Overrated and overhyped

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Two things come to mind while watching "The Girl".First is that it aired around the same time as the release of "Hitchcock", focusing on the production of "Psycho". Both movies looked at Alfred Hitchcock's directing style and his lecherous attitude towards his leading ladies. But both movies also drew attention to his wife Alma (Helen Mirren in "Hitchcock", Imelda Staunton here), whose role in bringing his movies to life went unrecognized for most of history.Second is the current spate of reports about sexual molestation in Hollywood. Tippi Hedren has noted for a long time that Hitch came on to her (he basically tried to rape her at one point). It just goes to show that the patriarchy is a long-standing institution, and how those in the upper echelons of power - whether in Hollywood or in Washington - have been able to get away with all sorts of things.So what's to get learned from this? Maybe that no one is one-dimensional. Hitch was one of the greatest directors ever, the master of suspense and camera angle, but a total sicko. You can bet money that every actress has gotten molested, or at least harassed. Had the Me Too movement existed in the early '60s, I have no doubt that every one of Hitch's leading ladies would've had a story about some gross thing that he did on the sets of his famous movies.Anyway, good movie. Also starring Toby Jones, Sienna Miller and Penelope Wilton.

exploitation of controversies. inspired performance. and a large cage. the fundamental error of film is its status of ice floe. not shore, not links, only a bizarre portrait of a great director. a gossip subject who remains only a confuse episode for two biographies and who has not the right script/director for say a real good story.important virtue - Sienna Miller is one of Hitchcock blonds and her splendid acting makes the movie be more than a full of good intentions work. but the verdict is the same - something missing. and it is not the result of TV movie status or a error of HBO. only not the best manner to put a story in its context. so, only a draft. or an ice floe.

Wow! Is that really what happened? In many biographies about Alfred Hitchcock, the most Tippi Hedren ever said about the incident when Alfred Hitchcock supposedly propositioned her was, "Demands were made of me that I could not acquiesce to." But in "The Girl", Toby Jones' Hitchcock puts it right out there when he says to Sienna Miller's Tippi Hedren, "From now on, I want you to make yourself sexually available to me at all times. Whatever I want you to do, whenever I want you to do it." Possibly it happened that way, Tippi Hedren seems to have been consulted by the filmmakers. My feeling is that where there was that much smoke there had to be fire, but just how fair is "The Girl"?The movie is nothing less than interesting. Toby Jones is amazing, and Sienna Miller more than holds her own, but opinion over the film is divided. On one side are those outraged that Hitchcock's reputation has been besmirched without a chance to defend himself, while on the other are those outraged at what Hitchcock appears to have done to Tippi Hedren."The Girl" relates how Alfred Hitchcock groomed the inexperienced Hedren to star in "The Birds" and "Marnie". During the process, Hitchcock changed from mentor to monster becoming totally obsessed with her. Eventually he made an overt sexual advance. She refused and that was the end of the relationship.One scene in "The Girl" does undermine it. It's the somewhat salacious screen test where Hitchcock asks Hedren to give Martin Balsam a long lingering kiss. Unfortunately for the makers of "The Girl", the actual test clip is fairly well known from documentaries and YouTube, and is a lot less threatening than the recreation. In reality, Balsam and Hedren actually seem quite comfortable with each other. It was silly to overdo a scene that is so accessible; it leaves you wondering how much over-egging went on with the rest of the custard.The difference between Hedren and Hitchcock's other leading ladies was that they were better able to handle him. Most were established stars, surrounded by husbands, boyfriends and agents, but Hedren didn't have all that; she was just starting out and was far more vulnerable.According to some sources, it was about this time that Hitchcock's judgement also seemed to be slipping. The suppressed voyeuristic tendencies and fantasies that helped inform his great films were taking on a harder edge. He now wanted to be explicit in what he showed.Up until then, the Motion Picture Production Code kept him in check. Would films like "Rear Window", "Vertigo" or even "Psycho" be the enduring classics they are today if Hitchcock had been allowed to go all the way? The censor made him innovative and subtle. However, by the late 60's the Code was gone. No one ever ranks 1972's "Frenzy" among his greatest movies; plenty of rape and nudity on display there. Fortunately he never made "Kaleidoscope"; with what he had planned, it could have been a real legend killer.As far as "The Girl" is concerned, maybe it's best to just enjoy the show. Toby Jones' Hitchcock is even better than his Truman Capote, genius really, the voice is perfect, and Sienna Miller is so beautiful that you can believe that a fat, old auteur could harbour a fantasy or two about her. But maybe the last words on the subject could be the classic line Hitchcock once directed at an actor who was getting a bit too worked up about things, "Don't worry, it's only a movie".

Alfred Hitchcock is a brilliant artist well deserving of the recognition he received for his movies. Having read a dozen books on his life and work, I know he got over-excited with blonds, but I have never read that he was a half-mad rapist wannabe. This is how this libelous film depicts that master of suspense. For some reason the creator of this movie decided to present the -average- Tippi Hedren as a heroine, and the -amazing- Hitch as a villainous director who tries to use the "poor girl" as a sex slave. I find that a film like this insults the memory of a person who is not present to defend his honor and reputation. Unless the creators of this movie can present testimonies that incriminate the deceased beyond any doubt, I can not see how they can make such a film with no consequences. The reason that I rated this with a 3 instead of a 1, is because the actors are very good (much better that the recent "Hitchcock" with Anthony Hopkins), and the direction is also quite good !