Vertigo

Rating: 8/10 (2 November 2016)

In 2012, Sight and Sound dethroned Citizen Kane as the best film of all time, ending a 50-year reign as the top film. The film in which they named the best film, was Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo. Made in 1958 starring James Stewart and Kim Novak; I was really looking forward to seeing what so many thought was a superior film to the god-like Citizen Kane masterpiece. Vertigo explores obsession and how deeply obsession can take root and the disastrous effects that can have on everyone involved. When a retired San Fransisco detective is asked to do a favor for a friend, and obsession takes root, lives are changed forever.
John 'Scottie' Ferguson (James Stewart), a retired detective living in San Fransisco, has been forced to leave his job as a debilitating case of acrophobia, or, vertigo has taken control of him after being involved in a roof-top chase resulting in the death of a subject. Adjusting to a more low-key life, Scottie is spending a lot of time connecting with friends, such re-connections have led him to an old college friend, Gavin Elster (Tom Helmore). Gavin shares with Scottie that his wife has been exhibiting some odd behaviors, in which she has episodes in which she seems to believe that she is the reincarnation of a deceased ancestor. Gavin explains that she experiences these episodes, then abruptly comes out of them, never remembering what she experienced while she was enduring the episode. Gavin asks Scottie to follow his wife, Madeleine Elster (Kim Novak) as he is concerned for her sanity. Scottie obliges, and as he begins to follow her, he gets to know her and almost instantly falls in love with her. Scottie doesn't just fall in love with Madeleine, though, he becomes deeply obsessed with her. After saving her life several times from her attempted suicides, Scottie is unable to save her when she climbs to the top of a bell tower she intends to jump from, due to his vertigo. After several months of brooding after his obsession, Scottie feels magnetically drawn to a woman who looks just like Madeleine and takes her shopping and to die her hair so she may look identical to his obsession. Scottie was making a woman in Madeleine's image until he realizes he has been duped by an intricate puzzle he has unknowingly been a part of.
I'm a sucker for openings and movie introductions. Vertigo opens in a brilliant way with an equally as brilliant introduction to Kim Novak as the stunning beauty that kidnaps the eye in the restaurant scene. The colors in this film are fantastic and all of Hitchcock's trials with color come to wonderful fruition with Vertigo. A psychological thriller to end all thrillers, Vertigo is a wonderfully intricate puzzle which is a superb treat for the audience to piece together. Technically, Vertigo is a film to study by anyone interesting in filmmaking or understanding films on a deeper plane and artistic level. The shot composition is divine in Vertigo, creating a work of art in each scene. I am quite partial to Jimmy Stewart and thought he did a wonderful job in the complex role of Scottie. One thing that has always struck me about Vertigo was how unfairly blamed Stewart was for the failure of the film. Vertigo was not commercially or critically successful upon its release, and he shouldered much of this blame on Jimmy Stewart. Hitchcock and Stewart had worked together three times previously, and their fourth film, Vertigo would be their last because Hitch thought someone like another stock actor of his, Cary Grant, would have brought more sex appeal to the role and producing a better final product. Unfortunately, Hitch seems to miss all that Stewart brings to the role, the deliberate motions, and movements that Grant would have faltered with. In any regard, Vertigo has etched a place in history and for just cause as a true illustration of Hitchcock's mastery.