(1958) It's almost creepy seeing George Bailey from
It's A Wonderful Life turn into an obsessive nutcase. So much for not jumping from the bridge that Christmas night.
Vertigo plays exactly like the kind of Hitchcock thriller you'd come to expect. It toys with your expectations and leaves you with a shocking ending that will haunt you for days, perhaps years. Hitchcock cleverly gave Scottie Ferguson (James Stewart)'s infidelity with "Elster Madeleine" (Kim Novak) a saccharine, over-idealistic image. You could clearly tell how fake this relationship is, like it's from
Gone with the Wind or something. It's romantic, that's for sure, but it's as romantic as one of those pretentious gifts of 99 roses adorned across a bedroom. Interesting enough, when Scottie gets together with Elster again, revealed to be "Judy Barton", their distance from each other mirrors the kind of realistic marriage you'd see normal people have. Before the marriage, it's all romantic and rosy, but after which, reality seeps in and you realize the woman you married to isn't Marilyn Monroe but Marilyn Manson underneath.
Even though Scottie and Madeleine's short-lived romance was revealed to be phony, I have to admit that, despite my mockery, Hitchcock did paint a convincing image of two people in love. Hitchcock films were known to have a lighthearted touch to them, unlike edgy horror films today that try so hard to be dark and horrifying throughout the entire film. It's that lightheartedness that gives the audience the comfort and immersion before Hitchcock reveals the trap he has been playing you into. It's a more intelligent version of what people call today, "the jump-scare". It's the after-thought of that terrible thing that occurred in the midst of happiness that should scare you the most, not the trigger-reaction of something leaping at your face.
And it's indeed a terrible thing this film has to offer, a cynical message about the artificiality of love. The term "vertigo" refers to the medical condition when you feel like you are moving when you are not. Much like Scottie and Madeleine's relationship, it's fake and imaginary, yet you have to admit that Hitchcock's portrayal of what a vertigo looks like is psychedelic, almost adrenaline-fueling. It hooks you in like the power of love, and no matter how fake it might be, it's hard to let go of such a sensation. Regardless of whether if Scottie was truly 'in love' or was merely having infatuation, it was a sensation he wanted to feel again when he met Judy.
There are a few faults with the film, and I'd admit that some people's criticisms are valid. In particular, the film could achieve the same effect without the inclusion of Midge Wood (Barbara Bel Geddes). I felt that her role to show Scottie's loss of innocence was redundant, and the film would have been more thrilling had her part been cut out. That being said, this is still one hell of a film that exemplifies Hitchcock's mastery of suspense. I must also note that the film is well-crafted enough that neither the existence of Midge nor Gavin Ester (Tom Helmore)'s convoluted plot to kill his wife distracted from the suspense of the movie. And that's how Hitchcock (as well as other well-crafted thriller) movies should be rightly judged.
9/10 (Amazing)
Enjoyability: High