In honor of the National Women's History Month's March 2025 theme of “Moving Forward Together! Women Educating & Inspiring Generations” and the evolution of female character portrayals in film over the past century, as well as, the celebration of National
Alfred Hitchcock Day on March 12, 2025. Also, 2025 marks the 100-year anniversary of the release of the first completed feature-length film directed by Hitchcock, the British–German silent film,
The Pleasure Garden (1925).
Hitchcock's portrayal of women has often been the subject of discussion among cineophiles. In the October 13, 1996 edition of the Chicago Sun-Times, Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic
Roger Ebert offered the following opinion: "Alfred Hitchcock was known as the most controlling of directors, particularly when it came to women. The female characters in his films reflected the same qualities over and over again: They were blond. They were icy and remote. They were imprisoned in costumes that subtly combined fashion with fetishism." All told, Hitchcock was Oscar-nominated five times himself for an Academy Award for Best Director. Meanwhile, actress performances in Hitchcock-directed films were Oscar-nominated five times as well, with
Joan Fontaine's performance as Lina McLaidlaw Aysgarth in
La sospecha (1941) winning the Academy Award.
Which of these selected Alfred Hitchcock-directed female movie characters* is your favorite one of them all? *answer pool is limited to two female Hitchcock film characters or less per actress
Discuss the topic here.
