breathtaking

Rating: 10/10 (4 April 2007)

Surely Hitchcock's finest film, this sophisticated, dream like swirling concoction grabs you from the start of the hypnotic titles and the opening frantic roof top chase. That slight distance that can seem apparent sometimes between Hitchcock and his actors works in his favour here as we struggle to see our way through this nightmare. For me Barbara Del Geddes' 'Midge' is less satisfactory than the rest because her character seems to not have the same depth or historic connection. She seems like a child or somebody escaped from some other movie. I know her part was written in to help Stewart's character reveal the 'story so far' as you might say but her perky 'normality' and inability to convince as an 'artist' detract somewhat from the scenes at her apartment. Incidentally it always seems odd to me that Stewart seems so comfortable in this dizzyingly high dwelling with the city spread out beneath. All that said the movie is still absolutely breathtaking. The Herrmann music helps enormously but there is no doubt that Hitch has every frame of this film etched in his mind and never puts a foot wrong. We see Stewart reluctantly begin to follow Novak (in devastating form), then become more interested and then obsessed and the later scenes where his needs become more desperate are some of the most chilling in cinema.