As I'm a huge Hitchcock
fan I'm of course excited about everything related to him, so I was
waiting for this one with maybe a bit too high hopes. I've read the
book Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho by Stephen Rebello which I saw was the basis of this movie's script.
The movie merely scratches the surface of the problems that went into
making Psycho (1960) and focuses more on the relationship between Hitch and his wife Alma
Reville. That's not a bad thing as a movie just about the production
of Psycho would be only good for the fans of it, now it's quite an
universal story about love. Then again as a fan I would have hoped a
bit more insight on the production as now this movie skips through it
so fast that it kind of gives out a wrong impression on many aspects
of it. What I would have liked to see more was the cultural impact
the movie had, as it wasn't just a huge box office hit, it really
shook the whole movie industry and changed the way people saw movies.
But I guess it didn't really fit in after all, then again I wouldn't
have minded watching another 90 minutes after the movie's premiere
and even about the making of The Birds (1963). Anyway I liked quite a many things about this movie, first of all
the cast is great. This is an actor driven movie and that's certainly
well in hand in this one. Anthony Hopkins does a solid job as
Hitchcock and at times he looks and especially sounds strikingly like
Hitchcock. But it's Helen Mirren who steals the show in this one with
an absolutely brilliant performance as Alma Reville the wife in the
shadow of the master of suspense. Another one I need to pick out was
James D'Arcy who not only looks exactly like Anthony Perkins but also
gives a stellar performance. Too bad there's not much room for his
character so he's left with very little screen time, which was the
problem with Scarlett Johansson as well, who was great as Janet Leigh
for the short time she was there. Even on the smaller parts were cast
brilliantly, like the “Karate Kid” Ralph Macchio as the
screenwriter Joseph Stefano and Kurtwood Smith was a perfect pick as
the censor.
The acting was not the
only thing that worked, I really liked the witty Hitchcockian comedy
in it as well. It shows that the director Sacha Gervasi and the
screenwriter John McLaughlin are fans of Hitchcock's movies, there's
so many witty remarks for them that I lost count. From framing shots
and directing scenes to the dialogue the whole movie was quite
Hitchcockian. I also really liked the music by Danny Elfman, which
sounded like an homage to Hitchcock's favorite composer Bernard
Herrmann. All in all this is a very good love story which did leave
me wanting a bit more insight into the making of a masterpiece. But
in the end it didn't matter that much as otherwise this was a great
movie.
82%
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