Double Take (2009 film)

Double Take is a 2009 essay film, directed by Johan Grimonprez and written by Tom McCarthy. The plot is set during the Cold War and combines both documentary and fictional elements. The protagonist is a fictionalised version of Alfred Hitchcock, who unwittingly gets caught up in a double take. The backdrop of the film charts the rise of the television in the domestic setting and with it, the ensuing commodification of fear during the cold war.

Inspired by Jorge Luis Borges short story 25th August, 1983, Double Takes narrative plot is based on a fictional encounter Alfred Hitchcock has with an older version of himself. Whilst on set of his 1962 film The Birds, Hitchcock calls a twelveminute break in order to answer a phone call in one of the universal studio buildings. After a foreboding encounter with a security guard, Hitchcock finds his way into a room similar to the tearooms in both the Chasens hotel in Los Angeles and the Claridges hotel in London. Here, Hitchcock and his doppelgnger meet. The ensuing conversation between the two is characterized by personal paranoia and distrust where the younger Hitchcock is in deep fear of his older alter ego.Intermittently returning to the room in which the menacing conversation between the two Hitchcocks proceeds, the narrative takes a deathward path. Hitchcock and his doppelgnger regard each other with a mixture of revulsion and confusion. Regarding the aphorism that if you meet your double, you should kill him, both Hitchcocks knowing how the encounter must end.So, tell me, how would you like to die? asks the older Hitchcock, sipping on a cup of coffee. All the while, Folgers coffee advertisements puncture the narration in the backdrop of the Cold War. By means of his double, Hitchcock the filmmaker realizes that he is going to die. Killed by the younger, televisionmaking, version of himself. ........

Source: Wikipedia