Hitchcock/Truffaut is a gentle but revealing documentary, 50 years on from the exhaustive interviews conducted by François Truffaut.

Concentrating on re-evaluating Hitchcock’s work and the context surrounding both directors just as much as the interviews themselves makes it really quite comprehensive. Stellar contributors, like directors Scorsese and Assayas, aren’t afraid to both praise and criticise Hitchcock, reminding us that he was not always considered the huge success of today.

A particularly meaty issue raised is Hitchcock’s difficulty working with actors (‘cattle’) when he was so intent on exactly how things would appear on screen – and less so on character development.

Hitchcock/Truffaut is fodder for anyone interested in either director, as well as a nice retrospective of the interviews.  You probably gain just as much insight, however, from Truffaut’s original book.

RATING: 3/5

INFORMATION

DIRECTOR: Kent Jones

WRITERS: Kent Jones, Serge Toubiana

SYNOPSIS: Studying both Truffaut’s original exhaustive interviews with Alfred Hitchcock in 1962, as well as their correspondence and Hitchcock’s body of work in detail, many of today’s most influential directors give their thoughts, praise and criticism on the ‘Master of Suspense’.