January 15, 2016 -- A lot of films are based on written stories, novels, short stories, news articles, but here is a documentary about a book written 50 years ago by one filmmaker about another filmmaker he admired. The book, written by film writer/director François Truffaut, is a tribute to the great director, Alfred Hitchcock. The book, “Hitchcock/Truffaut,” is also known by its earlier title, “Cinema According to Hitchcock.”

Hitchcock was not widely regarded as a great filmmaker before Truffaut wrote this book in 1966, but his legend as a great filmmaker has grown ever since then. I know some young film critics who almost worship Hitchcock. As filmmakers, their styles are very different, but they became fast friends, especially after the interviews.

Hitchcock, born in 1899, was directing movies before Truffaut was even born. Truffaut actually started out as a film critic before he got into writing and directing his first film in 1955. He was a great admirer of Hitchcock, and wrote to him. The two started a regular correspondence after that, and Hitchcock eventually agreed to a week long series of interviews that Truffaut turned into a book.

Truffaut, Hitchcock and a translator sat around a table as they discussed all of Hitchcock's films, how they were made and why Hitchcock chose particular shots and edits. The audio from these sessions was recorded. The book is illustrated with stills showing many particular shots from many of his films. This documentary uses the audio recording of these interviews, accompanied by scenes from Hitchcock's films to illustrate some of Hitchcock's ideas about framing, tracking, camera angles, editing, and so on.

According to this documentary, Hitchcock was a true auteur (Truffaut devised the auteur theory of filmmaking) in that he seemed to control every aspect of every film he made. With his powerful visual imagination, he visualized how every scene would look before it was shot. Because of this, it appears that Hitchcock did not allow much, if any, leeway to his actors, or anyone else.

Hitchcock may not have been able to make films in a more collaborative way, like the great, freewheeling director Robert Altman, for instance, who welcomed happy accidents and encouraged his actors to improvise. Judging by the interviews with Truffaut, it sounds as if Hitchcock felt this approach might throw the film go off track, because he already saw the whole film in his mind. Hitchcock also expected his actors to do what he told them to do, to follow the script and direction. He famously said, “Actors should be treated like cattle.”

The documentary spends quite a bit of time on one particular Hitchcock film, “Vertigo,” since it seems to be an exceptional example of Hitchcock exposing his sexual fetishes on screen. In the film a man becomes obsessed with a woman who looks like his dead lover, and he remakes her in that image. Speaking with Truffaut about the film, Hitchcock said, “ ... You have a man creating a sex image that he can't go to bed with her until he's got her back to the thing he wants to go to bed with.”

When you watch certain Hitchcock films, you are exposed, to some degree, to Hitchcock's sexual fantasies, his desire to control, to manipulate women, to remake them in a certain kind of image (usually cool and blond). I find this troubling sometimes. As a member of the audience, I find myself in Hitchcock's own mind, some parts of which are creepy. This documentary argues that although some directors try to avoid this business of exposing their inner desires, Hitchcock was the first to embrace this exposure.

The documentary also notes that since Hitchcock got started in the era of silent films, his films look different than those of directors who started during the sound era (1929 and after). Hitchcock saw silent films as more pure cinema, and he did not abandon the visual storytelling techniques of silent films. One director said you can turn the sound off when watching a Hitchcock movie and still be able to follow most of the story.

This documentary film argues that Truffaut's book is an essential book for those who study filmmaking, and it convinced me that this is a book I should definitely read. This film rates a B.

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Copyright © 2016 Robert Roten. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.

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