The only movie Alfred Hitchcock admitted he “shouldn’t have made”
If there was one director who could be heralded as one of the most important filmmakers in the history of cinema, then Alfred Hitchcock must surely gain such acclaim.
Nicknamed the ‘Master of Suspense’, Hitchcock directed over 50 feature films during his prolific career, which began in 1919 and continued to push the boundaries of the cinematic landscape until his death in 1980. This career dwarfs modern movie-making and can shame almost every director in the world.
Given his impact on film, the British director is one of the most heavily studied filmmakers in the history of the art. He was, however, a keen cinephile and student of the subject himself. “I depend on style more than plot,” he once explained. “It is how you do it, and not your content, that makes you an artist. A story is simply a motif, just as a painter might paint a bowl of fruit just to give him something to be painting.”
He added, “I have a strongly visual mind. I visualise a picture right down to the final cuts. I write all this out in the greatest detail in the script, and then I don’t look at the script while I’m shooting. I know it off by heart, just as an orchestra conductor needs not look at the score. When you finish the script, the film is perfect. But in shooting it you lose perhaps 40 per cent of your original conception.”
This ability to stand back from the industry and give a solid and trustworthy opinion wasn’t just reserved for the work of others. Like any good artist, Hitchcock was able to take a breath, move away from the view in front of him, and provide a sincere and honest critique of his work. Some movies he loved, others he truly disliked.
One such instance of the latter was I Confess. In truth, the movie is considered a pioneering moment for film. The cool, calm and collected approach to storytelling would become a pivotal inspiration for French New Wave directors such as Jean-Luc Godard. Bound by the secrecy of his oath to God, a priest, played by Montgomery Clift, is unable to escape suspicions around a murder case despite the real murderer confessing his crimes to him during the holy ritual.
Though many might consider the picture an overlooked gem, Hitchcock noted one huge flaw in the movie. The picture, in his eyes, lacked a certain amount of widespread comprehension: “That’s the trouble with I Confess. We Catholics know that a priest cannot disclose the secret of the confessional, but the Protestants, the atheists, and the agnostics all say, ‘Ridiculous! No man would remain silent and sacrifice his life for such a thing'”.
The perceived disconnect meant that I Confess wasn’t quite the initial hit Hitchcock had hoped. Though it has latterly been revered as one of his better pictures, the director was simple in his final assessment when asked about whether the movie’s concept failed to work: “That’s right; we shouldn’t have made the picture.”
Whether a director should or shouldn’t make a movie based on how it is received is perhaps a conversation for another. But I Confess does make a good argument for the maturation of media working alongside societal understanding of different cultures. As we learn more about people, art becomes even more vivid, and that is a lesson worth reminding ourselves of.
