Hitchcock (2012)

Sure, I've seen Hitchcock movies, but I don't very much about Alfred Hitchcock. Well, I did listen to a radio interview with Janet Leigh where she did discuss filming the shower scene in Psycho, which is a propos. She did imply that the scene was very traumatic to film.
Sir Anthony Hopkins as Alfred Hitchcock is phenomenal. But that isn't a surprise, as he always hands in a fine performance. I'm not sure how much time Hopkins put into studying Alfred Hitchcock, but for my money he has the mannerisms and voice down. Sure, I'm too young to have seen "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" when it aired, but I've seen re-runs and they seem a very good match with this movie's portrayal of Hitchcock. Hopkins made this movie interesting to watch, but the person that really makes it worth watching is Helen Mirren. As with her co-star, Mirren always turns in a top-notch performance. As Hitchcock's wife, Alma Reville, Mirren is strong, inspired and inspirational and is portrayed as a big part, if not the biggest part of Hitchcock's success.
This movie takes place around the making of Psycho, so Janet Leigh, played by Scarlett Johansson, is a big part of it. yet at the same time, Johansson is playing Lee as so demure that she's not a big part of the drama, or at least not a big part of the melodrama which she is shown working hard not to be part of. For me, well, I'm not the biggest fan of Johansson, though I think she's a fine actress - it's the hoarse quality her voice takes on in dramatic or stressful scenes which I find really detracts from her characters. Not once does that become a factor in this film, so for the first time that I can think of, her performance really was a pleasure to watch. Also in Psycho was Vera Miles, played by Jessica Biel. What a far cry from her last role as the lieutenant of the worker's resistance in Total Recall this role is for her. She was completely unremarkable in this film. Unlike the character Johansson was playing, this is a bad thing. Miles was in her last picture with Hitchcock and glad to be done with him, or so they say in the movie, but Biel's character in Total Recall was much more dramatic and passionate, and that was a silly action film.
This film isn't really about Psycho, or even about making a movie thought that is the backdrop for the whole story. It's really about a man sobering up enough, psychologically speaking, to realize that his partner who has told him for decades that she loves him, really does, and not only that but she is the one thing that he absolutely needs to succeed. The big break-through is not that Psycho turned out to be a unmitigated success, but that the man can tell the woman what he is feeling and share in the glory of their success together. It warms the cockles of my heart.

Hitchcock on IMDb