Film Analysis Of Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo

Alfred Hitchcock’s 1958 thriller film, Vertigo is a fantastic window into the human psyche. This film is filled with twists and turns, that all seem to build toward a plot that is often as dizzying and turbulent as the film title itself. It is an engaging story that takes audiences into the mind of a man who suffers from the false feeling of dizziness, otherwise known as vertigo. Notably, Hitchcock is a master at what he does, and the combination of beautiful cinematography and carefully prepared mis-en-scene add to the complex narrative and successfully captivates the viewer’s attention.
The themes of obsession and illusion are very prevalent throughout the film, and Hitchcock brilliantly utilizes various formal choices to showcase them.

He even created a new camera trick called the dolly zoom to create the dizzying effect that can be seen in the scenes where Scottie’s acrophobia kicks in. There is one particular scene at the beginning of the film that is one of the first uses of this dolly zoom. It occurs when Scottie is on the roof chasing a perp with a fellow police officer, and he stumbles and hangs off the side of the very tall building. Scottie looks down at the ground and the camera dollies in, while zooming out making it look like the world below is distorted. This technique highlights Scottie’s newfound fear of heights and the effect vertigo had on him in that moment. Hitchcock allows us to visually see Scottie’s fear and re-create this feeling of dizziness in us. After this traumatic event, Scottie quits the force and is still haunted by what transpired on the roof. His acrophobia and vertigo are his true weaknesses and are the main reasons as to why he is so obsessed with death. He was able to escape death, but everyone around him always suffers a terrible