that she won't let him make her a star and how she finds him rather overly controlling and doesn't want to get sucked in. Of course, the best performance in the film comes from Helen Mirren and at times it feels like she is holding the film together. I get the impression that Anthony Hopkins would be doing a better job if his performance were not buried under so much latex.
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There are sweet moments in "Hitchcock", but mostly I just found it boring. I'd have thought there was a more interesting story to be told about the making of "Psycho" and if there isn't, they shouldn't have tried to film one. I think in many ways Alma Hitchcock (Helen Mirren's character) is the main focus here, yet I think I learnt about as much about her in "The Girl" where she is a tiny part of the film as I did here where she is a much more central character. As a sweet little film with a few references to Hitchcock's life, "Hitchcock" is mediocre and dull, but relatively watchable. As an interesting film exploring the making of "Psycho", "Hitchcock" is a colossal failure.
D-
Interested in deciding what series of films I review next? Please vote in the two polls:
Poll one: Film Series
(Blog Post explaining the first poll)
Poll two: Director Filmography
(Blog post explaining the second poll)
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One stars Anthony Hopkins (Silence Of The Lambs, Amistad, Thor), comes from the director of the wonderful documentary "Anvil: The Story of Anvil" and was shown at the cinema. Meanwhile the other stars Toby Jones (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Mist, Captain America), comes from the director of the sweet little movie "Kinky Boots" and ended up as a TV movie.
Another big difference is that "The Girl" is based on the account of his Hitchcock's life from Tippi Hedren, an actress who starred in his two films "The Birds" and "Marnie". She has recently had some shocking stories to tell of Alfred Hitchcock's treatment of her.
"The Girl" (HBO TV movie 2012)
Toby Jones plays Hitchcock and unlike Anthony Hopkins in the big cinema movie, he doesn't use a ton of special make up to do so. Toby Jones doesn't have Hitchcock's size, but that doesn't matter because his performance sells it anyway. I say, not a TON of prosthetics, but that's not to say NO prosthetics. The lower half of Toby Jones' face has been reshaped, but the upper half of his face has been left the same. The most expressive part of his face has been left uncovered and it is through Toby Jones' expressions that the audience is truly sold on the identity of Alfred Hitchcock.
I am absolutely amazed by Toby Jones' range. No two performances of his are the same. I've seen him as a pompous spy in "Tinker Tailor Solider Spy", a malicious trickster in the Doctor Who episode "Amy's Choice", a timid sound engineer in "Berberian Sound Studio, and an arrogant film producer in "My Week With Marilyn". The consistent element is that Toby Jones is fantastic in all of them.
Right from the start Toby Jones establishes Hitchcock as a deeply ambiguous figure. On the one hand he's eccentric and oddly charming, but on the other hand he's intense, unpredictable and controlling. Hitchcock is always using his intellect to impress and often succeeding and his position as a renowned director means that in all his dealing with Tippi Hedren there's a definite sense that power games are involved.
Sienna Miller is fantastic in the role of Tippi Hedren, the model aspiring to become an actress that Hitchcock decides to make a star. She's very different here from how she was in "Layer Cake" or "Stardust" and I think she does a great job portraying the nervous yet determined star-to-be.
Another great talent here is Imelda Staunton who plays Hitchcock's wife Alma who worked with him on many of his projects. To my shame, I have to say I've generally thought of Imelda as the second choice after Julie Walters, but it must be noted that while this is partly because the two actresses look quick similar, they also have a similarly powerful screen presence and standard of acting. As a character caught on the sidelines and with a limited number of lines, Imelda is able to make every moment count and gives us a very fleshed out character, even when she plays so small a part in the story as a whole.
In a way, "The Girl" plays rather like a Hitchcock film. Hitchcock's level of obsession is similar to that of James Stewart's character in "Vertigo", except that Hitchcock still comes off as more sympathetic. Naturally this is just my perspective as I'm sure there are many who still found James Stewart relateable and were able to excuse his behaviour through the traumas his character had been through.
Hitchcock is known for being somewhat possessive over his actresses and while it's not clear that whether Hitchcock was inappropriate with any of his other actresses, he is certainly depicted as crossing that line here. There's a sense that he feels a strong connection with her and while it's a pretty twisted relationship, you can see how Hitchcock would justify it to himself. Hitchcock comes off as quite a bitter man, never fully satisfied with his level of success or praise.
But Hitchcock is ever the charmer and while some have accused the film of demonising him, there are actually only very few moments in the film where we can say that his actions are in no way part of his process as a director. The Birds is a film about a woman brutally attacked by birds and Hitchcock takes as many takes as is necessary to get that vision. Then her next film "Marnie" is about a woman who is deeply psychologically traumatised by any kind of male attention and Hitchcock gets that performance out of her too. Some have suggested that this kind of manipulation and pressure was required to get a good performance out of Tippi Hedren, who the film notes had only ever been a model rather than an actress before Hitchcock decided to make her a star.
