Showing posts with label Alfred Hitchcock. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Alfred Hitchcock. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 30, 2020

Vertigo (1958)

(I blogged about this film originally in 2015)


 At a glance:
  • Director: Alfred Hitchcock
  • Starring: James Stewart, Kim Novak
  • Genre: film noir, psychological, thriller
  • Release: 1958, USA
  • Length: 2 hours
  • IMDB: 8.3
  • Review: -

Plot: Our protagonist, Scottie (James Stewart) is is a detective with a career ahead (played by a man in his 50s for some reason) who has a traumatic experience when his colleague dies of falling off a rooftop during a chase. Scottie develops a fear of heights and retires until an acquaintance asks him to follow and take care of his wife Madeleine (Kim Novak), who recently has started to act mentally unstable. She believes she has been possessed by her dead great-grandmother's ghost, who committed suicide. While looking after her, Scottie falls for Madeleine...

Theme: In spite of being a thriller, the story is about a tragic love or rather the tragic love of two broken people.

Content: Unlike today, the big twist of the story takes place in the middle of the story instead of waiting till the end. Hitchcock did this to help us understand Madeleine's perspective. The studio first removed this twist but then edited it back.

Form: To achieve the visual expression of the fear of height, the most noticeable is the so-called dolly zoom technique, where the camera is moved backwards while they are also zooming in. They say the film is also innovative in several editing methods. The nightmare-sequence mixed with animation is quite eye-catching even with today's standards. Music is much more than just background music, it is part of the images.

Impression: If the twist had not taken place in the middle of the story, my surprise would have definitely been bigger, but then I might have missed Madeleine's perspective.  Well, not as if I did get it now... Maybe it would have been more effective if it had been shot from Madeleine's perspective.

Trivia:

  • James Stewart had a traditional military family heritage, so he was one of the first stars to enlist when the USA entered World War II. He did actually take part in real missions as a pilot and was quite successful in his military career as well.