Vertigo

 Dir: Alfred Hitchcock/USA/1958/128 mins

Lps: James Stewart, Kim Novak, Barbara Bel Geddes

In Rear Window James Stewart is the hero, but he is also a voyeur who watches his neighbours through binoculars. In Vertigo his degradation has reached more noticeable depths, as Hitchcock not only unravels a complex murder mystery but also traces the destruction of his hero by sexual obsession.

Developing a fear of heights after failing to save a fellow police officer from falling during a rooftop chase, John Ferguson (Stewart), now retired, is asked by a friend to keep an eye on his wife Madeleine, who seems to have developed suicidal obsessions over the death of an ances-tor. When his vertigo prevents him from following her up a tower, he is consumed by guilt on seeing her body fall from the top window. However, only halfway through the film, there is clearly more to the death than meets the eye; and a year later Ferguson glimpses a woman, Judy, who reminds him of Madeleine, and, obsessively drawn to her, he finds himself reliving his past guilt.

Throughout the film, camera angles and visual effects powerfully convey the dizzy fears and sexual obsessions of the central character, whilst Kim Novak, as both Madeleine and Judy, is alternatively icy-cool and nervily resolute as the victim of the masculine drives of the men around her. Vertigo is undoubtedly one of Hitchcock's best films. Even when you already know the intricate resolution to the plot, the strength of the acting and the drama still make it a fascinating and overwhelming experience. 

ML