Film: Vertigo
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Country: UK / USA
Released: May 1958
Runtime: 128 minutes
Genre: Thriller
Studio: Paramount
Influenced: Dario Argento, Christopher Nolan, Jonathan Glazer, Claire Denis, Park Chan-Wook
Consistently ranked among the Top 10 greatest movies ever made, Vertigo's opening credits alone are more innovative than the vast majority of films ever made, and served as the inspiration for a similar style of opening credits in pretty much every Bond movie ever made. Vertigo is one of those happy moments when location (San Francisco), story (psychological thriller by French crime-writing duo Pierre Boileau and Pierre Ayraud) and director (Alfred Hitchcock) are a perfect match. Hitchcock gives us stunning shots of San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge in the opening chase scene and then the iconic, vertiginous streets of the city in the daylight provide the backdrop to the scene of Scottie (played by James Stewart) chatting with his ex-fiancée Midge (played by Barbara Bel Geddes) in her studio.
One of the many reasons for Vertigo's critical acclaim is its innovative use of camera techniques, with Hitchcock and his team using a variety of camera angles, including POV shots, rapid tracking shots and dramatic zooms to create a dizzying sense of disorientation and psychological tension. The film's iconic "vertigo effect" shot, achieved through the use of a dolly zoom, is a prime example and one of the most famous shots in cinema history. The music by legendary film composer Bernard Herrmann is another key reason for the film's elevated status, such as in the deeply mysterious Muir Woods scene among the sequoias and giant redwood trees, where the music is used to chilling effect. These sempervirens ("ever living") specimens cause the characters to meditate on the transience of their existence, with the tree rings denoting the long life of the trees and the relative blip in their lifespans that humans occupy.
Also highly innovative is Hitchcock's use of colour. Scottie Ferguson is initially represented by red, as exemplified in his clothing, his furniture and the door to his apartment, while the object of his obsession Madeleine (played by Kim Novak) is represented by the contrasting colour of green, from the dress she wears when she first appears on screen to her car and the snotgreen sea into which she plunges. As these two characters grow closer and their relationship develops, so too do their symbolic colours of red and green co-mingle and coalesce. Understanding this careful artistry orchestrated by Hitchcock gives the film a whole new layer of complexity upon repeated viewings.
In addition to its technical achievements, Vertigo also explores complex themes related to obsession, identity and the nature of reality. The film explores the psychological toll upon Scottie that his obsession with Madeleine / Judy has on him, to the extent that he ends up in a psychiatric hospital and remains plagued by an ongoing feeling of living in uncanny valley. Judy stepping out of the bathroom is one of the greatest moments in cinema and makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Also, seeing the eerie, psychedelic dream sequence that occurs after the court verdict, in the context of 1950s cinema, helps gives added appreciation for the cutting-edge and revolutionary nature of Hitchcock's film technique.
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