Hitchcock

"Hitchcock" has a similar feel to it as "My Week with Marilyn" (2011) as the audience is taken behind the curtain of the making of a classic film with an icon of American cinema.  "Psycho" (1960) is the backdrop for the story between the 'Master of Suspense' and his wife and muse Alma Reville.  Director Sasha Gervasi works off a screenplay based on the book "Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho" by Stephen Rebello.

"Hitchcock" follows the same template as the television program "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" with Hitchcock (Sir Anthony Hopkins) introduces the film in front of the house where Ed Gein lived because if it wasn't for him we wouldn't have this story.   In this personal look into the man behind the classic film the audience is asked to call him Hitch, because you can hold the cock.  The story picks up in 1959 after Hitch releases "North by Northwest".  Searching for his next project with his wife Alma (Dame Helen Mirren) he comes across the "Pyscho" book written by Robert Bloch that was loosely based on the crimes of Wisconsin murderer and grave robber Ed Gein.  Hitch was confronted by Paramount Studios unwillingness to finance a film about a transvestite and his murderous relationship with his dead mother, which led him to finance the film himself and mortgage his home in an effort to get the film into production.  With the added stress of the film, his relationship with his loving wife, and un-credited screenwriter of "Pyscho", Alma begins to strain and pushes her to seek the attention of another writer, Whitfield Cook (Danny Huston).

The film takes us through all aspects of the production of "Psycho" including the casting interviews with Anthony Perkins (played dead on by James D'Arcy) and Janet Leigh (Scarlett Johansson) and the fights with the ratings board (Kurtwood Smith).  Hitch didn't want to use music during the infamous shower scene but was convinced by his Alma. 

Anthony Hopkins plays Hitch with a touch of the arrogance and you see the emotional attachment to the story and his own personal history of abandonment with a voice that at times sounds like Hannibal Lecter.  Yet the playfulness of the character is captured through the signature profile and background "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" theme music.  Helen Mirren perfectly balances the performance with Anthony Hopkins notably in a scene where Alma is confronted about having an affair.  You cannot help but admire the two on screen together and know that they are both deserving of a nomination for Best Actor and Supporting Actress. 

Not only was the acting well done, but the screenplay was well adapted and the makeup was equally impressive and deserving of nominations.  The film is fun, suspenseful and Alfred Hitchcock would be proud of the film.  It is very deserving of 5 Quacks and hope that everyone goes to see this film.

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