#61: Vertigo (1958)

Starring: James Stewart and Kim Novak

Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock

IMDB

Emily Says:

I know that I was supposed to enjoy the psychological intrigue, plot twists, and wonderful music score of this Hitchcock classic, but the whole time we were watching it I just couldn’t get over the 1950’s gender role stereotypes. We have Scottie, who in the beginning seems like a nice enough fellow until he becomes fixated on saving his former classmate’s wife. Madeline’s compulsion with her dead grandmother is interesting until her spineless clinging to Scottie gets old. Later, after Madeline’s death, when it is revealed that Scottie’s classmate paid Judy to impersonate his wife, Scottie’s new interest in Judy grows creepier and creepier as he tries to transform Judy into the now-dead Madeline.

The scenes in which Scottie oversees Judy’s transformation by buying her clothes and having her hair redone were hard for me to watch as I began to wonder more and more how this movie sought to define “love.” Judy allows Scottie to transform her into a dead woman’s effigy because she “loves” him, and it is his “love” that makes him want to do so. As the movie drew to an end and Judy plummeted to her Madeline-like death, I couldn’t help but think to myself, “Well if she hadn’t let him turn her into a dead woman, this wouldn’t have been a problem.” To me this movie was more a sad commentary on 1950’s gender stereotypes than the psychological thriller it was intended to be.

Paul Says:

This is the first of a number of Hitchcock films that make it onto this list. I didn't catch his obligatory cameo in this one, but I'm sure it's there. I'd never seen this film before, but really enjoyed at least the first hour or so. It's haunting and intriguing watching Jimmy Stewart follow around this woman who is the wife of his former classmate (although how he was ever a police detective is beyond me, with all his stealth skills he may as well be wearing a goddamn cowbell). The first climactic scene in the bell tower with the iconic zooming shots down the stairwell is really well-done and truly tragic. The man who emerges is broken and despondent and draws our pity, but from here on out it just gets weird. The character becomes obsessive and downright creepy, continuing to wander around the places where he had seen the woman he fell in love with. The reveal of the plot twist that follows is sudden and awkward - completely lacking subtlety, as Jimmy finds the girl he fell in love with who was actually pretending to be someone else so the rich husband could get away with murder. The obsession at this point goes from mildly creepy to full-on off-putting as our hero begins to mold her into exactly the woman he though died. Finally, he figures it out and revisits the scene of the crime. Maybe it's just me, but this closing scene seems forced, and the ending is abrupt. I enjoyed it for the most part, but it just struck too many off notes in the last half hour.

Rating: 7.5/10