My Name is Alfred Hitchcock Movie Review

“My Name is Alfred Hitchcock” is quite a deep look into the man who made some of the best conceptually terrifying edge of your seat frightening movies of the past. And, if you watch this film, you’re getting a free film course. ​

Not just a class but an entire course for which, if you study hard enough by watching this whole thing, you’re practically prepared to make a film of your own based on the cinematic research, analysis, and theory that you’ve been taught. Thankfully, when you hear Hitchcock speak, it isn’t computer-generated. It’s actor, writer, and producer Alistair McGowan who sounds enough like Alfred to be him. It’s hard to dismiss the idea that Hitchcock didn’t leave these recordings behind for later use. Regarding his work and life, he speaks directly to you, his beloved audience.

Director Mark Cousins gives us a rather distinctive way of examining a Hitchcock film… along with the man himself. His charm and wit shine through. He also asks questions of his students or the members of his audience. He points out instances in the film you’re watching clips from, telling you why he made certain decisions. He does this to make sure you notice stirring events that he shot just to thrill you. These are some fantastic moments, as he made them just to get your reaction… his favorite thing in life to do.

We learn about how much film matters to him, how he loves traveling and vacationing with his wife Alma, and how one of his favorite Post-Impressionists and Cubists, Paul Cézanne, influenced him… and made it into the background of his films. He and Alma were born within hours of one another. She was an editor for him, she helped write and was his “story approver.” She was very good at what she did. We get a few images of them together to peek at. They looked at life from the same lens and made each other laugh. Learning some of his personal life gave an intimate portrait of him, beyond the sideview you knew so well, you saw their love in the films he made. It comes through in his 1928 film, “The Farmer’s Wife.” He also tells us of the secrets he uses to get a better shot.

He uses height for the state of mind he puts the audience in from using the angle. Height is one of the techniques that he keeps in mind when making a film. His list is Escape, Desire, Loneliness, Time, Fulfillment, and Height. A large portion of the movie is his explanation of what they mean to us and how he used them in certain films. As he does this, you notice how brilliant he was in using them and swear to point them out in future films you see. When speaking on escaping, he tells us of all the ways to escape; one of them is when you look into a mirror, you might want to escape what is looking back at you. “I wasn’t always comfortable in my own skin. You could say that I wanted to lose myself.” He compares this to how Jimmy Stewart felt in the “Rear Window.”

This documentary will have you wanting to go back to the start of his career and watch everything he made, beginning to end, to see how using a soup spoon tells you how serious a moment was or wasn’t. He loved to use tracking shots and shows some of his picks for best, explaining why they’re so important, as is the welcoming you into a house and into the story by the use of an opened door. Your eyes will widen with what is said about what he did in “Rope.” It doesn’t stop, though. It goes on and on for 2 hours and twenty minutes, and you will wish it wouldn’t end. You are given so much information; whether you like the filmmaking process or not, you want it to keep coming. Discovering how and why he did specific things with the actors that are beyond fascinating… and such a small part of what you’ll encounter while watching an incredibly rare and captivating documentary you’ll see. I, for one, can’t wait to see it again and watch all Alfred Hitchcock movies that I had never heard of before watching this.