How does VERTIGO illustrate love and/or madness?

Past exam question:

Vertigo is a challenging exploration of male fantasy. How far do you agree with this view?

Starter: List the names of the main characters and the actors who played them.

Name of Film: Vertigo
Name of Director / Year: Alfred Hitchcock (1958)
Names of Main Characters / Actors who play them:

1. Scottie (James Stewart)

2. Madeleine Elster (Kim Novak)

3. Judy Barton (Kim Novak)

4. Midge Wood (Barbara Bel Geddes)


THE FOLLY OF ROMANTIC DELUSION

While Scottie’s acrophobia is his most apparent Achilles’ heel, his true tragic flaw is his penchant for romantic delusion. He fools himself, and is easily fooled by others, into believing in illusions that are romantically gratifying to him. Hitchcock presents Midge as a highly sympathetic character and prompts viewers to root for her in her vain attempts to woo Scottie. Midge is the antithesis of romantic delusion, firmly grounded in the real world and able to offer Scottie a mature kind of love.

But this is the kind of love that Scottie rejects in favor of the illusive, dreamlike love he finds with Madeleine. And it is his decisive submission to delusion that ensures the film’s tragic ending. Judy pleads with Scottie to accept her as she is, to try to move beyond the dead Madeleine, but this is something he cannot do. Judy’s startled fall from the bell tower is the film’s final example of the folly and danger of romantic delusion. When the shadowy figure of a nun appears behind Judy and Scottie in the tower, Judy seems to be overtaken by the romantic notion that it may be the ghost of the real Madeleine returning to the scene of the crime.

Film sections covered today: 1:38:00-2:04:00 – Scottie makes Judy’s appearance match Madeline’s looks exactly.  He recognises Judy’s necklace as the necklace from the Carlotta Valdes painting.  They return to the Spanish mission; after a brief struggle, a nun appears from the shadows and Judy falls from the bell tower to her death. 

Task 1:  Finish watching the movie. Make notes and consider the following:

To what extent is Judy willing to give up her identity in order to have Scottie’s love, and what does Hitchcock seem to be suggesting about relationships in general? Why does Hitchcock show the audience shots of Judy that directly parallel past scenes of Madeline?

Task 2:  Use the handouts provided to discuss and make notes on the following:

• -When Scottie is in Judy’s apartment, she sits down in front of the window. We see her face in profile, shadowed, and highlighted by a green light. What shot does this remind you of? What does it remind Scottie of?

• - What is the reason for the overwhelming green color in the room when Judy emerges from the bathroom with her new blonde hair pinned back, wearing the grey suit?

• -Why is there a green haze over Judy when she walks towards Scottie?

• -During their long embrace, the camera begins to turn 360 around them, but the background changes to the inside of the horse stables from the Spanish mission. Why?

• - When Scottie sees the necklace, why is there a shot that starts on Judy’s necklace, switches to the painted necklace, tracks outward to show the entire painting of Carlotta, and then tracks out again to show Madeline looking at the painting?

• -What is Scottie thinking about during the drive to the mission? Why does Judy seem so nervous?

• -Note Scottie’s body as he looks down from the top of the bell tower at Judy. His arms are spread, his palms open, his face pained. What is this image reminiscent of? Why does Hitchcock include this iconic reference?

Students should be able to match up scenes of Madeline with scenes of Judy. They should note the disturbing, unhealthy obsession Scottie has with Madeline and begin to critique the objectified way women are presented in Vertigo.