Film Review: A Celebration of Pure Cinema in ‘Hitchcock/Truffaut’

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CHICAGO – In 1966, a breakthrough book about the movies was released, entitled “Hitchcock/Truffaut.” A new documentary explores the actual interviews that were conducted between French new wave director Francois Truffaut and the legendary Alfred Hitchcock, that would become that book.

Rating: 4.5/5.0

Kent Jones is the director of doc, also titled “Hitchcock/Truffaut,” and he pieces together the feast of film talk between the two filmmakers – from the original 1962 audio tapes – and puts the book in historical context through additional interviews with contemporary filmmakers. Alfred Hitchcock, in his times, was regarded as the “Master of Suspense,” but not so much as the wholly original auteur that is his reputation now. Francois Truffaut, a fanboy from France, put the master’s films in context as pure cinema when the book was published, and at the same time cemented Hitchcock’s influence for generations of filmmakers to come. If you love either filmmaker, or both, the documentary is sweet indulgence, comprehensive and surprising.

In 1962, a fiery Frenchman infiltrated the offices of Universal Studios, to meet his idol Alfred Hitchcock. Francois Truffaut was a film-writer-turned-director, with his classics “The 400 Blows,” “Shoot the Piano Player” and “Jules et Jim” already in the cinema firmament. Hitchcock reluctantly agreed to the sit down, and was intrigued once Truffaut wanted to delve deeply into his career and films.

Alfred Hitchcock, at time of the interview, was just coming off the huge success of “Psycho” (1960), arguably his most famous film. But he had been a presence and innovator of the movies since the 1920s, and lived to affect the attitude of the 1960s, as both “Psycho” and “The Birds” (1963) were immensely popular and influential films. Truffaut caught the master at the peak of his powers, and was able to catalog the psyche of Hitchcock’s cinematic mind.

Continue reading for Patrick McDonald’s full review of “Hitchcock/Truffaut

Filmmakers: Alfred Hitchcock and Francois Truffaut in ‘Hitchcock/Truffaut’
Photo credit: Cohen Media Group

Continue reading for Patrick McDonald’s full review of “Hitchcock/Truffaut