An interpretation of the end (Spoilers)

Rating: 9/10 (3 April 2006)

I won't make an extensive commentary, but an interpretation of the end.
Nowadays, when there's a part of a movie that is hard to understand or put together, it is easily explained through the device (somewhat overused) that it was all part of a dream, or it was all product of the character's imagination When I watched VERTIGO, that's one explanation that I had: everything that happens after Madeleine's suicide (and so, we are stating that HER suicide was true) only happened in Scottie's (James Stewart Character) imagination.
CLUES: Just a little after the suicide occurs, there's a trial. Or sort of. I'm not very familiar with these kinds of trials or investigative proceedings, but this one looks very informal. Anyway, the proceeding never leave Scottie out of responsibility. In fact, every time the coroner speaks, he establishes again and again that Scottie's fear of heights produced his lack of will to act, and that in turn did not avoid the suicide of the one he was taking care of.
Those words are recriminating, like those from the voice of one's conscience. Next time you see this scene, pay attention and you will hear that the coroner is merciless against Scottie. It's my opinion that in this theory, this trial represents the fight in Scottie's mind against his conscience, that is telling him again and again that he is guilty, What happens after the "trial"? We see Scottie walking towards Madeleine's grave. This represents him facing the consequence of his acts, facing the need to still deal with it.
Was all this a dream, something out of the character's mind? Well, that's what the movie is telling us. Inmediatly, we see Scottie in his bed, as if everything that has just happened came from his subconscious. And then, his mind begins to run wild. He begins to hallucinate.
His conscience hasn't liberated him from guilt, and that finally drives him completely mad.
Then we see Scottie in some kind of clinic or asylum, completely blank. From then on, we can assume for sure that everything is happening only in his crazy mind.
When Midge (Scottie's friend) speaks to the doctor, he says that Scottie has a great deal of feelings of guilt. Now we know that the movie tries to make a big deal about it. Now we confirm that his insanity has been caused by his guilt, and in his mind he's trying to make up a theory that set him free from his guilt.
It's kind of strange that after he leaves the clinic, that is, the whole final part of the movie, Midge never appears again. Obviously, she's got no place in the story that Scottie is inventing in his head (it would be logic to see her at least once, since she was his closest friend. But this wasn't the real world...).
Since his conscience hasn't liberated him, he has to resort to something else, something that could explain things in a way not only to present him as not guilty, but, even better, as a victim. So then on we see how a conspiracy theory against the real Madelaine, and in turn, against him, is discovered little by little. Or, better said, is invented little by little.
The fact that Madeleine, this time as Judy, dies again, can only mean that Scottie didn't find a real answer to his guilt: no matter how he tries to fool himself, he will never get rid of his responsibility. Now, that's a mind playing tricks on you !!!. We can rest assured that poor Scottie never awoke from his madness.
Is this theory plausible? I guess so. Could it be contradicted? Yes of course. But then again, all the theories that you could imagine about Vertigo are not flawless, and that's the great thing about this movie: it could mean a lot of things, but those meanings are never conclusive.
You can blame too much MULLHOLLAND DRIVE for this kind of theory. But it's interesting to think that movies like Vertigo could have inspired such great style of movies.
Of course, some will argue that the final scene that was included in the English version (and in the American DVD as an extra) spoils this interpretation completely. But since it was taken away (by a the director's decision or whomever is responsible), it has left the puzzle incomplete, and so we are left with the option of making sense of it all.