Vertigo Revision

Vertigo Revision

1. Recurring Motifs

   • The mise-en-scene of Ernie’s sharply contrasts with the safety of Midge’s studio. The restaurant has dim lighting, and the walls are red, a color of warning. In our first glimpse of Madeleine, she is wearing a black dress and a bright green shawl.
     • Green, a color of mystery and passion, shows up many times around Madeleine (her car, the neon hotel sign, Judy’s first outfit). As she is leaving the restaurant, she stops behind Scottie, and we see a close-up, profile shot in shallow focus. The profile shot emphasizes her beauty. Scottie catches a short glimpse of Madeleine, yet the music escalates.
       • “Even this indirect gaze from periphery of the eye, which does not give a clear image, was sufficient to infect him with the virus of mystery and obsession” - Slobodan Mijuskovic: The Power of Fake
     • Scottie and Madeleine decide to wander together, an activity they both do frequently. Wandering means traveling without a destination, which is precisely what Scottie is doing; trying to solve a puzzle for which there is no rational answer, falling in love with a woman who does not exist. “There’s an answer for everything!” he exclaims.
     • Madeleine is actually Judy Barton acting as a fictional Madeleine.

2. The story of a man who experiences vertigo not only physically as a result of acrophobia, but also figuratively when he falls in love with a fabricated woman

   • Throughout the film, Hitchcock accentuates the cyclical and disorienting nature of vertigo explicitly with powerful visual images and a mystifying soundtrack, and also abstractly with recurrences and symbolism.

3. “We are thus immediately introduced to the world of the eye, gaze and seeing, the world where the film takes place and about which it narrates” - Mijuskovic, Slobodan - The Power of Fake

4. The audience is bombarded with various circular, spiral, and spinning images. The opening animations, the bouquet, Madeleine/Carlotta’s hair, the chandelier in the McKittrick Hotel which Scottie keeps staring at, the cross section of the sequoia tree, Scottie’s nightmare, the bell tower staircase – all of these concrete images along with the spiraling soundtrack convey the physical symptoms of vertigo, but more importantly, they also establish the idea of recurrence, a theme used extensively

5. Pure cinema within the following sequence; just visuals + non-diegetic sound

6. Locations and events from the past constantly repeat themselves, and the characters become trapped in this cycle, this state of illusion. In the final scene, Scottie says he wants to be “free of the past”. In other words, he wants to be free of his vertigo, both physically and figuratively.

7. The opening chase scene serves as the prologue of Vertigo. When Scottie is hanging from the ledge, we see for the first time the trademark vertigo shot

   • Scottie has officially entered the world of illusion contrived by Gavin Elster, a world where people from the past can return and repeat history. The more time Scottie spends following Madeleine, the more her hypnotic energy draws him away from reality. Sensible Midge tries to bring him back to reality, laughing at Elster’s ghost story, “Oh now really Johnny, come on.”

8. This effect was achieved by physically pulling the camera back and zooming in at the same time, and it successfully makes the viewer feel disoriented

   • This is a strong metaphorical statement to introduce the film. Scottie is desperately hanging onto a ledge (reality, stability) but is being pulled away by a strong gravitational force (Madeleine) into a great abyss (an illusion).

9. Midge’s art studio, where Scottie is trying to balance a cane on his finger tips, another symbol of imbalance and falling. Midge represents the safety and stability that Scottie needs but does not necessarily desire. The mise-en-scene in the room clearly demonstrates this safety. The studio is well-lit and has a yellow, cream colored tone. There are no mysterious shadows or strong colors.

   • Midge, wearing a soft yellow sweater, serves as the stark contrast to Madeleine. She is not beautiful or mysterious, and while she loves Johnny (the name only old friends call him), it is more of a maternal love.
     • It appears that Midge broke off their engagement because she wanted Johnny to grow up a little, to become more like her. “You’re a big boy now,” she says when Johnny inquires about the brassiere. However, this is simply not who Johnny is, and he is about to fall into a trap that most would have avoided.
   • As critic Robin Wood notes, Midge is a “known quantity.” Scottie, however, is a detective. He makes a living on investigating and solving mysteries. So while he has a very healthy friendship with Midge, she does not intrigue him the way mysterious Madeleine does.

10. After she jumps into the bay, he touches her, feels her breath, and says her name for the first time. She is becoming more and more real to him and further pulling him into a fantasy world. When Scottie follows her to his own house, we only see him driving downhill and constantly turning. The shot constantly switches back and forth between Madeleine’s turning car and Scottie watching and following. This is another dizzying effect and represents Scottie’s downward spiral into illusion.