Vertigo

Rating: 10/10 (1 November 2006)

San Francisco detective John 'Scottie' Ferguson ( Jimmy Stewart) discovers his acrophobia ( a pathological dread of heights) when a police colleague falls to his death during a rooftop chase. The condition leads to vertigo, a psychosomatic illness which produces dizziness and the sensation of drifting in spinning space. Shortly, after his resignation from the police force-Scottie is asked by an old school friend, Gavin Elster ( Tom Helmore), to follow his wife Madeline ( Kim Novak), who he says, is suicidal and believes that a long-dead relative has come back to possess her. Scottie takes the assignment and subsequently falls in love with Madeline, after he saves her from drowning herself in the San Francisco Bay.
At its core, Vertigo is a tale of obsession. It works because it is a human story. Quite a bizarre story, but quite a human one. Its major theme is quite simply that a romantic fantasy is a dangerous hoax, potentially fatal. In Stewart's, Scottie there is a complex web of attraction and repulsion. For example, it is quite horrifying how much alike Scottie and Gavin actually are.
Another major standout of Vertigo is it's location. San Francisco, itself with its rolling fog, and dizzying heights, the waters of the bay. Every element of the film essentially, is linked to every other element: each color, each wardrobe ( Madeline/Judy's eerie gray suit). The entire film is filled with beautiful image after another.
For me the scene of the entire film, is the last scene of the film, the final dialogue-between Scottie and 'Judy'. The rage, frustration, and grief in Scottie's voice, and the shame and fear in 'Judy's' voice are real and authentic. They are also probably two of the best moments in the screen careers of Stewart and Novak. In several interviews, Hitchcock himself spoke of his ' dissatisfaction' with Kim Novak's performance, but I think she gives one hell of a heartbreaking and moving performance. As good as you can get!!!!!!!!!! Question #1: Does Scottie commit suicide? The last frame of him, that we see: is one of him standing at roofs edge, arms spread out. An image of a drained man, utterly destroyed by his own delusion........