Too unconvincing to be true

Rating: 6/10 (3 August 2006)

I never was a great Hitchcock fan and this movie did nothing to change my mind. It's indisputable that he makes very good movies from the formal-technical point of view and that he knows how to create a suspense and (or) horror atmosphere with great mastery and skillfulness but the stories he tells us are too fanciful to be real (despite the fact that they are presented as real)and when he dives into the psychological pathology of his characters he becomes much unconvincing. For instance in this movie the psychiatrist's explanation which takes place in the final scene doesn't seem to me to have great scientific rigor, looking more like pure fantasy. Nevertheless it's true indeed that this movie (like others he has made) keeps us stuck to our seats and wrapped up in the story unfolding from the first to the last scene. Only later and after the movie ends do we emerge from that spell to realize that all that has very little juice in terms of psychological reality. This movie has however also a remarkable feature in the performance of the great actor who is Anthony Perkins who makes and excellent character very well adapted to the role that the movie's director gave him and with great and talented sobriety.