Link: Hitchcock

Summary: Hitchcock sets out to make Psycho, but is burdened with a suffering marriage.

Thoughts: I’m not sure what was up with the makeup in this film; everyone had yellow faces, and Hitchcock’s ears kept moving strangely.  Anyway, even if Anthony Hopkins didn’t look very much like Hitchcock, he did a great job of capturing his speech pattern and the way he seemed to carry himself.  And the guy who played Anthony Perkins also did a great job.

I don’t know anything about Hitchcock’s personal life, or what sort of things he and his wife might have struggled with, or whether or not this story is based on people’s hearsay.  (If they never confessed anything themselves, I would take it all with a grain of salt.)  Of course, my favorite film being Amadeus, I am more than willing to accept wildly fictional portrayals of historic artists, granted the story is compelling.  This story, unfortunately, was not compelling.  It was extremely shallow.  It is basically a shallow romantic drama between Hitchcock and his wife as they try to rediscover their love for each other as the production of Psycho stresses them.  Hitchcock wants to make Psycho to revitalize his career and reputation, but there’s really nothing at stake for him, so what the heck do we care?  If the production of Psycho related more to his marital problems, it might have been more interesting.  (See the interplay between the theatrical production of Peter Pan and Barrie’s relationship problems in the fantastic film Finding Neverland.)  Overall, I wasn’t impressed with this film.

A few points for Danny Elfman’s compelling musical score.