AS anyone in the film industry could tell you, it is when films are made about someone's personal story on any level that show they are truly revered by peers and fans alike. That, or there's some morbid curiosity the public has with them.

For Englishman Alfred Hitchcock it is a mix of both, as the man known for his difficult nature and unrelenting persistence remains the master of suspense to this very day.

What many didn't know for a long time was the extent of influence from the great director's wife on his features.

Alfred Hitchcock (Anthony Hopkins) and Alma Reville (Helen Mirren) were a duo connected by a great love of intelligence, direction and a good story. When he looked for a project she would bring up suggestions, and when he went against the grain of everyone banking on the success of his work she was right by his side.

Psycho was the risk of Hitchcock's career. His desire to adapt a book so violent horrified Paramount Pictures, but his standing in the industry made for worthy persuasion.

What became most important to him during the process is rightfully highlighted as the most intriguing element and would arguably become cinema's greatest scene.

Finding Janet Leigh (Scarlett Johansson) was a triumph, but to Alma it was something of a case she couldn't win; another Hitchcock blonde she saw her husband lust after.

What audiences wouldn't know is that Alma had her own episode of potential adultery with friend and former colleague Whitfield Cook (Danny Huston).

It is these circumstances that threw Hitchcock into a state beyond any previous form of frustration professionally and personally.

John J McLaughlin's screenplay, based on Stephen Rebello's book Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho, plays out like a Hitchcock film by pushing the boundaries.

Gervasi goes with an unconventional use of breaking the fourth wall at the film's bookends to not question the gravitas of the legend and the man, but to acknowledge he was, in fact, achingly real.

Scenes showing Hitchcock observing and interacting with criminal Ed Gein, on whom Psycho was based, suggests the director himself wasn't so sure of his own reality.

His imagination would take him to a troubled place as he immersed himself into the project; a self-financed one at that. It was more than just his reputation that could fall.

Director Sacha Gervasi's first feature film comes four years after brilliant 2008 music documentary Anvil: The Story of Anvil.

He films Hopkins and Mirren with ease although the two are strained in their relationship as secrets are kept from one another.

With a cast also including Jessica Biel and Toni Collette, there is another reflection of Hitchcock's desire for the best and nothing less.

But the focus on the film shoot remains largely in the shadow of the personal story at hand, which for fans of Hitchcock's work will come as a slight disappointment.

Hitchcock was a man not only driven by work, but also by love and rediscovering what that meant during Psycho.

The morbid fascination Hollywood still has with this man continues with good reason.

Rating: 3/5

Now screening at Reading Cinemas