 The Telegraph 's Nigel Farndale praised the film 's balanced view of the director : " [ E ] ven though he was portrayed in this exquisite drama as a manipulative , vindictive martinet , the portrait was not unsympathetic . " The Daily Mirror 's Jane Simon echoed this view , praising Jones 's Hitchcock and writing that the actor " managed to give [ Hitchcock ] touches of humanity , too . There are moments when you feel a real pang of sympathy for Hitchcock , although admittedly they don 't last long " . " [ G ] liding gracefully through it all ( and with an impeccable American accent ) Sienna Miller brings untouchable beauty and icy glamour , but also captures the extraordinary resilience Hedren must have had to withstand everything Hitchcock threw at her . " In The Telegraph , Clive James said " [ a ] better choice [ to play Hedren ] could not have been made than Sienna Miller , who is even lovelier than Hedren was ... Toby Jones , quite believably looked stunned " . John Doyle of Canada 's The Globe and Mail was less impressed with the actors ' performances . Of Miller ( whom he described as " good but not great " ) he wrote , " She doesn 't have the iciness that Hedren had in her youth and she struggles to convey Hedren 's enormous strength of character as a woman unwilling to let Hitchcock have his way " . Doyle was equally critical of Jones , describing him as someone who " seems to be imitating Hitchcock rather than inhabiting the role " . 
