Must we all fall before we awake?

Rating: 8/10 (23 February 2002)

REVIEW CONTAINS MILD SPOILERS
The problem with Vertigo, is that it's neither one thing nor the other, unable to decide what it wants to be. We open as a detective story, an American detective story, as there is never a trace of noir, but slightly removed from reality, more so than the usual detective story, in a way that everything about the world in which the characters inhabit has an odd sanitised look and feeling, as though there is never any real danger around the corner. The same thing could easily be applied to Hitchcock's other classic Rear Window, in which besides from the ominous threat of the man across the way, we never had any other worry for L.B. Jeffries. In Vertigo the lead character is Scottie Ferguson (James Stuart), a detective hired by an old friend to keep a trace on his wife who he believes has been acting irrationally. Scottie obliges, but pretty soon begins to develop an unhealthy obsession with the woman. Hitchcock masterfully layers his subtexts and dreamscapes into his dense visuals, but the crux of the story only becomes more misguided. We are torn somewhere between detective story and avant-garde psychological drama.
The plot becomes more complex as we move along, with the kind of twist a-minute scenarios that modern audiences have come to expect, as Scottie is lead deeper into a web of mystery and deceit he has no chance of controlling. There are many varying interpretations of Vertigo, most of which only thicken the plot more. There is of course the irrational idea that Scottie dies during the opening leap across the building, or that he is fatally wounded, and the entire film unfolds like a dream, rapidly becoming a nightmare, but this variation only makes the ending of the film seem flawed. For this to work, the dénouement would need to be less vague, although the idea of the nun brings a nice touch about Scottie confronting his faith, and his run up the steps of the tower becoming an almost allegorical riff on the old stairway to heaven motif, as the wounded Scottie slips from this world into death. But like I said, it only raises unnecessary complications. This idea also fails to give insight into Scottie's mental breakdown, if this is a dream, or some kind of life or death situation, then what would be the point of it.
Hitchcock's imagery is as much a part of the film as the complex plot, as I mentioned before his composition and iconography layers false dreams and false realities, within the subconscious of the character. Is it Scotties point of view we are seeing or Madeleine/Judy (Kim Novak)? We are never sure of anything in the world of Vertigo, so we the audience must create our own false realities behind the film, to lull us into thinking we have a grasp on the proceedings, but we never fully will. This is were the dream logic comes into play, the idea that we never fully awake from a dream until we fall, much like Judy's character at the end of the film, have we been viewing the proceeding through her eyes? Who knows, much like a dream, Vertigo is a film that will never be understood, and despite some minor nagging flaws, it's better to just enjoy it whilst it lasts.