Based off of John J. McLaughlin’s book, Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho, Sacha Gervasi’s Hitchcock gives us a visual and imaginative look behind the scenes of the master of suspense’s legendary work, Psycho, along with the relationship with his wife and creative partner, Alma Reville (Helen Mirren), during the troubled making of the film.
Starring Anthony Hopkins as the big man himself, Hitchcock tries to play like an actual Hitchcock film. Throughout the picture we experience a mental instability within Hitchcock that we would normally see in one of his troubled characters. This begins to happen when he chooses Psycho as his next project and then gradually gets worse from pressures with the studio, the fact that all of his money was used to finance the film and the idea that his wife, Alma, may be cheating on him. He imagines that the real life killer that Norman Bates is based on is with him and it’s what encourages Hitchcock’s paranoia to get even worse, it’s a little weird to see on screen.
Personally, I don’t know how accurate and faithful this movie is but what I can say is that the film does a seemingly good job of capturing what the Hitchcock/Reville dynamic might have been like and how much of an influence she actually had on all of his projects, especially Psycho. Mirren was an absolute joy to watch, her personality felt like the exact opposite of Hitchcock’s minus their work ethic and vision in which was clear for both. The relationship was what this film was about and it’s clear that Psycho took its toll on both, but it also seemed to make them stronger a whole.
As for the rest of the film and the actual scenes involving the making of Psycho, there wasn’t much to it. The most interesting part had to do with filming the shower scene and how it was executed. I don’t know if it’s true but the way it goes down in the movie is that Janet Leigh (Scarlett Johansson) wasn’t being convincing enough for the camera with a female pretending to stab her so he came out of nowhere while the camera was still rolling and pretended to stab her himself, which terrified her to no end and left her a wreck for the rest of the day. It was a pretty intense and satisfying scene and one of the better ones in the film, though the best part about Hitchcock is the opening and ending sequences as they replicate the Alfred Hitchcock Presents series and are pretty comical while also making appreciative nods to his other work.
Hitchcock is one of those films that seems a bit incomplete, it’s missing the ‘umph’ or maybe even the passion. What makes this annoying is that the passion seems like it’s there because the sto
ry is so intriguing and the performances are dynamite but when the credits roll around I felt an emptiness and the unfortunate realization that this mediocre film could have been so much better.
The best way to put Hitchcock is to say that it is this year’s My Week With Marilyn. It’s a film about the production of an old school picture with the focal point being the relationship of two members involved with the production and the struggles they face as they try to get the movie finished. The trouble with the two films is that, while pretty to look at and with a stellar cast and performances to be admired, the result is average at best and nothing more, which is a shame since the subjects of both films are legends.
As mentioned above, Hitchcock never amounts to its full potential but that doesn’t mean the performances by our leads aren’t award worthy. Expect to see nominations for Hopkins’ amazing portrayal of Hitch, Mirren a leading lady nod and one most certainly for makeup, which is truly remarkable when comparing before and after images along with side by side looks at both the real man and the imposter. If you are a fan of his work, especially Psycho, the movie is worth checking out but there’s no need to rush and don’t expect it to blow your mind.
Rating: Very strong performances can’t dig this biopic out of its grave of mediocrity (6/10)
Recent Comments