HBO's The Girl trashed Alfred Hitchcock and reduced him to a one-dimensional sex addict/voyeur who couldn't control his impulses around Tippi Hedren. The film Hitchcock heads into the same psychological landscape, but adds the unique view of Hitch seen through the lens of Wisconsin's Ed Gein, the mass murderer and subject of Robert Bloch's 1959 Psycho. As a character Gein several times has conversations with Hitch.
At the beginning of the film Hitch has just finished Vertigo, which he viewed as a failure. The irony for us, of course, is that many consider it his greatest film. A reporter asks whether he shouldn't just retire and let younger directors do more modern stories. Hitch searches for his next project and finds himself drawn to the salacious sensationalism of Bloch's book. The material in the book is different than anything Hitch normally did. Gein, as a serial murderer, cut off the heads of the women he murdered and kept them as trophies. He also kept his mother's body, which he stole from her grave, and eventually assumed her personality. One wonders if the shocking nature of the book was how Hitch intended to show he was current.
The film maintains a sense of humor throughout. There are several subtle and not too subtle homages to Hitch's other films. Several bird references give a nod to Hitch's film after Psycho. As Hitch struggles with the film, he awakens one night visually referencing Jimmy Stewart's nightmare from Vertigo. There are a couple of scenes reminiscent of his television show monologues to the audience. At the studio a blonde in a grey suit (Vertigo) keeps drawing his attention.
Hitch was known for his witticisms, and Alma (underplayed by Helen Merrin), Hitch's wife of 30 years, proves his match. She is the person he relies the most on, but also the person he most wishes to escape from. Hitch hates his corpulent figure but spends much of the movie drinking or eating, with his wife and secretary acting as mother figures. Alma has to cope with his growing obsessions toward his leading ladies.
Alma helps Hitch with creative decisions--it is her idea to hire Janet Leigh as the star and then kill her off 20 minutes into the film. Later Alma takes over the directing of Psycho when Hitch becomes ill. In an attempt to assert her individualism, she begins writing a script with a male scriptwriter who enjoys flirting with her and subsequently makes Hitch jealous, a feeling she seems to enjoy.
With his new film, Hitch is in transition moving to Paramount Studios who don't want to risk Psycho. Hitch and Alma find they must finance the movie themselves. When Hitch announces they need to sell their home, she asks if they need to sell just the pool or the whole estate.
Anthony Hopkins struggles at times between doing a impersonation of a person the audience knows all too well and finding the real person trapped behind the public mask. He definitely fares better than Toby Jones, who played the nasty Hitchcock of The Girl. Helen Merrin has a much better job with her character because no one knows much about Alma. Scarlett Johansson makes for an amiable and competent Janet Leigh, but isn't required to give much depth except for her filming of the infamous shower scene.
In all, the film was an enjoyable study of the making of one of Hitchcock's most famous films, but isn't one of this year's best.
Hitchcock (2012) ****
For another view of the film, read an article on the wife of Psycho's screenwriter here.
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