Vertigo - Hitchcock's master work?

[dreamshark]

Some people seem to think so. I dunno. I was listening to somebody on a podcast rave about this movie (turning 50 this year!) and decided to watch it again. It's... weird. Like most Hitchcock, the visual images are arresting and memorable. But the plot is far-fetched and murky and the characters are too bizarre to take seriously, not to mention thoroughly unappealing. Apparently (according to the commentary in the "making of" on the DVD) viewers are supposed to identify powerfully with Scotty (the Jimmy Stewart character). Really? Feel sorry for him, perhaps, but is there really anybody who IDENTIFIES with this weirdo?

And the plot is just ridiculous.

All that time that "Judy" (if that really was her name) was pretending to be Madeleine - where was the REAL Madeleine? Tied up in the basement? Didn't she have a single friend or acquaintance that would notice she was missing? And wouldn't the murderous husband have had a hard time explaining what was going on if Scotty had made it to the top of the bell tower the first time? A convoluted murder plot that is dependent on knowing EXACTLY how somebody's irrational phobia is going to play out right down to the number of steps they can force themselves to climb is a pretty stupid plan. And what was that ending all about? What was Scotty going to do if the scary nun hadn't appeared at exactly the climactic moment to dispatch the love of his life? Would Judy have gotten her steak dinner, or would that have been the end of the date?  It would have been a lot more interesting if he actually had to figure out what he meant by love at that point instead of having it all taken out of his hands. Except, of course, for having to go through another coroner's inquest for yet another identical-looking blonde in a grey suit that just happened to have fallen out of the same bell tower. *heh*  If he thought the coroner was mean to him the first time....

Comments

[barondave.livejournal.com]

I went to my cousin's Fringe show (yes, they have a Fringe Festival in SF), which was about Vertigo. I haven't seen the movie in ages. Possibly never. You're right, the film's rep relies more on the photography and noir than the plot.

To Kill For

[carbonel]

I also wondered what was going to happen to Scotty. Was the trauma at the end going to push him over the edge? I didn't identify with him, but I did consider him a mostly sympathetic character.

[asimovberlioz.livejournal.com]

I've always supposed that since the death of the "first" "Madeleine" messed him up as badly as we saw, Judy's death would pretty much crush him completely. Not even Midge could help him after that.

For years I thought it was The Hokey Pokey

[mle292.livejournal.com]

Vertigo is an impressive movie about Hitchcock's skill as a director, but it's not a great story.

Psycho is a good story, The Trouble With Harry is a great story. In the end, that's what it's all about.

ETA: OHDEARSWEETJEEBUS, I almost forgot the most important one. North By Northwest. If you haven't seen it, you should get it immediately.

[asimovberlioz.livejournal.com]

Various thoughts -- yes, Scottie is supposed to be a sympathetic character; it's one of the reasons Hitchcock cast James Stewart in the role. Many of Hitch's protagonists are flawed in some way, but the ones played by Stewart are particularly so: Jeff Jeffries in "Rear Window" has those broken bones; Ben McKenna in "The Man Who Knew Too Much" is a control freak; and even Rupert Cadell in "Rope" walks with a limp (which you'll see if you're not distracted by watching for the reel changes).

In fact, we're supposed to feel sympathy with Scottie from the start, when his hitherto-unrealized phobia causes the death of a uniformed officer. (Death from a fall is a recurring theme in Hitchcock, of course, and this one mirrors the two bell-tower incidents later.) He's even given a sympathetic ex-girlfriend whom he treats kindly, at least until she makes the mistake of mocking him with her self-portrait.

I've always felt sympathetic toward him for those reasons, and the fact that he's a do-gooder (works on the side of the law, he's nice to Midge, he does a favor for his old friend Elster who takes advantage of him, etc.) helps. Of course he's got problems, but nothing so bad as to make him an anti-hero.

So where was the real Madeleine? Travelling, no doubt, because she's the one with the money, leaving Elster behind to run the shipyards. She was probably travelling by ship, and Elster kept track of her whereabouts by watching the ship arrivals and departures, hatching his plan accordingly. Judy was Elster's mistress, and obviously in on the plot to the point where she could manipulate Scottie according to Elster's timetable.

Scottie's plan at the end was probably to force Judy to confess to her role in Madeleine's murder. That would give Scottie something to go to the D.A. with (he's still got friends on the force, after all), after which the problem at hand would be finding out where Elster went and extraditing him. Perhaps Scottie's feelings for Judy would be rather like those of Sam Spade for Brigid at the end of "The Maltese Falcon": still in love, but needing to see justice done. Her dinner would be salisbury steak, served to her behind bars.

As for Phyllis Lindstrom's father-in-law the coroner, at least this time he would have the testimony of the "scary nun" to the effect that Judy jumped or fell. Scottie now faces an ever worse procedure, a competency hearing, and will probably be institutionalized for a very long time.

Yes, "Vertigo" does depend on wild coincidences and chances ... but that's its nature, as it's a dance between the real and the unreal, between dreams and reality (or perceived reality, anyway), between the living and the dead. Of course the plot doesn't make strict sense, as few of Hitchcock films do. They're not slices of life, but slices of cake, as he liked to say.

[asimovberlioz.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, the one thing that still puzzles me is how Judy-as-Madeleine was able to sneak past the concierge without getting seen. But then probably, the concierge drank.