overwhelming

Rating: 10/10 (11 October 2005)

The score, the post-transformation kiss, the ending. I've seen Vertigo six times now and it still thrills me.
James Stewart is just plain brilliant as Scotty. He starts off as a light-hearted, good natured guy and becomes very manipulative, very single-minded, very scary, very un-Stewart-like. And yet, even as he's leading the woman he thought he was in love with up the stairs in an emotionally manic frenzy, Scotty's still a completely sympathetic character. He's manhandling Judy, screaming at her, and at that moment you can really *feel* that his heart has been ripped from chest. You don't want Judy to come to harm, but you can't begrudge Scotty his rage either. Whatever happens, you know there can be no happy ending. And as Scotty stands in the bell tower looking down at his lover's corpse for the second time, you and he are utterly crushed. Now *that's* cinema.