Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo is a cinema classic, and one that requires multiple viewings due to its unpredictable, complex narrative. In 2012 it was voted the greatest film of all time by a board of critics and academics, fifty-four years after its cinematic release.
The British Film Institute’s Sight and Sound magazine poll can be contested but it does highlight Veritgo’s enduring appeal, which I believe finds its foundation in the lead actors.
Starring James Stewart and Kim Novak, the thriller explores the theme of obsession between a retired detective and a disturbed young woman. Stewart’s character Scotty, who retires due to his fear of heights, grounds viewers in a disorientating plot. He is hired to follow his friend’s wife – played by Novak – who is behaving oddly, only to fall in love with her.
When Novak’s character dies as a result of Scotty’s vertigo (as stated by the coroner), Scotty cannot move on and goes to recuperate in a sanatorium. He is our point of sympathy and in many ways a typical protagonist – we desire his happiness, a scene where he overcomes his grief. But everything is not as it seems.
Obsessed with her memory, upon release he finds a female stranger to mould in her image and becomes deranged. As we fear for this young woman, he transforms into the antagonist of the film and a series of tense scenes build-up to the famous finale at the bell tower of a nunnery.
The final twist leads the characters to a duplicitous conclusion, which isn’t really a conclusion at all. Left ambiguously, the film discusses what it is to be a person, to have wants and desires, and to be stopped by personal traps, such as insecurity and anxiety. No one really ends the film as they began: our perceptions are challenged and you realise a mystery has unfolded, where you may have expected a love story.
This unpredictability would not have been possible without Stewart and Novak’s convincing performances. For anyone who hasn’t seen Stewart’s other roles, he was generally cast as a moral authority or friend, but here he delves into a much darker mentality.
Sometimes a repressive watch, it’s one of those rare films that you find yourself thinking about weeks afterwards and research online to uncover the subtext. Scotty’s obsession seems contagious.
Fast paced and intelligent, Hitchcock regarded Vertigo as his most personal masterpiece; I cannot think of another film which goes so tirelessly deep into the inner-workings of its lead characters. It is also worth a viewing for the famous camera trick Hitchcock invented to depict Scotty’s vertigo; the director simultaneously zoomed-in and pulled back the camera. It features three times – most effectively in the film’s fatal climax – and is known as a “dolly zoom”.
Perfect to watch on a stormy night, judge for yourself if this really is the greatest film of all time. In my opinion, it could be, especially if you like surprise.