There are a million other ways to flatter the viewer. Hitchcock flatters his by giving them the satisfaction of solving a puzzle. They can match wits with him and feel clever when they figure something out. Most independent films play the same flattery game in other ways. Woody Allen, David Lynch, Quentin Tarantino, John Dahl, and Curtis Hanson allow viewers to feel smart because they get the in-jokes, the hip allusions, the ironic winks and nods.
Flattery is a terrible basis for a work of art.
It takes no knowledge of life, no sensitivity to emotions, to understand them. They require no understanding of people, no cultural awareness or historical knowledge. Make a film that you couldn't have understood when you were in high school or college. Make a film a professor can't reduce to metaphors and symbols. The problem is the lessons in these movies are too cheap.