Hitchcock Truffaut - directed by Kent Jones
Without a doubt Alfred Hitchcock is one of the most well known movie personalities of all time.
I cannot think of many directors whose names are used to indicate a style of film with perhaps only Tarantino and Spielberg joining Hitchcock in this regard.
Tarantino's name is often used to describe dialogue in work outside of his own and Spielberg's name is applied to every movie that concerns itself with innocents mixed up in the machinations of the adult world.
Hitchcock is of course the master of suspense.
While highly regarded as a great now there was a time when he was seen not as a master craftsman but as a populist purveyor of crowd pleasing fluff.
But in 1962 French film critic turned writer-director Francois Truffaut wrote to Hitchcock seeking interviews with a view to raising his reputation to nothing less than the greatest director ever.
It might seem obvious now but at the time it was a bold suggestion and one that Hitchcock himself explained brought a tear to his eye in his reply accepting the interview.
So for a week Truffaut and his translator moved into a hotel near Universal Studios and met Alfred Hitchcock every day at the studio to record interviews exploring each of his films.
Even given the legendary status of the subjects a straight replay of the highlights of a weeks worth of talking would become dull quickly so this film wisely chooses to use the recordings of Truffaut and Hitchcock as punctuation to footage from Hitchcock's films and words from some filmmakers inspired by him or merely fans of his work.
So amongst others we get Martin Scorsese (surely the undisputed go-to guy for commentary on the work of other directors), Peter Bogdanovich (the second placed go-to movie guy), Richard Linklater, Wes Anderson and David Fincher.
Of those listed Fincher is possibly the most obviously inspired by Hitchcock with a string of moody thrillers such as "Se7en", "Gone Girl", "The Game", "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" and "Fight Club" to his name.
All of the directors have wonderfully interesting things to add to the overall discussion here and very quickly this film grabbed my interest.
Of course it was always going to - this is absolute heroin for a movie fan.
Scenes from early Hitchcock movies may not be entirely familiar but show the strong sense of framing and the use of images to tell a story without dialogue that would be trademarks throughout Hitchcock's career.
Soon enough we are in very familiar territory however with classics like "Notorious" (my favourite Hitch movie and one of my ten favourite movies of all time), "North By Northwest", "Vertigo", "The Birds" and "Psycho".
Each of them is discussed and explored by Truffaut and Hitchcock and of course by the guest directors.
Scenes are dissected - the famous kiss from Notorious, the cropduster from North By Northwest and in the case of "Vertigo", "Psycho" and "The Birds" several aspects are covered.
The infamous shower murder in "Psycho" gets the look in that you would expect but details such as the alleged flatness of Janet Leigh's performance, her bra and the impact that the movie had on audiences of 1960 who had never seen anything like this film before are covered.
"Vertigo" gets extra special love and even as noted fans like Scorsese highlight the faults they hold up its greatness too with James Gray calling one scene the out and out best scene in any movie ever.
And it isn't the one that you are probably thinking of.
Look- there isn't going to be much new stuff here for big fans of Hitchcock but there is huge enjoyment in seeing the movies and hearing Hitchcock and Truffaut talking.
The input from current directors could have paled in comparison but only serves to further elevate the work of the great director to the position that Truffaut intended in the first place.
The final moments revealing the ongoing friendship between the pair are surprisingly touching.
That the much younger Truffaut would die at the age of 52 only four years after the 80 year old Hitchcock is both immensely sad and oddly poetic.
I was reminded of the famous quote from Ingrid Bergman when Hitchcock expressed fear at his looming death.... (quote text from imdb.com - link)
On their last meeting, Alfred Hitchcock was in tears, terrified of his impending death. Suffering from the cancer that would kill her, Bergman told him, "But of course you are going to die sometime, Hitch, we are all going to die." She later recalled that the comment seemed to bring him peace; it was a bittersweet goodbye. Hitchcock died in 1980, followed by Bergman in 1982.
As much as this is an exploration of Hitchcock by his number one fan Truffaut, fans of the French great will be pleased to note that his work gets a reasonable look in too.
I loved every second of this film - if you are a fan of Hitchcock, Truffaut, any of the guest directors or even of film itself to any degree you will too.
