- A college film student, obsessed with the works of Alfred Hitchcock, investigates a murder committed in the apartment building across from his and suspects that his seductive neighbor hired a girlfriend to commit the deed.
- As a boy in 1990, Giulio was chased through the woods by three women he spied on while they were practicing witchcraft. Now a young film student in Turin, he watches his neighbors in the flats across from his third-floor apartment, especially Sasha when she's naked or arguing with her mother. Giulio's girlfriend is disgusted with his voyeurism, but after a murder occurs, Giulio is convinced that two relative strangers, just as in Hitchcock and Highsmith's "Strangers in a Train," have agreed to murder each other's bête noir. He follows his suspects, ends up with an intruder and a broken foot, and may be in real danger. Is he more than a peeping Tom?—<jhailey@hotmail.com>
- In 1991, while riding his bike through the woods, a young boy spots a woman darting between the trees. He puts down his bike and runs after her. The woman meets up with another woman, they speak briefly and run together through the woods until they arrive at an old stone house. The boy continues after them, peeks through the window of the house and watches as they wildly slaughter a rooster. The women spot the boy at the window and chase after him, saying "You'll be sorry, I'll kill you, You'll never get away from us".
Present Day. A young man, Julio, working late at night spies an attractive neighbor girl getting dressed. He watches her through binoculars as she takes off her red bra. The next morning, he rides his motorbike to his girlfriend's apartment to pick her up. After they make love in his apartment, the girlfriend leaves and Julio stays behind, watching the neighbors out the window (à la "Rear Window").
Julio sees Sasha (the same young woman from the previous night's spying) having an argument with her mother. Later in the day, he meets her by chance at a video rental store. He doesn't speak to her, but he watches her as she talks with another woman, Federica. The two women both want to rent "Strangers on a Train". They talk and become friends. Julio rents some films by Fritz Lang whom he is studying for his college thesis.
Later that night as Julio is watching his film while smoking marijuana, he sees Sasha watching her movies in the apartment across the street. Her mother tells her angrily to turn down the volume. Sasha meanders out to the balcony where she briefly sees Julio. He ducks back into his apartment.
The next day, Julio is back at the video store and sees Federica as she rents "Strangers on a Train". The creepy video store guy makes some advances towards her, but she's not interested and drives away. Later, while riding his bicycle, Julio sees Sasha and Federica having lunch by a fountain, talking closely, almost intimately.
That evening, a white-gloved intruder uses a key to enter Sasha's apartment while her mother is home alone watching TV. The intruder murders Sasha's mother by beating her to death with a brass pestle. Julio is awakened later that night by the sounds of the police cars which have come to investigate. Sasha is being questioned.
Julio meets the video store guy the next morning and they talk briefly about the murder. They both attend Sasha's mother's funeral.
Julio meets his girlfriend for lunch. Reading the newspaper, he finds out that Sasha Zerboni was an only child. Her mother was a rich widow. Julio tells his girlfriend that he's been thinking about "Strangers on a Train" all day. They rent it and watch it together. He suspects that Sasha and Federica are in an agreement like that of "Strangers on a Train". His girlfriend says he's crazy. In the course of their conversation, she realizes that he's been watching Sasha out his window.
Later, Julio sees a woman cleaning Sasha's mother's apartment. He goes across the street and finds the cleaning crew mopping up the bloody crime scene. After a brief exchange with the crew chief, Julio dashes out. He snatches a letter out of the Zerboni mailbox and is almost caught by a neighbor. He reads the letter in the lift up to his apartment. It's a bank statement with almost one million Euros in the account. At his home, he is surprised to find his mother there, cleaning it. She previously told Julio she's getting remarried, to her tennis coach, and wants Julio to meet the guy. Eventually, she leaves for an appointment.
Sasha comes back to her apartment where the crew chief tells her about Julio's visit, and that he lives across the street. She knows he's been watching her.
While Julio showers, someone breaks into his apartment. The intruder breaks an empty wine bottle and flees when Julio hears the noise and jumps out of the shower. Julio calls his girlfriend and asks her to come over to spend the night because he's nervous.
Julio and his girlfriend discuss the situation. She's more interested in making love. When he insists that it is now Sasha's turn to kill someone close to Federica (à la "Strangers on a Train"), she says he needs to see a shrink and storms out.
