I didn't think this was a great film, but it was a highly entertaining film, with some very good pacing, acting, direction, and music. The movie was never dull, or at least I didn't think so. I also wonder what someone who doesn't know who Alfred Hitchcock is or has never seen Psycho would think about this movie. I come to this movie knowing a lot about Hitchcock and having seen (and own) a great number of his films. It was hard putting aside that knowledge as I watched this film because I knew a lot about what was going on in certain scenes. I don't know if this helped or hinged me as I watched this movie. Over all I liked the movie and found it a pleasant way to spend an hour and half of time. By then end of the movie I didn't feel that time had been wasted.
The biggest reason to see this movie is the two actors in the lead roles. Anthony Hopkins plays Alfred Hitchcock and Helen Mirren plays his wife, Alma Hitchcock. These two were a delight to see on screen together and did a remarkable job of portraying an artistic married couple as they battled their up and down relationship. Hopkins embodied Hitchcock - not just physically mind you - but also in mannerisms and even his speech was enunciated with Hitchcock's embellishment on words. There was also a little Hannibal Lector in his speech and mannerisms, which is I guess OK as some of the story line relied heavily on Hitchcock using his films as a cathartic experience to exorcise his demons. His many conversations with the late Ed Gein only help to enforce Hopkins either accidental or on purpose use of parts of Lector. Mirren was a delight as she played the tortured artist ever standing behind the - large - shadow of Hitchcock. She played the quiet wife to the public, with a precise perception, as she battled her own creative expression to the over large persona of her husband that the media had pushed her into and him into the lime light as a lone genius. This story is as much about her as it about Hitchcock. He wasn't just a driving force behind his movies, but her presence could be felt throughout everything as well, as this movie makes quite clear. I really liked how this movie turned into a love story, of sorts, as it crossed into the third act. It wasn't a sudden shift because there had been many moments leading up this point and when it crossed over it made for a really interesting love story. Unlike any love story I've ever seen before. But a good love story none-the-less. Mirren played her part extremely well.
Other things I noticed. The consumption of food and drink played a huge part in this movie as Hitchcock is seeing eating or drinking many times. It reminded me a lot of Tony Soprano from the Sopranos. Even the sound of the food or drink being consumed reminded me of that show, as the sound tract did its best to emphasize Hitchcock and his intake of food or drink. I think this has something to do, not just with his weight, but his appetite for things and his willingness to devour everything, and all people around him with reckless abandon, when his artistic urges arose. His relationship with this wife and Vera Miles testifies to this throughout the movie.
Danny Elman's score for this film simply worked on so many levels, as it heralded back to the collaboration of Bernard Herrmann and Hitchcock with ease, and in my opinion wasn't a hindrance to the movie. It made the movie have a good feel for a Hitchcock thriller, without being overburdening, considering it wasn't a standard thriller, but had thrilleristic tendencies. The music infused the scenes with an added suspense, when it needed it to, and flowed with the movie, when it called for it. I personally think it was one of his best scores.
I've never heard of this director, but Sacha Gervasi did an interesting and competent job of handling this movie. He was served with a decent screenplay and some great actors and actresses to help him turn an unlikely story into a entertaining movie.
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