A masterful display of suspense and illusion

Rating: 8/10 (9 December 2016)

Vertigo is a film I enjoyed very much. It takes what could have simply been a very average story and transforms it into a fascinating look at the human condition and how it deals with grief. Hitchcock is one of the great auteurs of cinema and he shows us why with this film, he is constantly changing the tone of the film and yet it never feels muddled. He combines genres including, Romance, Drama and Thriller; this may not seem a huge achievement but it paved the way for many filmmakers of the future to mix genres. Jimmy Stewart has a very challenging role that I believe he plays perfectly, the subtle change from private-eye to hopeless romantic is actually believable. Kim Novak is also superb as a woman with much to hide. The ending was my only problem with the film, it feels incredibly sudden and more of an exit route for the writer as opposed to an actual conclusion to the film. Nevertheless, I would certainly recommend it to any film fans as a must watch film given how much it has influenced cinema since its release.