‘Hitchcock’ demonstrates love story, movie making

He was a visionary of film and a pioneer that didn’t subscribe to genre — he called his style “self plagiarism.” But like most great artists, including Ernest Hemingway and Jackson Pollock, Alfred Hitchcock, the paradigm auteur, was not without his demons.

In his quasi-directorial debut, Sacha Gervasi embeds the torment, obsessions, idiosyncrasies, and many foibles of the film genius into a love story. The film runs just 98 minutes, which would be enough time for a less ambitious character examination, but it isn’t enough to let the conflicts of “Hitchcock” breathe. Although the juggling act between chronicled profile and romantic battle seems hurried at times, Anthony Hopkin’s performance as the protagonist makes this cinematic look at a film giant worth the watch.

In the film, Hitch (“hold the cock,” the famous director tells people) begins doubting himself after the success of his latest film, “North by Northwest,” with the somewhat trite question, “Am I getting too old for this?” The press thinks he should just quit while he’s ahead. However, this might seem like a crazy idea, as the director just came off back-to-back smashes with “Vertigo” and “North by Northwest” — the man never won an Oscar until his Lifetime Achievement Award.

Hopkins does the best he can bringing the overwrought director to life, but the heavy, painstakingly-applied makeup necessary for the character strips him of the facial ticks and nuances that made Hopkins so mesmerizing in movies such as “Silence of the Lambs” and “The Remains of the Day.” Perhaps that’s for the better, though, because his unwavering scowl seems pretty much in tune with typical portrayals of Hitchcock.

Hitch feels underappreciated, and he’s arguably justified. He vows to silence the naysayers and prove to himself that he hasn’t lost his touch with the production of “Psycho,” a horror film laden with taboos of the time — incest, homosexuality, nudity, gratuitous violence, toilets. Even his devout wife Alma (Helen Mirren) fears the backlash. “I’m sure of you unquestionably,” she says. “But not this film.” The undertaking tests just how unflinching Alma’s faith in Hitch is, both as a wife and a filmmaking partner. Mirren is superb in her portrayal of the conflicted but loyal wife, an afterthought behind the legendary director.

During the filming, leading lady Janet Leigh (Scarlett Johansson) becomes Hitch’s new obsession. The “Hitchcock blonde” is the fantasy he’s been searching for — the perfect, beautiful actress that is just as devoted to the production as he is. It’s a fantasy he has trouble suppressing, and his paranoia and anxiety begin to surface. His lustful eyes don’t go unnoticed, and Alma begins to question her own prettiness. The film takes mostly a passionless look at the Hitchcocks’ marriage, where intimacy gives way to mechanized talk of work and Hitch’s failing diet.

Hitch begins embodying the rage and anger of the murderer in “Psycho” (to a decidedly less deadly extent). He notes with a typically chin-up condensation to the press, “We all harbor dark recesses of violence.” He’s particularly worrisome of Alma’s working relationship with another, less-talented writer, Whitfield Cook (Danny Huston). Alma’s living out a fantasy of her own, writing a screenplay by the beach with a glass of wine — a slice of her and Hitch’s heyday of carefree creation before he became famous. If they want their marriage and “Psycho” to survive, they’ll need to gain control of their fantasies.

“Hitchcock” is most successful in its unblinking homage to voyeurism — the chilling sense of watching and surveillance that made Hitchcock a master of the camera in films such as “Rear Window.” There are striking scenes of the director sitting just feet away during the filming of some of the most iconic scenes in “Psycho.”

“Hitchcock” is a solid film fueled by the performances of its actors. It often suffers from drawn-out moments, but Mirren and Hopkins give earnest performances and have great on-screen chemistry — even if their characters sleep in separate twin beds.