Directed by:
Sacha GervasiScreenplay:
John J. McLaughlinCinematography:
Jeff CronenwethComposer:
Danny ElfmanCast:
Anthony Hopkins, Helen Mirren, Scarlett Johansson, James D'Arcy, Jessica Biel, Danny Huston, Toni Collette, Michael Wincott, Michael Stuhlbarg, Currie Graham (more)VOD (3)
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Lurking behind Alfred Hitchcock, cinema’s “master of suspense” – the extraordinary film icon known for orchestrating some of the most intense experiences of menace and intrigue audiences have ever seen, was a hidden side: his creatively explosive romance with his steadfast wife and filmmaking collaborator, Alma Reville. Now, for the first time, Sacha Gervasi’s HITCHCOCK lays bare their captivating and complex love story. It does so through the sly, shadowy lens of their most daring filmmaking adventure: the making of the spine-tingling 1960 thriller, PSYCHO, which would become the director’s most controversial and legendary film. When the tumultuous, against-the-odds production was over, nothing about movies would ever be the same – but few realized that it took two to pull it off. (official distributor synopsis)
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Reviews (7)
I really like Alfred Hitchcock as a director, so I definitely couldn't miss a biopic about him, and with such big names in the lead roles. Even though it didn't get any significant ovations, reviews, or awards, I still enjoyed it. Perhaps I was blinded by the cult surrounding Hitchcock, or my favorite Helen Mirren, but I was impressed by the film. I enjoyed both the professional (the making of the film) and personal lines (the marital crisis, the "affair"), and the two intertwined in a purposeful way. I found the insertions concerning Hitchcock's ideas about the original killer who became the model for Norman Bates to be very original. I also increasingly came to like the acting of Scarlett Johansson, who was dazzling and likeable as Janet Leigh. In short, for me, a very well made film that stands especially on great performances and a compelling subject.
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"...when you see the final version with Mr. Herrmann's beautiful, lyrical music..." Anthony Hopkins didn't lose himself under the layer of latex and behind the stuffed belly, and he doesn't just imitate Hitchcock, he simply is Hitchcock, and that's the way it should be. Although the film doesn't offer anything outright unfamiliar (all those stories about the making of Psycho appeared quite a few years ago), it nevertheless entertains and doesn't bore. Helen Mirren is perfect as always, Scarlett Johansson divinely beautiful... And James D'Arcy is so dangerously similar to Anthony Perkins that it's impossible. An excellent film with lots of funny and serious moments, which could have been much longer. Too bad we won't see another episode about The Birds.
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I didn’t like this much. Unlike Hitchcock movies, this semi-biography has no soul. Some of the gags work, the actors seem to be enjoying themselves and the directing is high class. The period design is delightful. But we don’t get anything more than that. There isn’t one single thing that remains in one’s memory. Too bad.
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The master of suspense Alfred Hitchcock didn’t deserve such an average film. What to say about a film that is technically good, well acted, pleasantly relaxing and brisk, when it fizzles out from your memory only a couple of days after watching it? A work lacking any ambition and ideas. I don’t need every film to be “important”, but in this particular case, it’s a pity that it isn’t. One foot inside, the other outside.
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Hitchcock is a superbly cast little film that would have been wonderful as a part of a TV mini-series where each episode would follow Hitch making one of his great movies. This particular episode focuses on a demanding period in the director’s life, when (after the commercial failure of Vertigo) he took a risk and financed his next film out of his own pocket. An important storyline involves the support of his wife, with whom he was then having some marital troubles caused by jealousy. Just as much as the movie peeks behind the scenes of the shooting of Psycho, focusing especially on the initial ideas and preparations, it peeks into the couple’s living room. A pleasant feel-good movie, but it raises the question of whether the legendary director and his most iconic film would not be better served by a more spectacular treatment, for example by Martin Scorsese.
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