‘Hitchcock / Truffaut‘ is a movie about a book about movies. And much more. It’s a movie about the book that many of the movie fans (I among them) think of as the best book ever written about movies. A book that Hitchcock’s admirers (I among them, again) consult each time they see or see again one of the movies of the master of suspense. A book of reference and a book for the soul.
The first minutes of Kent Jones‘ documentary describe in details the genesis of the dialogue that took place in 1962 between the famous Hollywood director and the young Frenchman at the beginning of his career. Truffaut and his colleagues from La Nouvelle Vague, many of them theorists at early-stages of their practical careers of film directors, but whose destinies were to shake the foundations of French and world cinema, had great admiration for American gangsters and “film noir” movies, for actors such as Humphrey Bogart and especially for Alfred Hitchcock whom they had raised on the pedestal dedicated to supreme deities. Besides the post-war fascination for everything American (for example, the embracing of jazz that he found its second home in Paris), the young French iconoclasts were also fascinated by the personality of a film-maker who corresponded to their model of a film director as author of the movie. A Hitchcock movie was identifiable among many others, the director’s personality dominates the creation. When François Truffaut wrote to Hitchcock daring to invite himself at his home for an interview, the answer came immediately, positive, and unexpectedly gentle. There followed eight days of dialogs (with the help of an interpreter) recorded on audio tapes and photographed (photos staged by Hitchcock himself). A few years later, the book appeared. Its revised edition is one of the treasures of my library.
Kent Jones‘s documentary is the story of the interview that gave birth to the book, but also a review of Alfred Hitchcock‘s career, illustrated with extracts from dialogues and key sequences discussed by the two directors. In addition, comments from contemporary film directors such as Martin Scorsese, Olivier Assayas , Wes Anderson, Peter Bogdanovich, discussing aspects of the book and dialogues, completing the information about movies, and speaking about Hitchcock‘s influence on their own careers. The common denominator of all is the supreme admiration for the English master relocated to America. A Hitchcockadmirers’ club, whose founding member was François Truffaut.
Those who do not consider Alfred Hitchcock as one of the world’s greatest filmmakers risk being irritated by the cult of personality for the film-maker promoted here. For those who have read gain and again the book, and have seen and seen again the master’s movies, ‘Hitchcock / Truffaut‘ does not bring too much news. Kent Jones is a good professional documentary films maker, but he does not bring any new perspective or any unprecedented revelation that will make us see Hitchcock in a new light. His film continues the work of documenting and appreciating the career of a director who has become even more influential in posterity than in his lifetime. The Hitchcock monument began to be built while he was still alive, and this documentary allows us to see the phases of the digging of its foundations.