My Name Is Alfred Hitchcock
Mark Cousins’ playful retrospective re-animates the Hollywood auteur to bring out the man behind the classics
“I love you, my audience. I love playing with you,” says a coquettish Hitchcock from beyond the grave in Mark Cousins’ docu-essay. This is not some long-lost voiceover commentary from the Master of Suspense, but comedy impressionist Alistair McGowan affecting the gastric, nasal tones of the legendary director. This information is withheld until the end, however. Cousins' film is a ruse, which may come with a tonne of ethical questions, but Hitchcock would no doubt approve.
Allow us to parallel Cousins' film with one of its main texts: Rope, about two murderers hosting a party with a dead body secreted in the room. Here, Hitchcock is the cadaver and we are the dinner guests, pacified by canapé-sized clips from The Birds, The 39 Steps and Psycho into not noticing.
The narration gently zig-zags, making sharp connections between Hitchcock's images and his various preoccupations and obsessions via an array of clips, often from lesser-seen Hitchcock movies. The two-hour montage occasionally turns to additional footage shot by Cousins depicting Hitchcock’s legacy via urban UK landmarks, such as the mosaics at Leytonstone tube station.
Is it mean-spirited to say that Cousins’ own photography looks unrefined? Perhaps anything is doomed to pale next to shots by one of movie history’s greatest image-makers. Whatever one thinks of Cousins’ own eye, these additions nonetheless spotlight Hitchcock’s lasting impact. They may not have the man’s cinematic verve, but what does? The film’s playful gimmick, paired with such reminders of Hitchcock’s humble London beginnings, successfully drives home the humanity behind a titan of cinema.
Released 21 Jul by Dogwoof; certificate 15