Still while there are many points where Hitchcock's malicious intent is only implied, there are other points where it is more explicit. Naturally those who disbelieve Tippi's story will be upset by these scenes, but nothing is shown which can be ruled out by the known facts and Hitchcock's character, whether he's being charming, overly familiar or downright creepy, is always portrayed consistently and realistically.
The parallels between the character Tippi is expected to play in Marnie and her situation with Hitchcock in real life are interestingly handled. I found "Marnie" to be quite a misogynistic movie when I reviewed it as part of my Hitchcock Reverse Retrospective. "Marnie" is a film about a woman who is blackmailed into marrying a man (played by Sean Connery). The suggestion of the movie is that her real reason for dismissing his affections is not actually because she doesn't love him, but rather because of deep-seated psychological trauma. In "Marnie" a male figure pursues the female protagonist in spite of her objections, because he is convinced that deep down she really loves him. There's a suggestion that Hitchcock views Tippi Hedren in a similar way.
Whether you believe this is a realistic portrayal of either Alfred Hitchcock or Tippi Hedren is besides the point. This is an intense drama and practically a psychological thriller, featuring engaging characters who are expertly performed. The film is beautifully shot and absolutely gripping and is held together superbly by Toby Jones' central performance.
A+
Hitchcock (2012)
After the wonderful trailer I was quite excited about this film. I haven't really heard that much in the way of online reviews of this. A Youtube reviewer I've become quite keen on called FilmMasterAdam included it in his top 15 films of 2012 (for reasons I find wholly baffling having now seen it) and Gabe Toro (fabfunk on LJ) included it in his list of ten worst movies of 2012. The Horror Etc. podcasters were very impressed though.
Hitchcock features Anthony Hopkins covered in prosthetics to make him look more like Alfred Hitchcock and I have heard high praise for his impression. To be quite frank, Anthony Hopkins looks about as much like Alfred Hitchcock in those prosthetics as Toby Jones does with no prosthetics alone (i.e. neither of them look like Alfred Hitchcock). What should sell Hitchcock to me is the performance and sadly being covered in all those prosthetics significantly decreases Hopkins' ability to emote.
The script is full of references to Hitchcock's life and career, but they only seem to be there for the sake of it. For example there's a brief conversation about Grace Kelly going off to become a princess in Monaco. This has more relevance to the overall plot than some of the references, since it at least Hitchcock to express his attachment to his leading ladies and to express regret that he could not continue to make Kelly a star. However, with this dialogue delivered to his wife Alma while she does some gardening at their home and with the conversation quickly moving on to other things, it feels like this is more of a tick-boxing exercise than an attempt to build up Hitchcock's character.
Inititially though there seems to be a serious source of drama in that the studios are unwilling to fund a horror movie. They consider "Psycho" to be a gamble they are not willing to take. As such, Alfred Hitchcock offers to pay for the film himself and his wife Alma, played by Helen Mirren, is deeply concerned by the idea that they might lose their big house with its swimming pool (*rich people problems!*). Apparently "Vertigo" wasn't well received (which I can understand seeing as I thought it was the worst of Hitchcock's final 20 movies, even if it's now hailed as a classic) and Alred Hitchcock becomes deeply concerned that he might be betting on the wrong horse.
However, this source of drama clearly couldn't be sustained. We all already know that Psycho will be a success. So instead the story moves to being about Alma, which is a great idea since Helen Mirren is giving such a good performance in the role. Sadly this leads to a ridiculous side-plot whereby Alma is planning to help a friend of hers with his writing exercise and Hitchcock gets jealous. The whole relationship between the two actors becomes highly confusing seeing as Anthony Hopkins has uglifying make-up while Helen Mirren is a highly attractive woman (particularly considering her age). Nothing that happens on screen makes it at all clear why Alma puts up with Alfred, nor how they could ever have become an item in the first place. They definitely appear to have a broken marriage, but it's not obvious how they could ever have become an item in the first place. That they are friends is not hard to believe, but lovers? Certainly in "The Girl" Alfred claims that Alma is like a sister to him, so clearly the idea that their relationship became less sexual is fine. But Helen Mirren just seems a little too close to the glamorous actresses that are so out of Alfred Hitchcock's league.
That's not to take anything away from Helen Mirren's performance of course. She does everything she can to sell us on the relationship and while delivering lines that are essentially a tick-list of Alfred Hitchcock's life story, she still manages to make every word hold your attention. She's an amazing actress. Unfortunately she is given her own side-story about a potential affair with a writer that causes Alfred to become jealous. It's an almost farcical side-plot and has very little importance to the film as a whole.
