Hitchcock is a
behind the scenes telling of the making of Psycho
(1960) and the relationship between its Director Alfred Hitchcock (Anthony
Hopkins) and his wife and long time collaborator Alma Reville (Helen Mirren). The
plot encompasses Hitchcock’s search for a follow up to the hugely successful North by Northwest and then the
difficult production of Psycho,
ending at its Premier. Although Psycho
and its production provide the backdrop, the plot is really about love,
jealousy and aging. Hitch and Alma
had been married for almost thirty-five years by 1960 and one of the avenues
the film explores is the fractious relationship which they share. Hitch’s
obsessions with his leading ladies, here Janet Leigh (Scarlett Johansson) is
something which Alma has put up with for decades but when the writer Whitfield
Cook (Danny Huston) takes an interest in Alma, Hitch’s jealousy effects their
relationship and his work.
Hitchcock isn’t a
bad film and it’s always nice to see behind the scenes of a Hollywood
production but even if it had been great there would still be one problem and
that is that it isn’t Psycho. All the
way through I thought to myself that I wish I was watching Psycho and the underwhelming central performance and flabby plot
just made me think back to what is in my opinion one of the greatest films in
history.
