The Girl

A soufflé that refuses to rise...'Sing a song of sixpence....etc.'
Probably the road to making this tedious film was paved with good intentions, but despite some isolated tidbits here and there it pretty much fizzled. Apparently based on a book `Spellbound by Beauty: Alfred Hitchcock and his Leading Ladies' by Donald Spoto as adapted for the screen by Gwyneth Hughes, the premise seems to be that Alfred Hitchcock was as much a strange personality as his movies were strangely unique. But fixating a film on the making of a single movie really doesn't do anybody justice and leaves the audience wonder `whaa.......?'

1963 and Grace Kelly has had the audacity to leave Hollywood to marry a Prince, leaving Alfred Hitchcock (Toby Jones) without his favored leading lady for this newest film. He finds an attractive blond (his predisposition for blonds becomes apparent) in the form of Tippi Hedren (Sienna Miller) to star in his horror film `The Birds'. Hitchcock's mousy wife Alma (Imelda Staunton) and his faithful secretary Peggy Robertson (Penelope...

A Rather Distasteful HBO Biopic That Explores The Dark Side Of Hitchcock, But Doesn't Dig Deep Enough Into The Characters
As a lover of movies, it's hard to deny the impact that Alfred Hitchcock had on the history of film. I was really excited to check out the HBO presentation of "The Girl" despite its somewhat incendiary subject matter. Telling of Hitchcock's obsession with Tippi Hedron, the film promised an unvarnished peek behind the genius. Hedron was picked from relative obscurity to play the leads in both "The Birds" and "Marnie" because, as we all know, Hitch had a thing for chilly blondes! I've certainly heard my fair share of stories about both Hitchcock and this relationship, in particular, through the years--so I had a good idea of what to expect from "The Girl" as it is presented from Hedron's vantage point. I'm sure that the great director had his share of idiosyncrasies and was no saint, but the grimly lascivious centerpiece of this story paints a pretty harrowing portrait of an icon. I don't even particularly mind that this is a negative portrayal of Hitchcock, I'm open to that...

Slanderous, Untrue, Awkward...
I can think of many adjectives to describe this film, but none of them are particularly flattering. There is quite a bit of evidence to dispute the claims made by this film, as well as Spoto's book of tabloid journalism. It was so easy for them. They did not have to rely on any real, true to life facts or details. They decided to toss all reality out the window. One would think that with this kind of freedom they could come up with a dramatically interesting, and well made film. To make matters worse, there are a number of people who will blindly believe this film's accusations (on a man who is no longer alive to defend himself). There is a vast amount of evidence to suggest that this film (and the book it is based upon) is full of slanderous and untrue accusations. Even if you put these facts aside, this is simply a bad movie.

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