Hitchcock (2012)
Certified: 12
Duration: 98 minutes
Directed: Sacha Gervasi
Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Helen Mirren, Scarlett Johansson, Toni Collette, Danny Huston, Jessica Biel, James D’Arcy, Ralph Macchio, Michael Wincott
KRS release

Hitchcock is based on the book Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho, a non-fiction work by Stephen Rebello that focuses on the relationship between one of the most influential directors ever and his wife during the making of the film that changed the face of the horror and thriller genres.

The film also takes a good look at the way the director handled, or better yet, controlled his leading actresses

In 1959, Alfred Hitchcock (Anthony Hopkins) is fresh off the success of the film North By Northwest. He is looking for his next project when his eyes fall on the novel Psycho by Robert Bloch, which is a deep insight into the mind of a serial killer. This choice is not shared by his wife Alma Reville (Helen Mirren) who is also his film-making partner.

The first thing Hitchcock does is to get his assistant, Peggy (Toni Collette), to buy all copies of the book to limit the number of people knowing the story’s ending.

But he faces major obstacles: he faces objections both from Paramount’s head and also the chief censor who must see every movie to be given a release. So the director opts to finance the film himself and he uses his powers of persuasion to convince the censor that the film will have nothing scandalous.

When casting begins, he puts Vera Miles (Jessica Biel), who had once been the main star, in a supporting role, and Anthony Perkins (James D’Arcy) and Janet Leigh (Scarlett Johansson) in the leading roles.

Alma is not happy with the way her husband is looking at his actresses while he is not happy that she is helping her friend, Whitfield Cook (Danny Huston), to work on the screen adaptation of his own novel. Along the way, Hitchcock becomes more and more insecure about everything, including the film. This is when he starts having flights of fantasy where he talks with Ed Gein (Michael Wincott), the real-life killer who had inspired Bloch’s novel.

Mention Alfred Hitchcock and Psycho and the shower scene immediately springs to mind. The serial killer genre (with subsequent subgenres such as slasher movies) the way we know it today was born after this film.

Hitchcock is noteworthy in the way it looks at its source material with passion. Rebello’s novel provided good groundwork for director Sacha Gervasi to work on but the latter proved to have a good eye for detail.

The film also takes a good look at the way the director handled, or better yet, controlled his leading actresses. He was actually a control freak; this was very much in evidence in Psycho, but his obsession reached even greater heights in subsequent films, with Tippi Hendren.

Hitchcock excels in the way it slides into the underlying motives, psychobabble and various tendencies exhibited by all the players involved.

Hopkins delivers a very good Hitchcock, especially in the way he handles his inner rage issues, censors, company chiefs and even more so, Leigh. His on-screen tug-of-war emotional relationship with Mirren is also well played out.

Hitchcock excels in its attempt to take a sneak peek at what went on behind the making of the classic film, but more than that, in examining the turmoil and genius of the man behind it and deliver it with his classic dry and sardonic wit.

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