Hitchcock: The Making of Psycho
Perhaps one of those underrated movies of 2012, Hitchcock is interesting from the beginning to the end without resorting to any of those overdone Hollywood gimmimcks that become redundant in the long run.
This is not really a movie about Hitchcock, it is a movie about one specific period in Hitchcock's life when against all odds, Hitchcock (played by Anthony Hopkins) shot that classic that set the standards for all the other suspense movies that would be made from then on.
It is an interesting and ambititous film since it attempts, most of the time successfully, to offer a picture of who Hitchcock was in his personal life and at work: a genius mostly misunderstood, excentric, obssessed, a compulsive eater, in sum a being full of little flaws but also with a great talent and vision.
There is also his, at times, strained relation with Alma, his wife (played by Helen Mirren) who was at the time feeling abandoned by her husband. We can also witness the selection process that Hitchcock followed to pick the cast of Psycho (there was a reason why each of the actors was picked and the film tells you that). There is also a brief exploration of Hitchcock's mental situation as he approached and developed his project, a condition that worsened when he began suspecting Alma was cheating on him. And last but not least there is the source of inspiration for Psycho since apparently the novel Hitchcock used to make his movie was based on real events and that fact transpires throughout all the movie as it unfolds.
I must say I enjoyed the music which kept the tune of Hitchcock's TV show and the soundtrack that accompanied the famous bathroom scene. Hopkins was so into this role that he even imitated the way Hitchcok spoke (even his lip movements). Mirren is dazzling when making what could have been an obscure character one of the highlights of this film. Scarlett Johannson as Janeth Leigh and Jessica Biel as Vera Miles were up to the challenge, especially Scarlett Johannson who has time and again proved she never disppoints. The recreation of the time and place, and the makeup, also deserve noting; and the beginning and the end when Hitchcock actually addresses the audience as he did in his show are welcome additions as well plus the nod to his following film (The Birds).
When the film finishes you get surprised to know that Hitchcock never won an Oscar for best director, an injustice that the academy apparently tried to rectify by awarding him years later with a Life Achievement Oscar, an award that seems to have been created to remedy these little and embarrasing mistakes.
Five out of five stars for this one.
It is an interesting and ambititous film since it attempts, most of the time successfully, to offer a picture of who Hitchcock was in his personal life and at work: a genius mostly misunderstood, excentric, obssessed, a compulsive eater, in sum a being full of little flaws but also with a great talent and vision.
There is also his, at times, strained relation with Alma, his wife (played by Helen Mirren) who was at the time feeling abandoned by her husband. We can also witness the selection process that Hitchcock followed to pick the cast of Psycho (there was a reason why each of the actors was picked and the film tells you that). There is also a brief exploration of Hitchcock's mental situation as he approached and developed his project, a condition that worsened when he began suspecting Alma was cheating on him. And last but not least there is the source of inspiration for Psycho since apparently the novel Hitchcock used to make his movie was based on real events and that fact transpires throughout all the movie as it unfolds.
I must say I enjoyed the music which kept the tune of Hitchcock's TV show and the soundtrack that accompanied the famous bathroom scene. Hopkins was so into this role that he even imitated the way Hitchcok spoke (even his lip movements). Mirren is dazzling when making what could have been an obscure character one of the highlights of this film. Scarlett Johannson as Janeth Leigh and Jessica Biel as Vera Miles were up to the challenge, especially Scarlett Johannson who has time and again proved she never disppoints. The recreation of the time and place, and the makeup, also deserve noting; and the beginning and the end when Hitchcock actually addresses the audience as he did in his show are welcome additions as well plus the nod to his following film (The Birds).
When the film finishes you get surprised to know that Hitchcock never won an Oscar for best director, an injustice that the academy apparently tried to rectify by awarding him years later with a Life Achievement Oscar, an award that seems to have been created to remedy these little and embarrasing mistakes.
Five out of five stars for this one.
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