The Movie Book

144 VERTIGO

The casting of James Stewart
affects the direction and impact
of the movie profoundly; it adds an
extra textual layer of dissonance
to the final act. Stewart’s image
as an actor since the days of his
early career, including previous
roles for Hitchcock in Rear Window
(1954) and The Man Who Knew
Too Much (1956), had always been
that of the incorruptible everyman,
decent and likeable to a fault. John
“Scottie” Ferguson begins as a
good man, a typical Stewart
character, but ends it as a man lost
in sexual despair, his mind ruined
by tragedy. By putting James
Stewart through this
transformation, Hitchcock
is not just undoing a man,
he’s undoing a screen icon.
What we think we know of
Stewart’s character makes
Ferguson’s psychosis that
much more painful to watch,
and his unraveling affects us
that much more deeply. The
visual representation of this

Scottie and Madeleine (Kim
Novak) first embrace after she has
asked him whether she is crazy.
Judy, as Madeleine, has fallen for
Scottie, and it is this that will
ultimately lead to her downfall.

00:12

Scottie meets with old college

friend Gavin Elster, who asks him

to follow his wife, Madeleine.

Scottie first sees her as she is

having dinner with Elster.

00:34

At a bookstore, Elster tells Scottie

and down-to-earth friend Midge the

story of suicidal Carlotta, Madeleine’s

great-grandmother. Elster says that

Madeleine is possessed by her.

01:16

Madeleine climbs

the bell tower. Scottie

tries to follow but

cannot. He sees a

woman fall to her death.

01:47

Scottie buys Judy

clothes and has her

dye her hair in order

to make her look just

like Madeleine.

00:28

Scottie follows

Madeleine to a

hotel, where she

is registered

under the name

Carlotta Valdez.

00:40

Madeleine jumps into the

bay. Scottie is watching and

pulls her out. He takes her

back to his apartment. She

appears not to remember what

happened.

00:00 00:30 01:00 01:30 02:08

01:34

Scottie sees Judy

Barton and asks her to

dinner. When he leaves,

she starts to write a

note, and the plot with

Elster is revealed. She

decides to stay.

01:58

Scottie recognizes

the necklace. He takes

Judy back to the

tower. They climb to

the top as he reveals

that he knows. She

panics and falls.

Minute by minute

process is never more clear than

in a dream sequence that sees

Stewart’s disembodied head

spiraling down into an abyss. His

usual clean-cut image is distorted

as a wind unsettles his hair and

his expression. He looks lost.

Twisted thriller

Vertigo is an expertly

crafted thriller, but

one with twisted

perspectives.

The villain’s

murderous

plan succeeds, the love story

is poisoned by lies, and the

protagonist is broken emotionally

and physically. It is arguably

the darkest movie the director ever

made. It is a Hitchcock movie with

no Hollywood obligations, as the

director seeks a richer form of

terror—not simply to shock,

repulse, or unsettle the

audience, but to disturb

them, to take everything

they think they know

about his style of

filmmaking and to

corrupt it to reveal

something new.

In Vertigo,

Hitchcock bares

a little bit more

of his soul so

that he can

twist the

knife a

little bit

deeper. ■