Hitchcock
Hitchcock
PG-13 | 23 November 2012 (USA)
Hitchcock Trailers

Following his great success with "North by Northwest," director Alfred Hitchcock makes a daring choice for his next project: an adaptation of Robert Bloch's novel "Psycho." When the studio refuses to back the picture, Hitchcock decides to pay for it himself in exchange for a percentage of the profits. His wife, Alma Reville, has serious reservations about the film but supports him nonetheless. Still, the production strains the couple's marriage.

Reviews
Mabel Munoz Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?
Brendon Jones It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.
Leoni Haney Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.
Frances Chung Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable
The Couchpotatoes I waited a long time before watching Hitchcock and I wonder why. It was better than I expected it to be. But then again with a cast like that it's difficult to go wrong. Anthony Hopkins playing Hitchcock himself is a delight to watch. His make-up is stunning and for that alone the make-up artists deserve credits. Helen Mirren is always good and in Hitchcock she excels again. Scarlett Johansson, well she's a candy for the eye, but not only that, she's also an excellent actress. The story of Hitchcock was interesting to watch, to see how the master of suspense was in real life. An easy to follow movie with an excellent cast.
rodrig58 Well, that's a cool role for Mr. Anthony Hopkins! Super cool! And Helen Mirren is absolutely exceptional! A super actress! I always liked her, in all her movies, she was born to be an actress, she has a bright star in her head and a deep deep fire in her heart! I always liked Anthony Hopkins, except for the obvious role for money in "Transformers: The Last Knight". And follows Odin in "Thor: Ragnarok," they probably pay him terribly well to get involved in such productions... Hitchcock is one of my favorite directors, I love him and I admire him. And I wish I had a wife like Alma! Congratulations Sacha Gervasi!
jc-osms I've already seen "The Girl", the controversial BBC film starring Toby Jones which centred on Hitchcock's relationship with his leading lady Tippi Hedren during the making of "The Birds". This Hollywood movie takes us back another couple of years to the fraught creation of his slashterpiece "Psycho" and stars Anthony Hopkins as Hitch and Helen Mirren as his diminutive wife / muse / screenwriter / sparring partner Alma Reville. It's fair to say that while this characterisation of the great director is less jaundiced than the cruel manipulator depicted in "The Girl", it's still very much a warts and all portrait we get here.However, whilst not denying the obsessive / eccentric / warped (take your pick ) side of Hitchcock's nature, a perhaps uneasy balance is struck giving at least a more balanced view of this obviously complex, driven man. So yes, he is depicted as voyeuristic, creepily looking through his secret spy-hole as Vera Miles undresses, temperamental (natch!) as he loses himself while directing "Psycho's" famous shower scene and jealous as he suspects Alma of having an affair with handsome, suave, screenwriter Whitfield Kemp. But these are balanced out to a degree by his portrayal as an avuncular old man with a taste for cotton candy in his playful scenes with Janet Leigh, played by Scarlett Johansen, his staunch support for Alma, always crediting her for her input to their marital and creative relationships and of course his genius as a director making a landmark movie.I've read a number of books on Hitchcock and so got most of the situations shown here, but I didn't go along with all of the director's choices. It seemed a bit much for one thing to have Hitchcock actually haunted by the supposed inspiration for the original "Psycho" novel by Robert Bloch, the American murderer Ed Geins, but this was balanced out by a fine scene where we see Hitchcock "conducting" the shower scene in the foyer at the film's premiere as he hears the audience's terrified screams from inside.Whilst not denying the talent of the A-list cast, it's clear that neither Hopkins or Mirren resemble Hitch and Alma and for all he's a celebrated mimic I didn't think Hopkins got Hitchcock's rich vocal delivery. I also didn't think enough room was given to important subsidiary characters, particularly his screenwriter Joe Stefano who gets the one-scene-and-gone treatment. One also suspects some of the anecdotes here are apocryphal even while I accept some of them may have started with Hitchcock himself. I did enjoy the backstage scenes especially the staging of key scenes in the movie.Well acted and staged, this movie struck me as being a little light on facts and heavy on legend and so lacking a little depth and some truth. By the end though I still couldn't particularly differentiate between Hitchcock the family man and the directorial genius, which might have been the intention anyway.Well, I guess it's only a movie as he once famously said.
grantss Good, but not great, telling of the making of the classic movie Psycho, and the relationship between Alfred Hitchcock and his wife at the time. The "making-of" part is the interesting, as you feel like you're seeing a masterpiece in the making. However, like everything in the movie, the film only scratches the surface of the making of Psycho. There is little depth in characters, and what there is feels token. The Hitchcock-wife relationship is interesting at times, but also seems tackled quite shallowly, and even contrived at times.The scenes with Ed Gein were totally unnecessary, and just served as padding. That time could have been better used on developing the main plots.The biggest kudos in the movie must go to Anthony Hopkins, in his performance as Hitchcock, and whoever did the make up to make him look like Hitchcock. Great work. (Though sometimes I think Anthony Hopkins' captures of Hitchcock's mannerisms remind me of Phil Cornwell's impersonation of Michael Caine in Stella Street!).Solid all-star supporting cast: Helen Mirren, Scarlett Johansson, Michael Stuhlbarg, Toni Collette, Jessica Biel, Michael Wincott. Danny Huston is very irritating as Whitfield Cook, but maybe that's the idea.Surely not the definitive Hitchcock bio-drama, but interesting nevertheless.