Film Of The Week #79 - Vertigo

Sad Professor

IMDb link.

They called him the master of suspense but nobody took Hitchcock too seriously in his time. It wasn't until French new wave directors such as Truffaut started writing essays about him that he was recognised not just as a great entertainer but as a great auteur of American cinema. By that time it was the late 60s and Hitch's career was almost over.

When it was released in 1958 Vertigo went mostly ignored, the box office receipts were poor and critics grumbled about Hitch giving away the film's biggest twist too early. It was dismissed as lesser-Hitchcock and subsequently over-shadowed by North By Northwest and Psycho. It was the mid-80s before that began to change.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7sznnL0NZ0

I've chosen Vertigo as this week's FOTW because it's my favourite movie, a haunting masterpiece which despite dozens of viewings remains as mesmerising to me now as it was upon my first viewing many years ago. It's hard to describe why I love it so much, the IMDb plot synopsis—

A San Francisco detective suffering from acrophobia investigates the strange activities of an old friend's wife, all the while becoming dangerously obsessed with her.

—makes it sound like a murder mystery/thriller and it is but it's also so much more. It's a disturbing portrait of obsession and lost love with one of the darkest and most memorable endings I've ever seen. It's also perhaps Hitchcock's most personal film and contains a stunning degree of psychological depth. There are so many layers that it defies any single interpretation.

[Some spoilers follow, if you haven't seen the film just watch it, the less you know about it the better.]

The film also contains one of the great cinematic twists, although one that is still argued over to this day. Even Hitchcock considered leaving out the infamous letter-writing scene and allowing the audience to discover the truth along with Stewart later in the movie. In actual fact the early reveal of the twist was a masterstroke as it allows the audience to sympathise with Judy.

In the end Stewart falls in love with a woman who doesn't exist but even after she's gone and he's discovered the truth he still can't let go. There's something eerie about the way he drags her up that bell-tower again at the end of the film, forcing them both to re-live the previous event all over again. And then that incredible final shot, Stewart standing on the top of the tower, the bell ringing behind him, staring down at the body below, finally cured of his vertigo.

All said I think Vertigo is Hitchcock's best film. It might not have had the mainstream appeal of some of his other work but it's certainly the most complex and interesting of them with great performances from Jimmy Stewart and Kim Novak and a magnificent score by Bernard Herrmann.

HungryJoe

They're showing this in the IFI next week - Sat 30th & Sun 31st at 2:15pm. Tickets are fairly pricey at €15/€12 but it's well worth it to see this on the big screen in a beautiful 70mm print.

http://www.irishfilm.ie/cinema/dispfilm_07.asp?filmID=6070

Sad Professor

Yeah I only found out about that a few days ago. I'm raging as I'm in work both days. Really tempted to ring in sick. I need to keep a closer eye on the IFI site in future.

PullMyFinger!

Going to watch this now on the Professor's reccomendation

Its definitely not my usual kind of late night leaveyourbrainatthedoor kinda film so it better be good!

*shakes fist*

faceman

There was some Vertigo bashing on the forum some time ago when Hitchcock was being discussed, so Im glad to see it makes FotW as it is one of my favourites.

I will avoid plot spoilers given some of you havent seen it, but it was ground breaking for it's day. taking a lead character and protraying him the way they did, plus it being Jimmy Stewart. Great performance, excellent pacing and the origin of the hippy trippy drug effects in cinema!

Some interesting trivia about the flick:
It was the first film to use the zoom out/track in shot, made infamous of course by the scene in Jaws.

Kim Novak and Hitchcock didnt see eye to eye. He reportedly made her do repeat takes of her jumping into the Bay which many on set believed to be totally unnecessary.

also there is a story that Novak challenged Hitchcock over her actions in one particular scene and infamously Hitchcock told her "its only a movie Kim"

Parrish_Crooks

faceman wrote: »

Some interesting trivia about the flick:
It was the first film to use the zoom out/track in shot, made infamous of course by the scene in Jaws.

Which scene?

The Denouncer

Parrish_Crooks wrote: »

Which scene?

The whole vertigo effect in the movie to give a sense of dizziness. Hitchcock liked to employ shots like this that dazzled the viewer, like the shot in Rear Window with the camera flash.

BlitzKrieg

fantastic film...Def my favourite Hitchcock, will try to make it to the sunday screening in the IFI.

Which scene?

quite a few of them. In the opening above when he looks down to the street is the first. Pretty much the zoom out track in shot was created to mimic the effects of vertigo.

faceman

Parrish_Crooks wrote: »

Which scene?

Where Brody is on the packed beach and realises Alex Kintner has been eaten by a shark. Its slightly different to how its done in Vertigo but the same principal.

Sad Professor

Any David Lynch fans around? Hitchcock and Vertigo especially seem to have been a huge influence on him. There are references to it in almost all of his work. So if you if you're a Lynch fan Vertigo should be right down your alley. In fact I think Lynch in many ways is far closer to Hitchcock than say De Palma (who has the skill but lacks the psychological insight that Hitch possessed).

Vertigo was also the inspiration for Chris Marker's photomontage La Jetée which in turn was the basis for Terry Gilliam's 12 Monkeys which contains some great Vertigo like moments (including the actual scene from the film that inspired Marker).

PullMyFinger!

Watched it. Liked it. Probably wouldnt watch it again every few years like Rear Window. But not bad.