Free Term Paper on Hitchcock's Vertigo
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.