'Hitchcock' Does Not Do Justice To Master

Where do we draw the line between the person and the artist?  Do we boycott Woody Allen films since he married his adopted step-daughter?  Do we run away from Roman Polanski films since he has been accused of having sex with a minor?  Do we swear off films by Elia Kazan after he sold out friends to the Communist Witch hunts of Joseph McCarthy? 

If we would alienate all of these film directors films because of their personal (and sometimes illegal, as in the case of Polanski) predilections, we would be missing out on some of the greatest cinema ever.  I would have missed seeing Match Point, one of my favorite movies of recent years, if I had stopped seeing Woody Allen films.  I would have never watch Polanski’s Frantic on DVD and therefore missed out on an excellent thriller. 

After watching two films about the life and work of Alfred Hitchcock (Hitchcock and The Girl), my love of the Master of Suspense has been severely tested.  Was Hitchcock a misogynist bastard?  Well, according to these two films (especially HBO’s The Girl), he was most definitely a sexist, masochistic pig.  Regardless of whether these cinematic portrayals are accurate (or even close to accurate), I will continue to watch Hitchcock’s films.  I will still read about him.  I am still a fan. 

Hitchcock stars Anthony Hopkins as the mumbling, rotund (a little too rotund in this film, if you ask me) director who seeks constant advice from his wife, Alma (played perfectly by Helen Mirren) before, during and after the making of the 1960 film Psycho. 

Hitch not only doesn’t take Alma’s advice, but sometimes he even does the opposite of what his doting wife suggests.  At these times, Alma feels pushed away from her husband and seeks refuge in the company of a writer.  That was the main thing I didn’t like about Hitchcock: that the film portrays Alma, the devoted wife, as someone ready to stray from Hitch. 

Now, I have no idea if this is true or not, but from what I’ve read about Alma, she was completely devoted to her husband, and vice versa.  Why portray her as a jealous potential adulterer?  And, the character of Hitch is shown in this film as more of a lazy fool than anything else.  He can feel Alma pulling away and he doesn’t do anything to stop it. 

The cast of the movie is incredible…like a who’s who of Hollywood.  The casting of Mirren as Alma is spot-on, but Hopkins as Hitchcock left me very underwhelmed.  Yes, Hopkins in a fantastic actor, but I never really thought he felt comfortable as Hitch.  And surprisingly, Scarlett Johansson is convincing as Janet Leigh, Psycho’s doomed heroine.  This is not a bad movie…but it is just not doing anyone in the film justice, including Hitchcock himself. 

The review for the HBO film The Girl will appear next week. 

Hitchcock: 2012, PG-13, 98 minutes, directed by Sacha Gervasi, starring Anthony Hopkins, Helen Mirren, Scarlett Johansson, Jessica Biel, Danny Huston, and Toni Collette.   The Niles Library own this title on DVD and blu-ray.