Hitchcock

Audiences hoping for a substantive look at what motivated Hitchcock or even why he was known for being so tyrannical and controlling (especially of his beautiful starlets) may be disappointed. Director Sacha Gervasi offers not a sweeping biography of the English genre master but a brilliantly acted look at Hitchcock's marital life and personal demons during the development and making of Psycho. In the same way that HBO's John Adams is really the story of John and Abigail, so HITCHCOCK is actually the portrait of the fascinating marriage and partnership between Hitch and Alma.

The acting, as you'd expect from Academy Award winners Hopkins and Mirren, is absolutely top notch. As Hitch, Hopkins is corpulent and hedonistic and self-absorbed, while Mirren's Alma is his rock, his nursemaid, his first and final and most important editor and critic. A trio of fine actresses play the different women who supported Hitch through the Psycho shoot -- Toni Collette, Scarlett Johansson (as Leigh), and Jessica Biel (as Vera Miles), while James D'Arcy is striking as the closeted and intense Anthony Perkins. One thematic thread (of the real Ed Gein repeatedly being in Hitchcock's mind) is unnecessary, but otherwise this is a smart, humorous tribute to the director and his ultimate muse, his wife.