Back in the late 1980s, I remember Film Threat magazine publishing a cartoon image of Alfred Hitchcock, bloated, sweaty, naked and small dicked, jerking off over his collection of platinum blonde leading ladies of the 1950s and 60s. It was shocking, not because of the content, but because this was something that had remained undiscussed for so long – Hitchcock's dubious, unsavoury obsession with the effectively interchangeable leading ladies of his major films.. the most obvious of which was Tippi Hedren, who starred in two of his most important films before being left out to dry by a Hollywood system – and in this we include critics – who cheerfully bought into the idea that she was a bad actress, difficult to work with and generally unsuitable for movie stardom. It's an attitude that has persisted for decades, despite the stories of Hitchcock's obsessive and perverted behaviour, because Hitchcock made some great films, and apparently, it's impossible for writers or fellow filmmakers to separate the talented artist from the awful individual (what we might call the Roman Polanski syndrome). Thus we get online critics who were not even born when The Birds was made dismissing the memories of people who actually worked on the film.

It's presumably for this reason that The Girl opens with a statement that the story is based on interviews with the cast and crew involved, though I suspect that will have little impact on old Alfie's apologists. And of course, it doesn't mean that the film isn't going to engage in speculation and conjecture – clearly, the scenes between Hitchcock and wife Alma are not based on anything other than writer Gwyneth Hughes' own imagination.

The film follows the story of the making of The Birds and – though not mentioned anywhere on the sleeve – Marnie, with Hitchcock selecting model Hedren, who had never acted before, as his leading lady in a deliberate attempt to create his perfect muse – a cool, icy blonde who he could play out his sexual fantasies with. But he rapidly becomes obsessed with her, and when his clumsy attempts at courtship and his sexual assaults fail to win her over, he becomes increasingly bitter and cruel.

The film recreates some pivotal moments from the films with a degree of success – the notorious attic attack scene from The Birds, where Hedren was forced to endure live birds hurled in her face for five days doesn't have the same visceral impact – presumably because director Julian Jarrold wasn't willing to subject his lead actress to the same levels of abuse – but clever cutting and a good performance from Sienna Miller (her best bit of the film) eventually manage to convey the horror, humiliation and sheer nastiness of the shoot. The film also makes sly references to other Hitchcock moments – Hedren recovering in a the shower nods towards Psycho, for instance – and birds are omnipresent even off set.

Toby Jones is remarkably sleazy as Hitchcock – you imagine that no director as creepy as this could find work today. It's a remarkable performance, given how well known Hitchcock is as a figure, and how much film tries to make him a sympathetic, tragic figure rather than the monster he would seem to have been.

Sadly, Sienna Miller is unconvincing as Hedren. In a way, she's doomed from the start. Look at a photo of Tippi Hedren from the 1960 and try to find a woman who looks like that today. You can't do it. And Miller seems too knowing, too normal, too downright un-Sixties glamorous to pass as Hedren. She's too 2000's glamorous. She simply doesn't have the chiselled, flawless features or the curiously innocent style that Hedren projected, and it's a distraction. Her performance is strong enough, however (wobbly accent aside) and as the story progresses, it becomes a little easier to accept her as the character, if not the person.

The Girl is impressively made, has an authentic early 1960s feel and has a strong emotional charge. It's also a long overdue apology to Tippi Hedren, who has been terribly and unfairly maligned for years.

DAVID FLINT

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