'Hitchcock/Truffaut' Is A Celebration Cinema, Hitch's Influence
Hitchcock/Truffaut is a song of jubilee for that outstanding and unmistakable icon of American movie-making, Alfred Hitchcock. While Hitch is no doubt a creative and influential titan in the public mind today, it's important to remember that this wasn't always the case. Although he profoundly shocked audiences with Psycho's shower scene and explored disturbing and dark themes in films like Vertigo, the man was seen in his day as a pop entertainer, an efficient cog in the Hollywood studio system. Disgusted by this view, the young French New Wave director and critic François Truffaut sought to change this perception: to show lovers of cinema across the globe that Hitch was, indeed, "the greatest film director in the world." And he did so with a book.
This now-beloved literary project, titled "Hitchcock/Truffaut" had the young Frenchman sitting down for a week of conversations with the press-weary and secretive Hitchcock. The conversations make for some of the best reading on cinema, and the book's influence is obvious considering how many great directors of today sing the book's praises. Wes Anderson, Martin Scorsese, Richard Linklater and David Fincher, among other filmmakers who appear in Kent Jones' excellent documentary, gush over how the book changed their lives. Some even seem to brag on how often they read it, noting the conditions of their now spineless copies. Not only did Truffaut's book allow these filmmakers to love both Hitchcock and the fresh European approach to cinema, it made them realize that both approaches involve directors crystallizing their fears, fetishes, obsessions and stories into their work. As such, both men were artists, and their beautifully documented conversations give lovers of cinema masterful insights into the craft.
Some of the best parts of Kent's film involve gem-like bits of audio from these recorded conversations. On the topic of actors, Hitchcock calls them "cattle" and recalls tiffs he had with Montgomery Clift in I Confess. We also hear Hitch in the film going deep on his work, explaining what he sought to achieve in Vertigo and Psycho. Yet, he doesn't reveal all. He goes off the record, for instance, when Truffaut asks him about religion and the theme of guilt in his work. The takeaway from Jones' film, which focuses far more on the American filmmaker than his younger, foreign counterpart, is pretty much that of the book: that Hitchcock is great, a monumental artist, and deserves our admiration. The point is made even more apparent as Jones highlights the deep and lasting relationship between the two filmmakers. By then end, his documentary will have you revering both the beloved directors even more.
