Writing something original about Alfred Hitchcock, one of the most popular and influential filmmakers of all time, is hard work. Edward White faces the vertigo of approaching the iconic figure as if he were trying to psychoanalyze it in a dual way: his life and his work. There is one important feature: in this case, the two orbitals cannot be separated from each other. His films are loaded with more or less hidden references to his biography, and his biography is explained by his films. White handles high-voltage fields with both extraordinary skill, extraordinary reflective capacity, and penetrating clarity when it comes to unraveling the Hitchcockian enigma from the keys that emerge from twelve clues, twelve lives, and twelve paths to follow. is indisputable for his cinematographic prowess as much as it is debatable in his personal life.
The person who has his own “Hitchcock brand”, just like Oscar Wilde in the theater, and Andy Warhol in art, “is a separate case in the Hollywood canon: a director whose mythology outshines the ingenuity of the myriad classic films he has made.” He said it offered “an inexpensive way to examine And his work covers the “silent, sound, black and white and 3D eras; expressionism, film noir and social realism; thrillers, sitcoms and horror; Weimer German cinema, Hollywood’s golden age, the rise of television and the phenomenon of the 1960s and 1970s that gave us Kubrick, Spielberg and Scorsese. almost nothing. Most.
But he was also “the most emblematic artist of the 20th century, (…) the one who had the greatest impact, whose life and work in a variety of mediums and in many genres graphically illuminate key themes of Western culture.” His works “are appealing to the public today.” ” Anxiety, fear, paranoia, guilt and shame are the “emotional engines of his films.” And more: “Surveillance, conspiracy, distrust of authority, and sexual violence were issues that constantly worried him.” It is enough to take a look at today’s news to realize that your cinema is not from yesterday. It will even be tomorrow.
The book presents twelve lives, twelve portraits in different frames, all thus presenting a basic vision of a man from the public being of his own creation, and the mythological creature he “turned into”: “the irrepressible joker, the lonely boy.” and terrified, innovative problem solver, world citizen who never really left London, and the overdone artist who sees violence and disorder as a creative life force.
A necessary warning. And fair: “His talent is undeniable, but without the intervention of creative collaborators, journalists, broadcasters, and us his audience, what we know as Hitchcock wouldn’t exist.” Let us not forget, he was a ‘walker and myth-maker who practiced self-promotion as an end in himself; he was not just a filmmaker but an organizer, artist and entertainer with his own mythology at the center of it all. As this mythology grew, Hitchcock used it more and more to make fun of us with jokes, irony, and self-parody. Then came the cultural revolutions of the 1960s, and the boy genius “becomes a shrewd old cynic on the path to postmodernism.”
Who is the real Hitchcock? “His reading as the lecherous giant clashes with his image of the devoted husband Hitchcock. The brooding artist Hitchcock is counterbalanced by vaudeville Hitchcock. The troublesome and flawed digestion that some points out contrasts with the deeply rooted romantic that others describe as they delve into Hitchcock’s filmography. He doesn’t just dive into the tormented and stormy psychology of the creator of Los pájaros, he researches every single element in detail and meticulously without neglecting a single element in the creation process, because those who know him closely say that there is no one who enjoys making movies as much as he does.
The book, which begins with Alfred, the boy fascinated by Peter Pan’s author JM Barrie’s play Mary Rose, is the story of a girl who wanted to grow up but couldn’t. Like Hitchcock: the eternal child. His encounters with fearsome authority figures left their mark on him throughout his life. His fear of the priests and his severe punishment left an “indelible mark”. He himself admitted that they were “the root of his work.”
A visual poet of anxiety and randomness, when they came to define him, the filmmaker collected stories from his childhood that could be considered traumas that were later transferred into his films, but when it comes to someone like him, everyone knows where the truth begins. And that’s where the fantasy begins. “He was telling us that he associates childhood with fear, insecurity, confusion, and little moments that change everything.” Note: “My mind works more like a baby’s, thinking in images.”
Hitchcock, who admitted to being a fan of Poe, “consistently treated the murder as a perverted expression of artistic creativity.” “The pervasive power of violence in popular culture” became clear to him. White delves into Hitchcock’s complex collaborations with screenwriters, his transition from commercial filmmaker to cult creator, his wife Alma’s role in creating the legend, every detail of a groundbreaking film like Psycho, and the famous shower murder scene. Relationships with women (on and off screen) seek answers to these questions: who are they and what do they want? And actress Tipi Hedren does not shy away from controversial accusations of sexual misconduct, especially when she claims that she sexually abused her when the filmmaker was already dead. His author sums it up: “Socially awkward, selfish, and sexually frustrated, Hitchcock attacked and attacked young women because he couldn’t control his impulses, but also because men in his position were allowed in his environment. It’s the “way” to behave that way. shows a perfect balance between the contours of the artist’s personality and the consequences of this in his work, which in some cases is met with hostility (Marnie, Psycho) and glorified with the passage of time. Eating was an art to him: the palate before the crunch of diet. He was rarely as happy as when dressing his female stars. “As sensual as undressing them.” how he came to be), his imaginary identification with Cary Grant, his relationship with religion… So many layers however, according to Hitchcock, they could add twelve more lives to the book. «20. As we move away from the 19th century, it becomes more important in its History».