Allure of Mystery and Obsession with Looks

Rating: 7/10 (11 April 2018)

For me, this is not a typical Hitchcock movie. Though there are mystery and crime elements and also some thrilling moments, the film is more about 'believing what you made to believe to see'. And this makes it more of a psychological drama. Hitchcock cleverly shows us how mystery can lure us in and get hooked. What is more how unsolved mystery can become an obsession driving a man crazy.
Scottie, a retired detective with fear of heights, gets 'hooked' on a mystery of an attractive, seductive and alluring woman. He is lead to believe that she is 'possessed' by the spirit of her great grandmother who committed a suicide. Despite being a detective albeit a retired one, Scottie remains somewhat weak character due to his original flaw - fear of heights which is used by Gavin to manipulate him - and his fascination with the mystery of the woman he cannot comprehend. His non-comprehension of the subject deepens when he tries to recreate Madeleine's look forcing Judy to alter her hair colour and style and forcing her to wear style of clothes that Madeleine used to wear. Scottie is not interested in the real woman - Judy - behind the mask of Madeleine, he is obsessed with the looks of the woman that lured him into the mystery in the first place, trying to recreate exhilaration and attraction he felt. Gavin used Judy to impersonate his wife whom he murdered and Scotties uses Judy to impersonate the impersonated Madelaine. Both men do not care for the real woman. For them she is just a tool. Quite a reflection fo the Hollywood world back then and I believe even now.