Cinema Sunday: Vertigo

Today's Cinema Sunday post is going to get all psychological.

Today's film is what happens to a poor schmuck when he can't trust what he sees.

For feels. 

Or even knows. 

Today we go back to 1958 for a seminal classic by director Alfred Hitchcock starring Jimmy Stewart and Kim Novak. 

It's time to experience... Vertigo!

Stewart is former police detective John "Scottie" Ferguson, who has retired because an incident in the line of duty that resulted in the death of a police officer. Scottie suffers from acrophobia, an extreme fear of heights as well as vertigo, a false sense of rotational movement. 

Scottie is hired by an acquaintance, Gavin Elster, as a private investigator to follow Gavin's wife Madeleine (Novak). Gavin is concerned by his wife's behavior as of late, memory lapses and an obsession with death.  

Madeline has a fixation on a woman known as Carlotta Valdes, mistress of a wealthy married man who became pregnant with the man's child.  The man took the child away from Carlotta while casting her aside.  Carlotta comitted suicide. Gavin reveals that Carlotta is Madeleine's great-grandmother.  

Gavin wants Scottie to follow Madeline.  

(You might wonder why Gavin is hiring a private investigator instead of going to a medical professional because his wife seems to have some serious mental health issues. I think the deal is that ostensibly Gavin wants a full account of Madeline's activities and behavior before committing her to a psycho ward or something? Let's just move on.) 

Scottie is reluctant to take the gig. 

(Probably because he thinks Gavin should be going to a medical professional because his wife seems to have some serious mental health issues. Also what if Madeline wants to go somewhere very tall?) 

But Scottie takes the gig and follows Madeline up, down, all around the town.  Her meanderings taker to Fort Point off of San Francisco Bay where Madeline jumps into the freaking bay! 

Scottie jumps in after he to rescue her from drowning. (Scottie has a fear of heights but not of depths.)  

Scottie takes Madeline to:

• a hospital 
• her own home
• his apartment 

Yep, it's the last one. Let's take a deep breath and agree that isn't creepy at all. 

Even though she wakes up in his bed completely naked. 

We know she's naked because Hitchcock pans past Scottie's kitchen where various clothing items are hanging out to dry include Madeline's slip, bra and stockings. 

Okay. Let's take ANOTHER deep breath and agree that isn't creepy at all either. Scottie was just trying to save Madeline from hypothermia by... 

All right, it's creepy. Moving on. 

The next day, Scottie and Madeline spend the day together getting to know each other. And they fall in love.

Awww! 

Madeline confesses to Scottie about a strange recurring dream she's having, about another woman at an old California mission who takes her own life. 

Scottie recognizes the place Madeline is describing as Mission San Juan Bautista, the childhood home of Carlotta. 

Scottie convinces Madeline to let him drive her there where he can show her it's just a place and there's nothing to be afraid of.

(You're probably thinking this does NOT sound like a good idea. You're probably right but quit interrupting my blog with your perfectly sensible objections.) 

Sure enough once they arrive at the Mission, Madeline clambers up the church's bell tower. 

Scottie's acrophobia and vertigo kick in and he can't follow her up the bell tower. 

He can only watch helplessly as Madeline plunges to her death.

Scottie's guilt puts him in a catatonic state which puts him in a mental hospital. 

THE END! 

No, it's not.  

After being released from the sanitarium and just wandering around the city in daze, Scottie sees a woman on the street who kind of/sort of looks like Madeleine.

Scottie confronts the woman who indentifies herself  as Judy Barton from Salina, Kansas. (Yes, it's Kim Novak.) 

What the hell is going on here?

It's time to activate... THE PLOT EXPOSITION DEVICE!!!

We get an extended flashback that Judy  was the person Scottie knew as "Madeleine". Gavin killed the real Madeline and was waiting at the top of the bell tower.  It was Judy who ran up the tower but it was real Madeline's body who was thrown from the tower.   Gavin knew Scottie's acrophobia and vertigo would keep him from going up the bell tower himself.  

Meanwhile... 

Scottie's obsession with Madeline will not let him leave Judy alone as he convinces her to dress like Madeline and even to dye her hair. 

Then a switch gets flipped in his brain and Scottie figures out himself what the hell is going on. 

He takes Judy back to the mission and overcoming his acrophobia and vertigo climbs to the top of the bell tower where Scottie confronts Judy over what happens.  

Judy begs Scottie to forgive her because she loves him but then she slips and accidentally falls to her death from the bell tower.

Now.. for real...

THE END! 

The "Whoops! I Totally Forgot Another Character In The Film" Dept.   

I forgot Scottie's ex-fiancée, Marjorie 'Midge' Wood, an underwear designer and would be painter.  Played by Barbara Bel Geddes (who would go on to be come the matriarch of the Ewing family on the nighttime TV soap opera Dallas), Midge and Scottie may be exes but she's clearly still got a thing going for this guy but he's dismissive of her attentions even before the whole Madeline obsession kicks in. 

Midge's last appearance in the movie is a visit to Scottie in the sanitarium after the first time Madeline falls off the church bell tower. Midge is still concerned about Scottie but even her compassion has reached it's limits which cannot breach Scottie's stony facade. 

I liked Midge, she deserved better in the film and I feel bad I almost forgot her.

Anyway...

I seem to have some fun with some plot contrivances but I really do get why Vertigo is held in such high esteem. 

Jimmy Stewart's everyman persona helps to underscore the tragedy and trauma that comes from his obsession with Madeline. If this can happen to Scottie, it can happen to you. 

And Kim Novak has to modulate her performance as "Madeline" and Judy and the poor woman caught between those two worlds who actually fell in love with Scottie.  

And Alfred Hitchcock pulls a lot of clever tricks in this film such as the disorienting camera work when Scottie is in the grips of his acrophobia and vertigo.  And the scene in Judy's hotel room where the shifting color of the neon marquee outside changes her appearance from Judy to Madeline and back.  

Vertigo is a taut and intense psychological thriller that engages the senses and imagination. 

Side note:  Paramount as acquired the rights to produce a remake of Vertigo starring Robert Downey Jr. RDJ has boasted he thinks they can make a better film.

I doubt that.

Unless you're gonna do right by Midge.