What a Ride!

Rating: 10/10 (3 February 2009)

This movie is One of the greatest movies ever made. In my mind it's certainly Hitchcock's best. To bear that title is showing real merit. This is a director who has many of cinema's classics in his CV. The 39 Steps, Notorious, Shadow of a Doubt, North by Northwest, Rear window and Psycho. Yet Vertigo is by far his most intricate, deep and intriguing film.
The plot appears simple. Scottie (James Stewart) is hired to follow Madeline (Kim Novak) who is supposedly insane. They fall in love after Scottie saves her from drowning and then the story turns. She appears to have killed herself, Scottie unable to save her due to his acrophobia. Yet Scottie believes he sees her in a bar and follows this look a like, eventually getting her to dress like Madeline. Then Scottie takes her to the scene of the death with one of Hitchcock's darkest scenes ever.
One of the impressive things about Vertigo is that the point of view that the film has changes three times. It starts off being told from Scottie's perspective, before moving to the Kim Novak character and back to Scottie at the end. This makes the film deep and surprisingly fluid. We see Scottie's mental and emotional state deteriorate through the eyes of someone who loves him. This makes the film deeply moving.
The film would not be what it is without Bernard Herman's score. And what a score. It emphasises each emotion Hitch is putting the audience through. The excitement of a chase scene, the curiosity while Scottie trails Madeline or the highly intimate scenes between Scottie and Madeline. This is a pure collaboration between Hitch and Herman.
Vertigo continues to amaze. It shows he audience one direction down a long highway and then BAM we're in another continent going who knows where. Then it takes audiences where they least expect. A pure example of true art.