Analysis Of The Movie Vertigo

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Recommended: Now and then character analysis

Garry Yuzovitskiy
Cinema 270
Vertigo
Production Info:
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Studio: Paramount Studios in Hollywood
Cinematographer: Robert Burks
Screenwriters: Alec Coppel and Samuel A. Taylor
Major Actors: James Stewart as John “Scottie” Ferguson, Kim Novak as Madeleine Ester and Judy Barton, Barbara Bel Geddes as Midge Wood

Alfred Hitchcock’s masterpiece Vertigo is a mysteriously romantic movie that is a hopeless love story of John “Scottie” Ferguson and Madeleine Ester. Scottie was a detective but was forced to retire due to his condition of vertigo and acrophobia. He was the perfect scapegoat for Gavin Elster’s scheme. Gavin had asked Scottie to trail his “possessed wife”, Madeleine. Madeleine is apparently possessed by the spirit of her great grandmother, Carlotta Valdes, who had committed suicide at the age of twenty-six which just so happens to be the same age as Madeleine. Scottie becomes completely taken over by his task of trailing Madeleine, seemingly falling in love with her. After she attempts to commit suicide for the first time, Scottie saves her life and wins her affection over. The two begin to spend time together and travel to San Juan Bautista, the perfect scenario for Gavin’s master plot. After professing her love to Scottie, Madeleine runs up the bell tower, which Scottie is apprehensive about climbing due to his acrophobia. Several minutes later Scottie witnesses Madeleine fall to her death from the very top.
Scottie was the perfect pawn in Gavin Elster’s plot to get rid of the character known as Madeleine Elster. Gavin knew Scottie’s acrophobia would stop him from preventing the death of Madeleine, thus becoming an accomplice of murder. Scottie is wrecked with guilt and grief ...

... middle of paper ...

...ir as well as dress the way that Madeleine’s character used too. Judy at first is apprehensive, but she decides that she isn’t willing to lose Scottie’s love altogether and would rather he love her as the image of Madeleine. Judy becomes the new object of Scottie’s male gaze obsession. A very powerful scene takes place when the camera angle cuts back and forth between Judy’s face (showing incredible agony, pain, and a desire to satisfy) and Scottie’s face (lustful and controlling). The audience truly feels for the characters, as they are slaves in a masterful scheme designed by Gavin Elster to murder his wife. By the end of the movie Judy’s character has come full circle. She is no longer in this for the money, but instead she is in it for love.
Scottie’s character is once again in a good place as he has found someone to be the complete obsession of his male

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