Vertigo Film Analysis

Vertigo

1958: Alfred Hitcock

Cast:
James Stewart as John "Scottie" Ferguson
Kim Novak as Madeleine Elster/Judy Barton

Barbara Bel Geddes as Midge Wood

Tom Helmore as Gavin Elster

1.    In the first half of the movie, at what point does Scottie’s detective work regarding Madeline cross the line to become obsessive stalking?

I believe that in the first part of the movie, Scottie was doing his job by following Madeleine around. When he learnt from Elster Carlotta that Carlotta Valdes, Madeline’s said spirit that haunted her, had committed suicide at Madeline’s current age, he went to great lengths to protect her. Yes, it felt very creepy when he was trailing behind her stopping to stare at her every few miles, but that was his job. I believe, after he saved her from the San Francisco Bay though, he essentially released her into the wild, instead of telling her husband, and began incisively stalking her. It almost became a game to him. Although when they were talking after Madeline had recovered, you could sense chemistry between them, it felt like Scottie fell over his heals for her and began spending time with her and following her around for his own pleasure and extreme need to, not because it was a favour to his friend.

2.    How does Hitchcock portray women in this film?

Throughout the movie, the only leading women characters we are faced with follow as, Madeline (Judy portraying her): the beautiful, Grace-Kelly-like damsel in distress, Judy: a lying, manipulative woman who plays part in a murder and then forgets it for the sake of “true love”, and lastly, Midge: a practical, successful, and realistic woman who happens to only have one desire in life, to be with Scottie the Hottie. In the movie, the men are the hero’s, like Scottie, and the brains, like Madeline’s husband who formed the elaborate plot to inherit her fortunes. The woman are secondary characters, one’s who fill in screen time when you can’t find a man in a wig. They are portrayed as liars, desperate for men’s attention, and all-around sensitive creatures who die at a men’s disapproval (remember when Midge began to cry when Scottie didn’t like her painting?). In his movies, women are flirts, like Judy to Scottie, and the men are the one’s who chase after them with slobber coming from their mouths.

3.    How are we as viewers to feel about Scottie’s efforts to transform Judy into Madeline?

Obviously, with Scottie’s dramatic and expressively rough commands forcing Judy into looking like his lost love, it gives us a sense that Scottie is dangerous and obsessive. Judy doesn’t have a voice, she wants Scottie to love her, and for a time being, he does love her when she looks like Madeline, but the stages to get there are not pleasant. He yelled at her in public over suits, forced her to wear her hair and makeup a certain way, and was overall, too demanding. The way it’s portrayed in the movie, with Judy’s visible discomfort and Scottie’s harsh attitude, it picks up a vibe that when they’re arguing, you shouldn’t be watching. It’s like going to your friend’s house and having their parents fight, it’s awkward and you want to look away, but there is nowhere to go. As viewers, we see Scottie’s attempts to change her as uncomfortable as Judy felt.

4.    Suppose that Judy did not fall out of the tower in the last scene. Scottie would then have faced the choice of staying with Judy or turning her in. What do you think the right choice would be?

With Judy’s dying word to Scottie before she tripped off the roof, and with his reaction, I felt a vibe that although he couldn’t believe the horrors she had committed and the lies she told, he was so desperate for Madeline that he was ready to look past her unfortunate doings. I feel that he wouldn’t know what to do, and as a retired man from law enforcement he would feel that it would be his duty to turn her in, but with his evident need for love like when he kissed a married woman, I feel he would look past it to keep her as a “prize”. I feel that he would try to forget what happened, but in the end, spend the rest of his days with her pretending he doesn’t feel an uncomfortable air surrounding them. I think Scottie’s obsession with the pretend Madeline would be enough to convince him that Judy was the woman he loved. Although I believe the right choice would be to hand Judy in to the authorities and perhaps defend her as she never intended to hurt Madeline (even though it doesn’t make sense to think what else she thought would happen to Madeline after her employer told her his extreme plan), I don’t think Scottie would have followed through. I do think he would become less obsessive with her though. I think he would try to look past his fake love Madeline and allow Judy to look the way she wanted, just so he could convince himself that he never truly loved Madeline.