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VERTIGO
Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo is a thrilling film filled with mystery and
suspense. However, Hitchcock left many unsolved issues at the end of this film.
In contrast, when comparing Vertigo to more recent films of similar genre’,
mysteries are usually always solved and thoroughly explained by the end of the
film. Ironically, Hitchcock’s failure to explain everything to the audience in
Vertigo is one of the film’s best attributes. This lack of knowledge allows the
viewer to use their own imagination and speculate as to what might or might not
have become of certain characters.
Vertigo boasted several different themes. However, the “Ideal Woman – Lost”
theme was the most prevalent (“Handout #1”). This theme was brought on by an
obsessed “everyman” type. Jimmy Stewart, otherwise known as Scottie in the
film, played this “everyman” type whose personality was maliciously twisted
into an overly obsessive man. His cause for obsession was a beautiful, young
woman played by Kim Novak, known as both Madeleine and Judy in the film.
Madeleine drew Scottie in so deep, that he literally became a different person.
This film mirrored Hitchcock’s personal feelings and was considered to be his
favorite film.
While there are many scenes that prove the above theme, the following are three
specific scenes that clearly spell out Scottie’s obsession. The scene where
Scottie was sitting in his car alone after dropping Midge off at her home is a
good first example. Midge and Scottie had just spent an afternoon together researching
Carlotta Valdes’ history. Before Midge got out of the car she told Scottie,
much to his dismay, that she was going view Carlotta’s portrait at the museum.
As soon as Midge got out of the car, Scottie pulled out his brochure from the
museum and turned to the page that hosted Carlotta’s portrait. As he stared at
her picture for several moments, he began to visualize Madeleine’s face.
Clearly this was one of the first signs of his growing obsession. An old
college buddy hired Scottie to follow his wife, Madeleine, to discover where
she was “wandering” off to. However, this job was consuming his life and
Scottie was developing a serious intrigue for Madeleine, a very mysterious
woman.
Another good example is the scene where Madeleine jumped into the bay. Scottie
rushed to her aid, and pulled her from the bay, saving her life. He immediately
took Madeleine back to her car and placed her in the passenger seat. Then
Scottie got very close to her face and whispered her name several times.
Clearly he forgot that he was suppose to be a stranger to her. She was not
suppose to know him and he was not suppose to know her. In addition, he had no
reason to have known her name. His act of getting so close to her and calling
her name was a clear sign that he deeply cared for her and was very concerned
for her safety and well being. He definitely had more of an interest in her
than a typical stranger would have in another passerby. Furthermore, the fact
that he let his feelings surface was a sure sign that his obsessive behavior
was taking over his entire personality. To top it off, he took Madeleine to his
apartment, not a hospital, and proceeded to undress her entire body while she
lay there unconscious. Obviously he ogled her naked body for an unknown period
of time. He then removed the clips from her hair and tried to dry her hair.
Finally, he carefully hung up each article of her clothing to dry. This is
clearly an act of obsession and perversion. Faced with a similar situation,
most people would either call for help or assist an injured person to the
emergency room. Not Scottie, he used this particular situation to his full
emotional benefit.
A third example is the scene where Scottie is trying to make Judy over. He
becomes a completely desperate person. He pleaded with her and even begged her
to let him do it. He said, “Please, do this for me! Do this for me! You can’t
possibly care! Please do this for me!” (Stewart) He became so demanding and
even became physically rough with her. He eventually became so desperate that
he told her he would love her if she would just let him make her over. He began
to make promises to Judy that he wasn’t sure he could keep. Clearly his
obsession had gone so far over the edge that he was in sheer desperation to
successfully bring back the dead (Giannetti 265). What is more startling than
Scottie’s obsession, is Judy’s eventual submission and agreement to let Scottie
make her over. She definitely enabled his obsession, which possibly could have
meant that she too was obsessed with bringing back a relationship that had
died. Together, Scottie and Judy had nothing to gain but tragedy.
These particular scenes are all very successful because they clearly spell out
exactly what is happening to Scottie’s emotional state. Emotions are hard to
portray, especially to the viewer who has no prior knowledge of a character’s
emotional background, personality or the meaning of their body language. Often
times, in film, unlike real-life, a picture must be painted for the viewer to
clearly understand the mental and emotional state of a character. Hitchcock
does an excellent job at relaying Scottie’s swelling obsession to his viewers.
Visualizing Madeleine while Scottie was looking at the picture of Carlotta, his
invasion of Madeleine’s personal space, a so-called stranger, and whispering
her name, and then trying to makeover Judy into another person who is
supposedly dead are all very apparent signs of obsession. These signs
successfully show the viewer that Scottie is thoroughly engrossed with his subject,
Madeleine, who had been “lost”. The viewer is left to assume that Scottie will
be unable to return to the emotionally stable person he was before the
obsession took control of his life. Alfred Hitchcock was definitely ahead of
his time and paved the way for many film-makers to learn from and expand on his
expertise of being able to reach an audience, capture their attention, and make
the audience feel what the characters are feeling.
Works Cited
Handout #1: Alfred Hitchcock & Notes on Vertigo
Giannetti, Louis. Understanding Movies. 8th ed. New Jersey: Simon &
Schuster,
1999.
Stewart, James, perf. Vertigo. Dir. Alfred Hitchcock. Perf. James Steward, Kim
Novak. Universal Pictures, 1958.