Love madness by A.H.

Rating: 10/10 (23 June 2001)

I was only a child when I saw Vertigo for the first time, and I can remember that I was very disappointed. I was very fond of Hitchcock's films by that time, mainly because of its marvelous stories about people in dangerous situations and the thrilling things that happened to them, and that's what I thought Vertigo was going to be. But after all I found it rather boring, perhaps because I didn't understand Scottie´s attitude.
However, now I´m a few years older, I see Vertigo (and many other Hitchcock's movies) with different eyes. Detective plot is the subject which I am less concerned inside them (though I keep a high interest), and love affair is now what makes me think that these pictures are really special.
Nobody ever gave us such a romantic sight of loving obsession for a dead woman as Hitch did with Vertigo, and I have never seen such a touching "amour fou" tale. And that's the reason which turns Vertigo into an unforgettable and unique film and differentiates it from other works by the same author, like Notorious or Rebecca. Vertigo's psychological depth is probably only reached by Hitchcock with Marnie, another non-conventional romance.
In addition to that we can enjoy the wonderful performances of Jimmy Stewart (progressively out of his usual role of prudent man as the story moves forward) and Kim Novak (better actress than what some people think and perhaps the most beautiful woman I have seen on a screen).
But Vertigo is one more thing: it's a film about a city. San Francisco was never so well portrayed (those hills, those neighborhoods, those houses...), and many of us have learned to love it starting from this picture.