Alfred Hitchcock has probably been the subject of more books, articles, and critical analyses than any other filmmaker. Part of this is due to the scope of his filmography—he directed no fewer than 53 features throughout a career spanning over five decades—but even the most seemingly innocuous works have yielded any number of elements for viewers and scholars alike to analyze over the years. In fact, they’ve scrutinized everything from his visual technique to his recurring thematic concerns so much that it feels as if there’s hardly anything new to say. In response to this challenge, the new documentary “My Name is Alfred Hitchcock” essentially says, “Hold my Montrachet.” It offers up a deep and often fascinating dive into his oeuvre, utilizing a central conceit so nervy that most viewers will either marvel or recoil at its sheer audacity.
Rather than rehash the familiar concerns of Hitchcock’s work, the film focuses on exploring six particular themes and how he deployed them to tell his stories: escape desire, loneliness, time, fulfillment, and height. However, the film uses these themes as leaping-off points to go into several intriguing areas, utilizing clips from nearly every film he directed, from his early silent works like “The Lodger” to classics such as “Rebecca,” “Notorious” and “Psycho” to often-misunderstood late-period works like “Marnie,” “Topaz” and “Family Plot.” In the escape section, for example, there is the obvious discussion of the number of Hitchcock characters who have found themselves trying to escape literal pursuers. But then it shifts to look at the ways characters in “Rear Window,” “The Birds,” and “Marnie” are trying to escape themselves. Then, how Hitchcock himself used his bold stylistic techniques (such as the famous murder of Karin Dor in “Topaz”) to escape mundane narrative logic and surprise his audiences. As for desire, we see how he depicts both the pleasure of pursuing some goal and the dark flip side when that feeling curdles.
Divisively, instead of presenting this observation via a procession of talking head interviewees or a run-of-the-mill narrator, filmmaker Mark Cousins presents the film as though Hitchcock himself had returned from the grave and sat down to personally discuss his work at length. Of course, all of this is a ruse—the observations that we supposedly hear coming from Hitchcock were, in fact, written by Cousins himself and delivered by comic Alastair McGowan—and could have gone quite badly if not done properly. However, Cousins has proven himself to be a keen analyst of the mysteries of cinema: see previous documentaries like “The Story of Film” and “The Eye of Orson Welles,” the latter of which included an actor impersonating Welles reading a letter that the late legend supposedly wrote to the filmmaker. Mostly, the observations that the ersatz Hitch passes along seem reasonably consistent with what the actual man stated in his interviews. McGowan does a more-than-passable recreation of his familiar phlegmatic intonations.
One aspect of Hitchcock’s storied career does not come up throughout “My Name is Alfred Hitchcock,” and while it doesn’t harm the film, its absence is enough to raise an eyebrow. This concerns his apparent obsession with actress Tippi Hedren, which began when they worked together on “The Birds” and grew more troubling throughout their second collaboration, “Marnie,” culminating in an alleged sexual assault. Granted, you could argue that this particular incident isn’t specifically cinema-related. However, since the faux-Hitchcock does talk about other aspects of his personal life, not referring to it at all seems a bit strange.
Beyond that, “My Name is Alfred Hitchcock” is an intriguing look at one of the most storied of cinematic legacies that presents viewers with solid scholarship, provocative insights, and even a bit of cheeky humor here and there (including one moment in which Hitchcock more or less apologizes for the much-maligned final scene in “Psycho” in which the psychiatrist comes into to explain things that need not be explained). Hardcore cinema students will no doubt find it a fascinating exploration of Hitchcock’s work. At the same time, Cousins presents it in a relaxed manner so that more casual viewers can understand and appreciate it as well. If you choose to see it, however, make sure that you have plenty of spare time afterward. Once it’s over, you will want to get back to your collections of Hitchcock’s films and begin scouring them in search of the elements discussed here.
