The Girl (TV 2012)

The turbulent relationship between filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock and actress Tippi Hedren.

Director:

Julian Jarrold

Writers:

Gwyneth Hughes, Donald Spoto (book)

Stars:

Sienna Miller, Toby Jones, Imelda Staunton

Nominated for 3 Golden Globes. Another 2 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Sienna Miller	...	Tippi Hedren
Toby Jones	...	Alfred Hitchcock
Imelda Staunton	...	Alma Reville Hitchcock
Conrad Kemp	...	Evan Hunter
Penelope Wilton	...	Peggy Robertson
Angelina Ingpen	...	Melanie
Candice D'Arcy	...	Josephine Milton
Carl Beukes	...	Jim Brown
Kate Tilley	...	Rita Riggs
Aubrey Shelton	...	Maitre D
Leon Clingman	...	Ray Berwick
Patrick Lyster	...	Bob Boyle

Storyline

When Grace Kelly retires from films to marry Prince Rainier Alfred Hitchcock looks for a similar blonde and finds her in TV model,the little known Tippi Hedren,who will star in his film adaptation of horror story 'The Birds'. Hitchcock is obsessed with Tippi sexually and,when she rebuffs his advances,sadistically puts her through five days of filming where she is attacked and injured by real birds. Hitchcock's wife Alma and his assistant Peggy are appalled but can do nothing. Tippi is resolved that she will not give in to Hitchcock despite the situation giving her nightmares. Hitchcock and Tippi make a second film,'Marnie'. Having admitted that Alma is the only woman he has ever had sex with and that he now finds her cold Hitchcock continues to pursue Tippi, bombarding her with phone calls declaring his love for her yet reminding her that he alone made her famous and she owes him. At this stage Tippi demands that her contract be terminated and an end title states that they never ...

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Plot Keywords:

bird | actress | director | model | blonde | 

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Taglines:

He made her his star. And his darkest obsession.

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

TV-14

Details

Country:

UK South Africa USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

20 October 2012 (USA)

Also Known As:

Dziewczyna Hitchcocka

Company Credits

Production Co:

Wall to Wall Media, Warner Bros. Entertainment, Moonlighting Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The widow of James H. Brown, Hitchcock's assistant on both "The Birds" and "Marnie", has insisted that the depiction of her husband in this film is inaccurate and that the information her husband gave to the scriptwriter, Gwyneth Hughes, in an interview before he died in 2011, was either ignored or distorted. His remarks to Hughes on the subject of Alfred Hitchcock had been, in reality, entirely admiring and complimentary. Mrs. Brown has attacked "The Girl" savagely as an insult to a great artist.

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Goofs

In this film, Alfred Hitchcock is seen proposing a toast to "Alfie and Tippi". In reality, Hitchcock never called himself "Alfie", and never liked to be called either "Alfie" or "Alfred"; he was always called "Hitch", at his own insistence.

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Quotes

Alfred Hitchcock: There was a young man from Nantucket / Who had such a large cock he could suck it. / He looked in the glass / And saw his own arse / And broke his neck trying to fuck it.

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Connections

References The Birds (1963)

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Soundtracks

"Tristan And Isolde: Act I Prelude"
Written by Richard Wagner
Performed by Daniel Barenboim (as Daniel Baranboim)

User Reviews

Lewd and artistically inept, it's distressing for more than one obvious reason

He may have been dead for thirty two years, but 2012 has been a pretty big year for Sir Alfred Hitchcock. Following a three month cinema programme at the British Film Institute, plus Vertigo knocking Citizen Kane off the top spot in Sight & Sound's Best Films of all Time critic's poll, we now get two semi-biopics on the Master of Suspense. With Hollywood's Sir Anthony Hopkins fronted Hitchcock set for European release in early 2013, the TV movie The Girl also sees the BBC and HBO cashing in at the disturbed genius' expense. Does it do the 'best director of all time' justice? Does it f*ck.

Based on Donald Spoto's acclaimed biography 'Spellbound by Beauty', it follows Hitchcock's tumultuous relationship with blonde starlet Tippi Hedbern. After the success of his acclaimed masterpiece Psycho, the filmmaker (played here by Toby Jones) leaves Janet Leigh at the Bates Motel and searches for a new muse. A penchant for beautiful blondes, he is enchanted by Tippi (Sienna Miller), an American model desperate for her big break and a better life for her daughter, Melanie (aka, Melanie Griffiths – fun fact). Setting up a curious bond, together the pair went on to direct and star in two of Hitchcock's latter day masterpieces The Birds and Marnie. But beneath the great movies lie dark, ultimately well-documented stories of anguish and manipulation, leading the obsessive Hitchcock to blacklist Tippi from the industry, with only a Golden Globe nomination to her name.

What's more annoying than it's lewd, biased depiction of Hitchcock is how director Julian Jarrold can take such a fascinating story and make a film so mind-numbingly dull; complete with hackneyed dream sequences and inexplicably 'TV film' stinted ambition. The smashing telephone box in The Birds – one of the most striking scenes of cinema history – is presented so tediously that it starts to denigrate Hitchcock's own movie.

After this, there's more torture, followed by Sienna Miller in the shower. Then a bit more torture, and a bit more shower. Whilst it may be uncomfortable, in trying to reveal the despicable on-set acts that Hitchcock did – or perhaps didn't - commit, the repetition and lack of genuine narrative ideas only distances us from Tippi's horrid abuse.

Even if the film is ghastly, the performances aren't bad. Imelda Staunton is underused as Hitch's strong-willed wife, Alma Hitchcock. Miller has that ravenous star quality about her which, like Hepdern, she has yet to fully materialise on. The best thing about the film entirely is Toby Jones' magnificent Hitch. Despite some face crippling prosthetic, his methodical character study has really paid off, not only sounding like the once inimitable man, but awkwardly moving, staring and laughing just like him. manages to embody and miraculously sound like the once inimitable great director. Just like his turn as Truman Capote in 2005′s Infamous, the performance far outlives the film it's stuck in.

In a twist of fate, The Girl plays out much like a disappointing Hitchcock movie – like 1949′s Under Capricorn - initially promising, but the cloak of mystery is lifted and what lies beneath is something embittered and unremarkable.

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