Vertigo
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"Hitchcock’s masterpiece topped Sight & Sound’s poll of the greatest films, cementing a new generation’s love for this dizzyingly perverse romance that was dismissed in 1958. A psychothriller about the depths of masculine obsession and fantasy, its unparalleled beauty achieves a sinister sublimity."
— MUBI's take
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Vertigo
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This film has been preserved in the National Film Registry in 1989.
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Vertigo is a 1958 American film noir psychological thriller film directed and produced by Alfred Hitchcock. The story was based on the 1954 novel D'entre les morts (From Among the Dead) by Boileau-Narcejac. The screenplay was written by Alec Coppel and Samuel A. Taylor.
Plot
An ex-police officer who suffers from an intense fear of heights is hired to prevent an old friend's wife from committing suicide, but all is not as it seems. Hitchcock's haunting, compelling masterpiece is uniquely revelatory about the director's own predilections and hang-ups and is widely considered to be one of his masterworks.
Why It Will Cure Vertigo
- This is the film that introduced filmography to the famous "dolly zoom" sequence sometimes known as the "Vertigo Effect" which got used in various other films. It's a combination of a forward zoom with a reverse dolly meant to achieve a disorienting effect of shifting perspectives. Hitchcock worked with a model of the set placed on its side, with the camera at one end to simulate an overhead shot; the camera then zoomed in while tracking backward.
- James Stewart and Kim Novak give courageous, soul-baring performances.
- Stewart’s plunge to the edge of insanity is all more unnerving coming from an actor known for his nice-guy image, but it is also the culmination of a career-long exploration of the darker side of his persona. (In films like Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, It's a Wonderful Life, and westerns such as The Naked Spur.)
- Novak, a glamorous Columbia Pictures star, was a late replacement for Vera Miles, whom Hitchcock had planned to boost to stardom with this film. After the film was delayed, Miles became pregnant and had to back out. Novak’s performance drew some criticism at the time for iciness, but it is actually heartbreakingly vulnerable and affecting—her greatest.
- Barbara Bel Geddes' character Midge Wood offers as a counterpoint to Madeleine
- With the lead being asked investigate a friend's beautiful but death-obsessed wife, possessed by the spirit of her suicidal great-grandmother and having an annoying tendency to disappear and go into trances, said lead's going to follow her for a few days and see where she's been going. Sounds like a mystery movie or a ghost story, right? Nope. Scottie falls passionately in lust with this gorgeous but troubled woman, but the woman throws herself from a bell tower in an old Spanish mission that she's seen during her trances. As a result, Scottie's tortured again by guilt because his acrophobia and vertigo kept him from following her up the bell tower stairs and saving her. His attempt to "resurrect" his dead lover by recreating her in another woman ends again in tragedy, as Scottie realizes he's been the victim of a devastating deception and an unwitting accomplice to a murder. As usual, Hitchcock does an excellent job providing suspense and twists that keeps the audience guessing.
- The unusually complex storyline gave away several key plot twists far earlier than other filmmakers would have
- The solution to the film's central mystery is actually revealed well before the film’s end. Even more gripping are the emotions that drive the plotline forward: Scottie’s longing, obsession, and growing instability. He tries to bring his love back from the dead by transforming Judy into Madeleine, obsessively changing her clothes, makeup, and hairstyle to match. In Hitchcock’s hands, this speaks profoundly to the movie-making process: Scottie is both like a director, shaping the specific look of an actress to play a part, and like an audience, in love with an image of someone who is not exactly “real.”
- It's often been stated that the film is a movie about the movies—about the relationship between the creator and the image created, and the voyeuristic nature of watching films. Leading lady Kim Novak told an interviewer, "It was the opportunity to express what was going on between me and Hollywood".
- This film didn’t look or sound like any other Hitchcock film at the time. For instance, this one doesn't have real set pieces, displays of dazzling technique, chases or even villains to resolve the story (even Gavin Elster -- the closest thing the film has to a villain-- disappears after a few scenes at the beginning), resulting in the film being less of the usual heart-pounding thriller that Hitchcock's renowned for and more of a deep character study between the two leads. Hitchcock's leaving the audience confused for a change. For this reason, the film grows richer on repeat viewings, with new details and insights to discover.
- Hitchcock was stated to have loved to explore human psychology in all its weirdness and complexity, which all comes together in this film. As stated above, the film makes you think you're watching a mystery movie, but really we're getting some ideas about what it means to fall in love with an illusion. The psychological themes are also very relatable for viewers who have ever been in a similar situation, if not a bit far-fetched
- Stunningly beautiful effects that look nearly completely real. Vertigo’s emotional impact is heightened by fascinating use of color. Scottie, for instance, is constantly associated with red and Madeleine with green. At their first encounter, in Ernie’s restaurant, Hitchcock makes the contrast especially pronounced. Scottie sits at the bar, eyeing Madeleine and her husband across the room; Madeleine’s emerald-green dress stands out dramatically. As she walks through the restaurant and stops near Scottie in a profile, her green dress is framed against the velvety red walls. Hitchcock plays with the color scheme throughout the film, at one point having the characters wear each other’s colors. And when Judy is transformed “into” Madeleine, she emerges through a foggy green light that enhances the romanticism and ghostliness of the moment.
- The sound in the film is controlled as closely as the visuals, including the film's score, which really helps add to the suspense. Bernard Herrmann’s score is one of the finest ever composed, conveying the romance, darkness, and mystery of the story with melodies that are beautiful in their own right. Vertigo’s long, dialogue-free stretches, especially when Scottie follows Madeleine by car, are kept riveting and eerie largely by Herrmann’s music.
- Judy Barton is a very tragic and relatable character, as she was not only forced to Gavin's scheme, she also never gets to spend her time with Scottie as herself and was forced to become Scottie's dream girl.
- The dream sequence is considered to not only be the most memorable part of the film but is also regarded as the scariest dream sequence ever made.
- Iconic poster design, which featured the film's main protagonist hallucinating himself to the point where he thinks that he's falling.
Bad Qualities
- Gavin Elster is a pretty underdeveloped antagonist who gets barely any screen time.
- While creepy, the dream sequence can cause epilepsy due to its use of flashing colours, which got the movie banned in South Korea (But probably for diffrent reasons).
- They are a couple of minor flaws in logic in the plot, although these may be forgiven considering the lead character's suffering from necrophibia with may alter how he thinks.
- Unexplained plot holes:
- How does Scottie get down after hanging from that gutter?
- How does Madeleine vanish from the McKittrick Hotel?
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