After losing his leading lady, Grace Kelly, to the arms of Monaco's Prince Rainier, Alfred Hitchcock (Toby Jones) sets out to find a new ideal blonde for his latest film. He and his wife Alma (Imelda Staunton) settle on Tippi Hedren (Sienna Miller), a then little known TV model. Tippi is overwhelmed by the attention and perks that being a Hitchcock star brings, especially when Hitch, himself, starts paying her a bit too much attention.
When she spurns his sexual advances, he subjects her to brutal filming where she is injured over and over by live and quite dangerous birds over the course of several days while filming The Birds. But Tippi is determined not to let Hitch get the best of her and sees it through to the end like a trooper, even though filming has to be postponed at one point so she could recover from her injuries.
Having become an overnight sensation in The Birds, Tippi is surprised when Hitch selects her to play in his next film, Marnie. Once more, Hitch ramps up his advances, harrassing Tippi in person and by phone continuously. He once again subjects her to uncomfortable filiming situations, in an attempt to debase her for her rejection of him. As soon as Marnie wraps up, Tippi breaks her contract, no longer wanting to be the object of Hitch's obsession and torment. He reminds her all too well that he made her what she is, but still she leaves him, unable to bear the situation.
Toby Jones makes for quite an impressive Alfred Hitchcock. He nailed the voice perfectly and he resembles Hitch a great deal. Sienna Miller is flawless in her performance as Tippi Hedren, tortured by the price of her fame, and Imelda Staunton is also great as Alma. I also really enjoyed hearing the interview with Tippi Hedren, and while she never actually disparaged Hitchcock, she seemed pleased with the film overall, which gives a lot of credence to its truth. Do be aware that the interview with Ms. Hedren is in surround sound. When I first watched it, my surround sound wasn't properly set up and, as a result, I couldn't hear Ms. Hedren's audio on the interview; I only heard clips from the movie that play in the background during the interview. If you find you have this problem, check your surround sound setup and configuration.
Overall, if you have an interest in Alfred Hitchcock and his films, you should see The Girl. His brutal directing methods in this film are more in line with what I have heard over the years and its an interesting film, although it certainly doesn't have the levity that Hitchcock does, so be aware.
