Vertigo: A Series of Dreams

If you were to ask me what my favorite Hitchcock movie was about five years ago, I would've said "Rear Window", but now I have finally succumbed to the mystery, beauty, and majesty of "Vertigo". If you have been following my month long tribute to Hitchcock, I have mentioned more than once that this has been my chance to revisit many of his films which I haven't seen in awhile, "Vertigo" has been the one exception, I watch this film at least three times a year, maybe even more. Once it's in my DVD player, it doesn't take long for it to draw me in. I'm sure if I ever bothered to make a definitive top ten list of my favorite films, "Vertigo" would be on it.

"Vertigo" has been called Hitchcock's most personal film, he said he was intrigued with the idea of bringing the image of a dead girl back to life through another girl that is living. Hitchcock himself was a controlling director who would mould his lady stars into his own image of what they should be. There's an eeriness to the whole theme of "Vertigo" for as Hitchcock said himself in Truffaut's book, there is a kind of necrophilia to the whole idea.

The plot of the movie is very contrived if you were to think about it, a police detective Scottie Ferguson (James Stewart) develops a fear of heights after he is left dangling from a drain pipe and from watching a policeman who tried to save him fall to his death. Along with being afraid of heights, Scottie also carries a guilt about the policeman's death. One day an old school friend of Scottie's calls him up and wants him for a job, he wants Scottie to follow his wife who he thinks has become possessed by a former dead relative who killed herself. The husband now thinks the wife will turn suicidal and wants Scottie to make sure no harm will come to her. Scottie reluctantly agrees and begins keeping tabs on her.

The plot really doesn't matter in a Hitchcock film and for those who have seen "Vertigo" know that what I briefly described is nothing more than an elaborate hoax for an even grander and more seductive story. The moment Scottie sees Madeline, the man's wife, it's as if the film turns into a dream. Scottie becomes obsessed with Madeline, follows her everywhere, and he soon comes to love her. Madeline played by Kim Novak is an ideal image of a Hitchcock woman, she's glamorous, seductive, but almost cold, which gives her a sense of mystery. She remains illusive to Stewart's character, she keeps appearing, disappearing, then re-appearing again, much like in a dream. The one scene that has had me stumped each time I see it is the scene where Stewart goes into the hotel room where Madeline stays in. He sees her from the outside window, her car is there, but when he goes in the landlady has not seen her, and when they go up to the room, Madeline is gone, and so is her car. I can't quite wrap my head around it, was Madeline ever there? If she was, how come the landlady never saw her? Or did Stewart just think he saw her which deepens his obsession?

DO NOT READ FURTHER UNLESS YOU'VE SEEN THE MOVIE!!!!

There is a moment when this film sort of breaks into two separate stories much like Hitchcock would do two years later with "Psycho", where everything you think you know is thrown out the window. Madeline does indeed die, but we soon find out this film was not leading up to that event even though you'd think that's where it would be headed, we also find out there was a murder, but uncovering it was also not what this film was about. This film was always about a man's obsession with one woman, and the second half of this masterpiece is some place Hitchcock had never delved into before or after. Scottie is full of guilt over Madeline's death, he sees her everywhere from women who resemble her.

He soon meets Judy (also Novak) who seems to be Madeline's twin. Scottie begins to take Judy out, and look after her, but he wants to change her into Madeline. Judy's clothes, shoes, and hair color are all changed to fit Scottie's image. Roger Ebert has called the shot of Judy coming out of the bathroom looking exactly like Madeline thus fulfilling all of Scottie's desires the greatest shot Hitchcock ever did, and I happen to agree. In a strange way we as the audience share Scottie's perverse satisfaction in this shot, he has changed one woman completely into the woman he loves, and the way Hitchcock shoots it using a green neon sign from the backgroud, it looks as if Madeline did indeed rise from the dead and has come out of a green fog, it's highly erotic and unsettling.

As I said before this film acts as if out of a dream, it doesn't seem to make sense in the real world. The score by Bernard Herrman which I think is probably the greatest score in cinema history adds to the dreamlike state as it punctuates all of Hitchcock's themes. Stewart has never had a darker more complex role than he does here, his last monologue in the church tower with Madeline is some of his most intense work. It's hard to believe Kim Novak was a quick substitute for the part of Madeline/Judy, even though Hitchcock only used her for this film, she probably gives the finest performance of all the Hitchcock women.

When I first saw "Vertigo" I was perplexed by it, I was very young and didn't quite understand where it was going, or maybe I just wasn't prepared with where it did go. I think I was looking for an easier film experience. I'd like to think my own personal experience has helped me understand "Vertigo" even more, Hitchcock was the kind of director who helped us understand the darker side of human nature, and in a way the film haunts me like no other, it begins like a pleasant dream but spirals into a nightmare. I cannot let go of "Vertigo" even if I wanted to, I will continue to hold on to its grasp for as long as my love of films stays with me, and also for fear that I will fall if I let go.