‘Vertigo‘, made in 1958, seems today, at the first viewing or at a re-watch, like a cinema lesson left by Alfred Hitchcock to the directors who would come after him. It is a complex story (inspired by a French novel by the Boileau – Narcejac couple) that can be described or interpreted on several levels – an impossible and slightly perverse love story, a reflection of the relationship between ideal and reality, a false detective plot (the viewer knows more than the heroe about halfway through the film) and a bogus ghost story. The cast includes two of the great stars of American cinema of the 1950s in some of the best roles of their careers. Visually the film is full of innovations and surprising effects, and the soundtrack (created by Bernard Herrmann, Hitchcock‘s composer partner) plays an important role. All the makings of a great success are here, and even if the film did not enjoy an enthusiastic reception on release (without being a flop), it has grown over time and is – rightly – regarded as one of the best productions directed by Hitchcock and one of the best films of the 1950s.
The story in ‘Vertigo‘ is divided into two parts. Each of them begins with a traumatic event that the main character goes through. The film opens with a chase sequence on the rooftops of San Francisco in which John “Scottie” Ferguson witnesses the fatal fall of a fellow cop from a height. His failure, due to a medical condition that makes him dizzy at heights, ends his police career. He is hired by an old friend to follow Madeleine, his wife, who seems to have suicidal tendencies, possibly caused by heredity or even by the spirit of a great-grandmother, victim of a tragedy that happened a century ago. Madeleine’s death in circumstances also related to his fear of heights will be another trauma for John. He cannot forget the woman he fell in love with and whose death he feels responsible for, and he is looking for her everywhere. When he seems to have found her – or another woman who looks like her – things get even more complicated.
Like most good movies, ‘Vertigo‘ can be told and interpreted on many levels. In my opinion, it is primarily the film of an obsession, that of the hero for the woman he falls in love with and whom he loves even after her death. In any other woman he meets will also see her, and try to reshape her to the same ideal. The ending is open to different interpretations, I prefer the moralistic one combined with a touch of surrealism.
‘Vertigo’ belongs to that period of Hitchcock‘s maturity in which his cinematic language is richer and more expressive from one film to another. He starts the film in black and white to switch to color and experiment with effects and expertly combines colors (green and red are dominant). He invents special effects with the camera including the famous ‘Vertigo’ effect with the camera zooming in while moving backwards. He uses animation and envelops his heroes in mists or auras of adoration. The master was not only open to innovations, he was in their vanguard. We can only imagine him enjoying and experimenting with enthusiasm in the age of computerized effects.
I confess that neither James Stewart nor Kim Novak are my favorite kind of actors in typology or acting style. The age difference makes the relationship between them hardly believable, and they both seem too stiff and elegant to give me the feeling of passionate magnetism that was probably intended. Hitchcock preferred insinuations based on acting and his bet succeeds, especially in the case of James Stewart. But if I had to choose my favorite character in the film, it would be Marjorie, as the hero’s ex-fiancée, turned friend, counselor and frustrated lover, played by Barbara Bel Geddes, the actress whom the series ‘Dallas’ would make famous some two decades later. ‘Vertigo‘ was and remains a viewing delight for both viewers looking for quality entertainment, as well as moviegoers and filmmakers with notebooks open, ready to receive the master’s lesson.