Thirty-eight years after the release of his final
film, Alfred Hitchcock is still considered the ‘master of suspense’ by casual
film goers and cinema buffs alike. Over the course of his fifty-three year
career he directed over fifty feature films and introduced camera and
narrative innovations that have continued to influence the suspense genre. In
2012, Hitchcock was the subject of two films that explored his directing style
and personal life. Both the
made for tv film, The Girl, and the
cinema released Hitchcock, convey
their stories with enthusiasm and skill, but which biopic better captures the
reality behind the illusions of ‘the master of suspense’?
1.
THE
STORY: While both films explore the inner workings of Hitchcock’s
life during the filming of one of his masterpieces, they each tell a very
different story. In Hitchcock, the
focus is the on and off-set struggles that the director faced during the
production of Psycho. The film begins
with Hitchcock feeling discouraged at the restrictions of working in Hollywood,
despite the commercial success of his latest film, North By Northwest. In order to test his directorial skills and
regain some of his old passion, he starts searching for scripts and novels that
are drastically different from anything he’s done before and finally settles on
Robert Bloch’s fictionalized account of the 1940’s Ed Gein murders, Psycho. After purchasing the rights to
the script, he is confronted with the difficulties of breaking out of the Hollywood
mold as he struggles to adjust to a new genre and create a truly horrifying
film that still passes Hay’s Code censors, all while financing the film on a
meager out-of-pocket budget. Complicating matters further, he is simultaneously faced with
the looming threat of his wife, Alma’s flirtation with her screenwriting
collaborator, noted womanizer Whitfield Cook.
In The Girl, four years have passed since the successful debut of Psycho and Hitchcock is again in search
of a new story, and more notably a new talent to introduce in it. While
searching for an unknown actress to play the lead role, he comes across model
Tippi Hedren and becomes determined to cast her. With the help of Alma,
Hitchcock sets about approaching and winning over the naïve Hedren, who is all
too happy to have the opportunity to break into films. Over the course of
production of The Birds and its
follow-up, Marnie, Hitchcock becomes
obsessed with his leading lady and psychologically and physically abuses her
after she rejects his sexual advances. The story quickly becomes a battle of
the wills as Hedren struggles to maintain her dignity and independence while
still fulfilling her contractual obligations to the maniacal Hitchcock. While
both films offer fascinating insight into the inner workings of Hitchcock’s
life and mind, The Girl limits the
scope of its focus to Hitchcock’s personal life and his interactions with
Hedren, forcing the other characters to the side. Unlike The Girl, Hitchcock features multi-faceted portrayals of the cast
and crew of Psycho and Hitchock’s
wife, as well as an in depth analysis of Hitchcock himself. By taking a broader
approach, Hitchcock’s script provides
a more balanced and informative view of the director, as it shows him at work
and at home, while still highlighting the dark aspects of his psyche. For its
equal emphasis upon Hitchcock’s working and personal lives, Hitchcock delivers a more insightful account of the director's life
and work ,which will appeal to a broader audience.
2.
THE
CHARACTERS: The script for The Girl was based upon Tippi Hedren’s memoir, and as a result, the
film and all of its characters are seen through her perspective. Because of the
film’s first person point of view, the characters are only shown in relation to
their interactions with Hedren, and are portrayed in the same way that she
wrote about them. This limited viewpoint denies the viewer the opportunity to
see the characters in different facets of the lives. As a result, the supporting
characters become little more than caricatures who are forced into the
background as Hedren and Hitchcock continue in their tumultuous working
relationship. Even Hitchcock and Hedren suffer as characters in the film, as the
audience never learns what motivates Hedren to continue suffering through the
abuse that Hitchcock inflicts upon her beyond the chance at stardom, and
Hitchcock is shown only in terms of the monstrous behavior he displays towards
Hedren.
Hitchcock
is based upon a work of historical research rather than a memoir, and is told
from an outside, more objective, perspective. Not only does the film show
Hitchcock in varying and conflicting lights, but it also shows those around him
as three dimensional people with their own back stories and motivations. The
most notable of these characters is Hitchcock’s wife, Alma, who is shown to be
an intelligent, driven, woman who is tired of spending her life in her
husband’s shadow. One of the key plot arcs in the film is Alma’s attempt to
regain her former independence and Hitchcock’s realization of her importance in
his professional, as well as personal, life. In stark contrast, The Girl portrays Alma as an insecure and dependent secondary
character who facilitates her husband’s predatory behavior in hopes of
maintaining his favor, reinforcing the film’s insistence upon gravitating all
of its characters’ and their actions around Hitchcock and Hedren. For its layered
and varied portrayals and complex supporting cast, Hitchcock provides a more in depth view of life behind the scenes.
Doing for bathtubs what Psycho did for showers |
3.
THE
PERFORMANCES: While it is a difficult task for an
actor to play a historical figure, both films feature excellent casts who turn
in spot-on performances. Both Anthony Hopkins and Toby Jones capture the
outward genius and inner torments that made up Alfred Hitchcock. Despite the
lack of dimension in the writing of his part, Jones adds depth to a role that
would otherwise be a one note villain in his portrayal of Hitchcock. Although
neither actor bears a striking resemblance to the director, both aptly mimicked
his mannerisms and voice in a way that was historically accurate without
distracting from the overall story. Similarly, Helen Mirren and Sienna Miller
each create fully fleshed characters in their performances as Alma Reville and Tippi
Hedren. In Mirren’s hands, Alma is an intelligent and eloquent woman who is
much more interesting than the background player she has been relegated to.
Miller portrays Hedren with an endearing combination of naivete and resilience
that makes audiences identify with her struggle and root for her success. The
supporting casts in both films also succeed at the difficult task of creating
fresh, intriguing, characters, while still remaining true to historical fact.
The entertainingly accurate acting in both films leaves the performances at a
draw, leaving Hitchcock in the lead
as the more all around enjoyable film. Post your favorite in the comments!
Adding a whole new context to the phrase 'hostile work environment' |
An excellent selection for the 200th review posted on this blog. Hitchcock truly was a Cinematic visionary and a creative force to be reckoning with.
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