Vertigo- 3 Stars

In 2012 Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo was voted the best film of all time on the critics Sight & Sound poll composed of all the major critics in the world. I do not agree.

Theatrical Release Poster

I am a big fan of Hitchcock (Psycho is one of my favourite ever films) but this film, concerning John 'Scottie' Ferguson (James Stewart) a retired policeman with acrophobia and vertigo tasked with tailing his old friend Gavin Elster's (Tom Helmore) wife Madeleine (Kim Novak) because he is afraid she is being possessed by the spirit of her dead-by-suicide great grandmother, is not Hitchcock's best.

So what's not to like about it? Well the first half of the film is quite good. It's a Hitchcock film so of course it's brilliantly (and even beautifully) shot with music ratcheting up the tension. The mystery is gripping. However, the problems start coming when Scottie falls in love with Madeleine. The romance is all done in a very melodramatic style with bursts of music playing every time they kiss. This rather put me off the film although I suppose it was very typical in its day taking inspiration from popular films such as Gone with the Wind and Casablanca. It also could be redeemed through its use of contrast with Scottie's relationship with his girlfriend Midge (Barbara Bel Geddes). As opposed to the melodramatic, completely unreal relationship of Scottie and Madeleine, Scottie's relationship with Midge is very down to earth, real and touching. Their scenes together are certainly the best scenes in the film with Barbara Bel Geddes lighting up the screen. But the problem is Midge is basically not in the second half of the film yet the cringey, over the top and melodramatic romance scenes continue although this time with a different woman, Judy Barton.

James Stewart as Scottie and Kim Novak as Madeleine

My main problem with Vertigo involves basically spoiling the plot of the film so be warned that this next paragraph contains spoilers. SPOILER ALERT. Okay so when Madeleine commits suicide, supposedly because her dead great grandmother told her too, Scottie is left distraught and starts to obsess over Madeleine seeing her everywhere. He eventually meets a woman by the name of Judy Barton who looks exactly like Madeleine. It is revealed (although not to Scottie) that she was in fact playing Madeleine and the whole suicide was arranged by the real Madeleine's husband for as Barton ran up the tower pretending to be Madeleine Mr Elster was at the top with his wife who, when Barton arrives at the top, he promptly pushes off the top of the building and then hides with Barton making Madeleine's death look like suicide. Due to Scottie's acrophobia he cannot reach the top of the tower meaning he witnesses the 'suicide' but does not see that it was actually murder. Did I explain that well? No? Yeah that's because it is so contrived and complicated that it is laughable and as a result rather difficult to explain. When watching it unfold I laughed out loud because I thought it must be a false story it was just so laughably forced and contrived. After that point in the film I stopped being interested because it was quite obvious where the film was going and, especially now Scottie was rather unrelatable due to his obsession with Madeleine, the film became boring, melodramatic and predictable. When it came to the ending you couldn't predict what exactly was going to happen but at that point I was really beyond caring. There was little of Hitchcock's trademark tension. I will admit the startling appearance of the nun at the end was good- it certainly sent shivers up my spine- but this was then ruined by the underwhelming death of Barton as she trips and falls off the edge of the same tower Elster's wife was pushed off. Although of course this death was clever as it mirrored the real Madeleine's death showing that Barton was becoming her (also shown through Scottie's obsession with getting Barton to dress exactly like Madeleine).

Alfred Hitchcock, the producer and director

I've been very critical so far and that is because the film, especially the second half, was not particularly enjoyable. However, this is a Hitchcock so there are of course redeeming features. Vertigo is reasonably intelligent with its idea of identity. Madeleine is obsessed with Carlotta showing her desire to be someone else and for those who have watched the film or read the last paragraph the pretense is also obviously referring to the theme of identity. It is also, as I have previously stated, beautifully shot and the first half of the film is intriguing and tense in areas. I was also pleased that, however contrived the resolution was, that it was not supernatural, although it being a Hitchcock film maybe it was naive of me to think it would be. The acting was also good although perhaps slightly wooden in places. However that is most likely to do with the lines rather than bad acting.

I am of course aware that perhaps my negative review of this film stems from my expectations that this film would be a masterpiece. In light of this I will watch the film again and update my review accordingly. My first impressions, however, are that this film is overrated.

So in conclusion, Vertigo is a very visually good film, with tense areas and some good characters and performances, but plot contrivances and the melodrama surrounding the love story mean this film does not live up to its lofty praise.

Ratings: Entertainment: 6 Technical: 4 Intelligence: 3= 13/20 ***







http://jonbateswrites.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/vertigo-poster.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/94/Hitchcock,_Alfred_02.jpg
http://www.gonemovies.com/WWW/WanadooFilms/Thriller/VertigoBos.jpg