Hitchcock (2012)

Hitchcock (2012) is a surprisingly fun little peek behind the curtain at how Alfred Hitchcock made arguably one of the greatest films of all time, Psycho (1960).

Starring Anthony Hopkins in the title role, alongside Helen Mirren as his wife and collaborator Alma Reville, it’s a look at their creative reliance on one another during a time in their lives that was anything but certain. Hitchcock was coming off a string of hits and while casting about for his next project, he lands on the idea of adapting the 1959 horror novel by Robert Bloch, Psycho, to nearly everyone’s immediate distaste.

Hitch plows forward with the idea and begins to assemble his cast and crew while his marriage to Alma hits a rough patch, and she parts ways creatively (and, it’s implied, romantically) with him to work with Whitfield Cook, a handsome screenwriter who also collaborated with Hitchcock on two previous films. Hitch is undeterred but slowly finds himself adrift in his own worst tendencies without Alma’s guiding influence; as Psycho inches closer to its release date, the film’s producers and financial backers become increasingly concerned that Hitch has lost his magic touch when a screening of the rushes provokes intensely negative reviews from the studio.

It’s a film about the filming of a film, delving into Hitchcock’s imagination as he holds conversations with Ed Gein, the serial killer that inspired Norman Bates, all while the cast, crew, studio, and his own loved ones wonder if Hitch can wrangle the “unfilmable” material into something spectacular.

Obviously, we know that he does because, well, we are all sitting here in a post-Psycho world where even people who haven’t seen the film, or the 1998 remake, can mimic the screeching “ree-ree-ree-ree” violin score of the shower scene because it’s so embedded in our collective cultural psyche. But that’s not to say that Hitchcock doesn’t produce some intensity on par with any Hitchcock film.

Director Sacha Gervasi shows a deft hand for making such a broad subject feel intimate, and the casting of Anthony Hopkins as the lead ensures that there’s more subtlety to the character of Alfred Hitchcock when it could very easily topple into camp. Also worth mentioning are the three supporting female characters and their actors: Scarlett Johansson as Janet Leigh, Jessica Biel as Vera Miles, and Toni Collette as Peggy Robertson (Hitchcock’s personal assistant/Gal Friday). Each of these women have relatively small parts compared to the bulk of the screentime dedicated to Hitch and Alma’s relationship, but they make the most of it. I was particularly impressed by Biel who is an actress I don’t usually think much about, but she nailed Vera Miles.

On the topic of costuming, I thought this film really excelled at not just recreating some of the iconic costumes from Psycho, but the everyday clothing of the characters. Costume designer Julie Weiss explains her mindset in this interview with TheFilmExperience.net:

“When the costume becomes clothing you know it’s the actor becoming the character … I’m far more interested in watching an actor becoming a character than have a gown stand by itself. What you really want as a costume designer is that when the person walks out of the theater that they don’t remember the costume against a white piece of paper but that they remember the scene and the world.”

Have you seen Hitchcock (2012)? Tell us your thoughts in the comments!

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