Of course, the main focus of the film is the creation of the movie "Psycho". Plenty of shots made me think of specific scenes in "Psycho" and as a result I wished I were actually watching "Psycho" rather than this slow-moving drama-free dross. There's very little insight into what working on "Psycho" was like outside of the scepticism that some felt about beginning the project. We hear Alfred Hitchcock explaining to the main actress what her character should be feeling as she's making that fraught car journey at the beginning. We see the characters running up the stairs during the final revelation of the inside of Bates' mother's house. And during the final screening of the movie, we see Alfred Hitchcock seemingly re-enacting the knife scene in the lobby while he listens to the gasps of the patrons watching the scene in the cinema screening room at the film's premiere.
In many ways these scenes made me feel like I was stuck in the lobby myself. Like the movie was one long featurette telling me how excited I would be when I finally got to see the main film. I felt like I'd have been better off with a documentary, since there was little in the way of narrative structure here to engage me.
There are a few points where the film tries to introduce tension, but not in a terribly inspired way. Alfred keeps seeing visions of Ed Gein around the place and sure the idea that he is haunted by visions of the serial killer who inspired his story is all very well, but let's not forget that "Psycho" is not actually about Ed Gein. These visions have very little relevance to the film. One comes straight after Alfred Hitchcock is shown grabbing a knife and taking over the stabbing for the shower scene. Everyone has just felt absolutely shocked to see Alfred violently swinging a knife at the starlet of the film and then he walks away and has his vision of Ed Gein. But we never actually get any sense that there were any consequences for his actions. No one ever mentions his decision to contribute knife swipes to the shower scene again and no one seems particularly concerned by it. A lot of scenes in "Hitchcock" are like this. Events happen because they are believed to have happened in real life - and then the film moves on to something else.
This comment from Gabe Toro puzzled me at the time: "according to “Hitchcock” [Psycho] was more or less a self-directed accident." I pushed for more information and apparently he means, just to clarify, that Psycho pretty much directed itself. That it all came together by accident with no real direction involved at all.
Now that I've seen the movie I can see what Gabe means. There does not appear to be any decision-making involved in "Psycho". No one ever wonders what to do. They just film the scenes and finish the movie and we have a successful premiere at the end. Picking the actors and actresses is easy, the script falls into place eventually, the scenes are filmed with little insight into planning or directorial choices. Perhaps the best example of just how little insight into the making of "Psycho" is given here is the choice of music for the shower scene. We are told during the post-production stage that test audiences aren't impressed by the shower scene. In a matter of seconds the decision is made to introduce some music. Bernard Herrmann did the music for the whole movie and apparently insisted on creating some music to increase the effect of the shower scene, but in the movie "Hitchcock" Bernard Herrmann is nowhere to be seen. It's as if Bernard Herrmann's shower scene score was on a tape they had discarded round the back and they'd simply forgotten to include it in the movie initially. No big decision-making involved. "Shower scene doesn't work without music? Well I guess we'd better add some then! Oooh this Bernard Herrmann guy happens to have a piece of music that'll fit perfectly. Great!" "Hitchcock" makes it seem like the movie "Psycho" was made on a conveyor belt with various parts being slotted into place along the way. It's very artificial.
A lot of people have pointed out how wonderful James D'Arcy is as Anthony Perkins in "Hitchcock". He absolutely gets Anthony Perkins mannerisms down to a tee. It's quite amazing. Unfortunately we see very little of him after his interview. D'Arcy only has a very small part here. I suppose there must not be many interesting anedotes about Anthony Perkins' involvement in the movie "Psycho" (or at least very few the scriptwriters here feel the need to repeat).
While "Hitchcock" doesn't make Hitchcock out to be the dark character we see in "The Girl" it doesn't make him too clean cut either. Part of that is the ridiculous Ed Gein visions which are only really a token gesture in suggesting that there might be darker facets to Alfred Hitchcock's personality, but do little to explore it. The main sign we get that Alfred might be an overbearing character is discussions between his actresses. Jessica Biel is surprisingly good as Vera Miles (the actress who plays the female protagonist's sister in "Psycho") and there's some discussion of Alfred's frustration that she won't let him make her a star and how she finds him rather overly controlling and doesn't want to get sucked in. Of course, the best performance in the film comes from Helen Mirren and at times it feels like she is holding the film together. I get the impression that Anthony Hopkins would be doing a better job if his performance were not buried under so much latex.
There are sweet moments in "Hitchcock", but mostly I just found it boring. I'd have thought there was a more interesting story to be told about the making of "Psycho" and if there isn't, they shouldn't have tried to film one. I think in many ways Alma Hitchcock (Helen Mirren's character) is the main focus here, yet I think I learnt about as much about her in "The Girl" where she is a tiny part of the film as I did here where she is a much more central character. As a sweet little film with a few references to Hitchcock's life, "Hitchcock" is mediocre and dull, but relatively watchable. As an interesting film exploring the making of "Psycho", "Hitchcock" is a colossal failure.
D-
Interested in deciding what series of films I review next? Please vote in the two polls:
Poll one: Film Series
(Blog Post explaining the first poll)
Poll two: Director Filmography
(Blog post explaining the second poll)