RATING: 86 / 100
CONCLUSION: This may be a brief look at the genius of Hitchcock and one that doesn't really reveal too much that fans don't already know but this is undeniably a riveting 80 minutes for anyone who considers themselves even remotely a film fan
Starring: Alfred Hitchcock, Francois Truffaut, David Fincher, Martin Scorsese, Richard Linklater, Wes Anderson, Peter Bogdanovich, James Gray, Arnaud Desplechin, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Paul Schrader, Olivier Assayas, Bob Balaban (narrated by)
Screenplay: Kent Jones & Serge Toubiana
Music Score by: Jeremiah Bornfield
Cinematography: Nick Bentgen, Daniel Cowen, Eric Gautier, Mihai Malaimare Jr, Lisa Rinzler & Genta Tamaki
Cinematography: Nick Bentgen, Daniel Cowen, Eric Gautier, Mihai Malaimare Jr, Lisa Rinzler & Genta Tamaki
Edited by: Rachel Reichman
Running Time: 80 minutes
Language: English and French
Rated: PG - Some clips from Hitchcock films show violence
Running Time: 80 minutes
Language: English and French
Rated: PG - Some clips from Hitchcock films show violence
I cannot think of many directors whose names are used to indicate a style of film with perhaps only Tarantino and Spielberg joining Hitchcock in this regard.
Tarantino's name is often used to describe dialogue in work outside of his own and Spielberg's name is applied to every movie that concerns itself with innocents mixed up in the machinations of the adult world.
Hitchcock is of course the master of suspense.
While highly regarded as a great now there was a time when he was seen not as a master craftsman but as a populist purveyor of crowd pleasing fluff.
But in 1962 French film critic turned writer-director Francois Truffaut wrote to Hitchcock seeking interviews with a view to raising his reputation to nothing less than the greatest director ever.
It might seem obvious now but at the time it was a bold suggestion and one that Hitchcock himself explained brought a tear to his eye in his reply accepting the interview.
So for a week Truffaut and his translator moved into a hotel near Universal Studios and met Alfred Hitchcock every day at the studio to record interviews exploring each of his films.
 |
| The famous interviews by Truffaut with Hitchcock became a legendary book (right) |
So amongst others we get Martin Scorsese (surely the undisputed go-to guy for commentary on the work of other directors), Peter Bogdanovich (the second placed go-to movie guy), Richard Linklater, Wes Anderson and David Fincher.
Of those listed Fincher is possibly the most obviously inspired by Hitchcock with a string of moody thrillers such as "Se7en", "Gone Girl", "The Game", "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" and "Fight Club" to his name.
All of the directors have wonderfully interesting things to add to the overall discussion here and very quickly this film grabbed my interest.
Of course it was always going to - this is absolute heroin for a movie fan.
 |
| Informed input - Peter Bogdanovich, Martin Scorsese, Wes Anderson, James Gray and David Fincher |
Soon enough we are in very familiar territory however with classics like "Notorious" (my favourite Hitch movie and one of my ten favourite movies of all time), "North By Northwest", "Vertigo", "The Birds" and "Psycho".
Each of them is discussed and explored by Truffaut and Hitchcock and of course by the guest directors.
Scenes are dissected - the famous kiss from Notorious, the cropduster from North By Northwest and in the case of "Vertigo", "Psycho" and "The Birds" several aspects are covered.
The infamous shower murder in "Psycho" gets the look in that you would expect but details such as the alleged flatness of Janet Leigh's performance, her bra and the impact that the movie had on audiences of 1960 who had never seen anything like this film before are covered.
"Vertigo" gets extra special love and even as noted fans like Scorsese highlight the faults they hold up its greatness too with James Gray calling one scene the out and out best scene in any movie ever.
And it isn't the one that you are probably thinking of.
 |
| Dissected - Aerial shots (The Birds), dissolves (The Wrong Man), Bras (Psycho) and lingering kisses (Notorious) |
The input from current directors could have paled in comparison but only serves to further elevate the work of the great director to the position that Truffaut intended in the first place.
The final moments revealing the ongoing friendship between the pair are surprisingly touching.
That the much younger Truffaut would die at the age of 52 only four years after the 80 year old Hitchcock is both immensely sad and oddly poetic.
I was reminded of the famous quote from Ingrid Bergman when Hitchcock expressed fear at his looming death.... (quote text from imdb.com - link)
On their last meeting, Alfred Hitchcock was in tears, terrified of his impending death. Suffering from the cancer that would kill her, Bergman told him, "But of course you are going to die sometime, Hitch, we are all going to die." She later recalled that the comment seemed to bring him peace; it was a bittersweet goodbye. Hitchcock died in 1980, followed by Bergman in 1982.
As much as this is an exploration of Hitchcock by his number one fan Truffaut, fans of the French great will be pleased to note that his work gets a reasonable look in too.
I loved every second of this film - if you are a fan of Hitchcock, Truffaut, any of the guest directors or even of film itself to any degree you will too.
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