Each picks out specific moments from Hitchcock’s catalog that inspired him as a young cineaste (it’s worth noting that all of the interviewees are men, reflecting the slow-moving and embedded sexism of the profession) in between, Jones cuts back to Hitchcock and Truffaut’s conversation, including the voice of the interpreter, a woman named Helen Scott, who sat with them throughout. There are Hollywood titans like David Fincher, Martin Scorsese, Wes Anderson, and Richard Linklater, but Hitchcock/Truffaut tries to honor the international feeling of that original meeting of minds by also including directors from around the world, including Olivier Assayas, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, and Arnaud Desplechin. It helps that Jones enlisted a slate of top-notch filmmakers to help explain Hitchcock’s impact on their work. But Hitchcock/Truffaut does well to avoid technical jargon, instead boiling the English director’s craft down to terms simple enough to be accessible, but nuanced enough to invite a deeper appreciation and consideration of film. The result might be most appealing to movie buffs.

Jones-who previously helmed documentaries about the director Elia Kazan and the producer Val Lewton-intersperses Hitchcock and Truffaut’s dialogue throughout the film, pairing their words with clips from Hitchcock’s works.

Hitchcock/Truffaut, which premiered at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, takes full advantage of its medium, breaking down some of Hitchcock’s most iconic filmmaking techniques as Truffaut tried to do more than 50 years ago. Why Your Leisure Time Is in Danger Krzysztof Pelc

Alfred hitchcock and francois truffaut