Hitchcock

In my earlier review of The Third Man I mentioned one of my favourite Alfred Hitchcock films, Shadow of a Doubt, so when news came that there was a film to be made about the man himself I was very interested to see what they would do.

Born at the end of the 19th century, he had an interesting life and witnessed the change and development of the film industry before making his mark with many great and memorable films from the 1930s through to the 1970s. I was then a little surprised that Hitchcock would focus solely upon the production of Psycho in 1959 and his relationship with his wife Alma when there was so much more to explore. That said, the cast of Anthony Hopkins and Helen Mirren reassured that this would at the very least offer great performances.

In keeping with the man himself, the film is a combination of witty humour and drama, choosing to open the film as how he would perform during one of his signature film trailers. Hopkins is certainly on-point and while the make-up could have almost made him a caricature, he is able to shine through it all. The supporting cast also stand out including Scarlett Johansson, Jessica Biel, Toni Collette, Danny Huston, Michael Stuhlbarg and James D'Arcy who steals his scenes as Anthony Perkins and certainly deserved more screen-time. After such a strong introduction to Perkins it then felt strange to have him absent throughout most of the film.

Somewhere along the line though the film starts to lose energy and the humorous scenes with Hitchcock undercut the more dramatic moments. Hopkins is great in the lead role but the fictitious scenes that suggest a more troubled marriage work against the film's depiction of Hitchcock that tries to be positive. The darker dream sequences within his mind also serve little purpose and could have been removed all together, replacing them with flashbacks of his childhood thus maybe explaining the Freudian aspects in his work.

Without a doubt Hitchcock is at its best when depicting the troublesome journey involved in making Psycho but unfortunately chooses to gloss over much of this, favouring an affair between Alma and Danny Huston's character. And while Helen Mirren is great, it's hard not to think that a more factual film that focused more on Hitchcock and the production of Psycho would have been better. Overall, I would still recommend this to anyone with an interest in Hitchcock or the film industry at this time.