The next day, Julio has his locks changed. He passes by the video store and the video guy tells him that Sasha had been in and asked about him, saying that she knew he watched her.
That night, Julio has a nightmare flashback to the first scene with the two women slaughtering the rooster. It becomes obvious that he is the boy in that scene. He awakes to hear someone trying to break into his apartment, but the intruder runs away before Julio can get the door unlocked and give chase.
The following day, Julio returns "Strangers on a Train" to the video store. The video guy (Andrea) asks Julio to mind the store while he steps out. Julio agrees and while Andrea is away, he looks up Federica's address on the store computer. In the middle of his poking around, Sasha comes into the store and they speak briefly. She sees that he has returned "Strangers on a Train" and she puts it back on the shelf.
Julio rides his motorbike to Federica's apartment and follows her when she leaves. He drives wildly after her until she arrives at her office at Oniusaxo & Co. - Studio Immobiliare (Real Estate Office). Through the window, he sees Federica's boss grope her inappropriately. At the end of the day, Federica hesitatingly gets into the boss's car with him. She is clearly unhappy to be there. They arrive at the boss's apartment and Julio, having followed them there, sees them arguing in a second floor window. Julio scampers up a ledge to a second floor balcony as it starts to rain. He can see and hear Federica and her boss arguing in bed. The boss is blackmailing Federica because of some money she stole from a client. He is forcing her to submit to him sexually in exchange for not reporting her.
In the middle of the boss's forcing himself upon Federica, he spots Julio looking through the window. Julio tries to scamper back down the ledge, but he falls and fractures his ankle in the process. The boss gives chase and Julio limps to his motorbike and just barely escapes, slipping and falling in the rain several times while the boss pursues him.
Julio's mother takes him to the doctor who tells him he'll have to be in a cast for several weeks. Julio's girlfriend comes over to his place to help him mend, but when he starts telling her what happened and his theory of how Federica wants Sasha to kill her boss, the girlfriend says he's crazier than ever and storms out, saying she never wants to see him again.
Just as Julio's girlfriend is leaving, Andrea, the video guy comes to visit Julio. He's brought some classic Hitchcock videos for Julio to watch while he's laid up. He asks to use the bathroom and a few minutes later tells Julio that the tap is stuck and won't turn off. When Julio enters the bathroom, Andrea grabs him and tries to drown him in the tub. While Julio and Andrea are struggling, Julio's mother and her fiancée come to visit Julio. Hearing the screams from inside the apartment, the fiancée breaks down the door and pulls Andrea off Julio. While Julio's mother revives Julio, the fiancée chases after Andrea. As they leave the apartment, Andrea runs across the street and is fatally hit by a car. Sasha looks down from her balcony, realizes what happened and becomes physically ill.
The police come and arrest Sasha and detectives speak to Julio. Later, Julio's girlfriend, Ariana, comes over and they make up. Julio explains that Sasha's plot was more similar to the film "Dial M for Murder" in which a man hires a killer to kill his wife. Here, Sasha hired Andrea to kill her mother.
As Ariana is closing the window, she sees a woman dressed in black approaching Sasha's apartment. Despite Julio's protests, Ariana insists on chasing after her to see what she's doing. Julio sees through his binoculars that the woman is Federica, in disguise. She is looking for the key which she mistakenly left in Sasha's apartment. Julio realizes that Federica was the real killer of Sasha's mother and that Andrea must have joined them later. Julio calls Ariana on her cell phone, but she refuses to give up the pursuit despite his protests that Federica is a killer.
Julio calls the inspector and he responds immediately, arriving at Sasha's apartment before Ariana has a chance to confront Federica. They chase her up to the rooftop where she threatens to jump off. Federica slips off the edge of the building, but the inspector catches her by the arm before she falls. The inspector and Ariana manage to haul Federica up to safety, at which point she is placed under arrest.
In the final scene, Julio's cast is off and he is exercising. Julio gets a phone call from his mother and while they talk he sees a light go on in Sasha's former apartment. Another beautiful woman has taken residence in the apartment. She is almost naked and reading a book on the couch. She sees Julio watching her from across the street, but doesn't seem to mind. Julio stands staring with mouth agape.
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By what name was Do You Like Hitchcock? (2005) officially released in India in English?
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