Private Project

Spellbound by L'Amour Fou

This documentary about Alfred Hitchcock’s 1945 surrealist thriller Spellbound goes off script when its director receives some unexpected news.

  • Joel Gunz
    Director
    Freak the Geek; Alfred Hitchcock: Master of the Surreal (series); Print this Video: Four Steps to Smashing the Tech Conspiracy
  • Joel Gunz
    Writer
    Freak the Geek; Alfred Hitchcock: Master of the Surreal (series); Print this Video: Four Steps to Smashing the Tech Conspiracy
  • Joel Gunz
    Producer
    Freak the Geek; Alfred Hitchcock: Master of the Surreal (series); Print this Video: Four Steps to Smashing the Tech Conspiracy
  • Joel Gunz
    Key Cast
    "As himself"
    Freak the Geek; Alfred Hitchcock: Master of the Surreal (series); Print this Video: Four Steps to Smashing the Tech Conspiracy
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Runtime:
    25 minutes 50 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    September 30, 2021
  • Production Budget:
    15,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    4:3
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Joel Gunz

An independent scholar also known as the Alfred Hitchcock Geek, Joel Gunz is the host of HitchCon, an annual conference dedicated to the director's work. His fascination with the Master of Cinema commenced at age 12, eventuating in hundreds of scholarly articles, chapters and essays, and he was the first to call out Hitchcock as the Shakespeare of the 20th Century. His on-stage career took off in 2010, when he was invited twice to New York’s Helen Hayes Theater to speak to audiences following performances of The 39 Steps on Broadway.

More recently, he’s stepped away from writing (somewhat) to produce and direct three Hitchcock-themed, critically-acclaimed documentary film series projects: How to Watch Hitchcock (2018-19), Freak the Geek (2018-2019) and Alfred Hitchcock, Master of the Surreal (2019-current). Currently, Joel and his partner, Christy La Guardia, live with their beagle, Charlie, in Missoula, Montana.

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Director Statement

The making of this film—an essay on the Surrealist theme of l’amour fou (mad love) in Alfred Hitchcock's SPELLBOUND—was itself a surreal experience. While writing the script about his 1945 collaboration with Salvador Dalí—about an amnesiac patient who has lost his identity—my own sense of identity was thrown into chaos: a DNA test revealed that my father was not my biological dad. I had no choice but to work this discovery into my film. By digitally inserting myself into its scenes of psychoanalysis, I was able to virtually "seek therapy," blurring the lines between narrator and performer, spectator and psychiatrist. I was further prompted to find new relevance in Hitchcock’s Surrealist ideals. Who am I? How should I live? How should I love? Such questions are at the heart of SPELLBOUND. They became especially urgent for me, as this personal documentary shows.