Vertigo

Astounding film. I am completely amazed by what Hitchcock did. I'm not a film student, and I would never profess to be, but when i trigger than a director has a specific style and way of working that speaks to me, or affects me, if makes me want to know more about why things are done the way they are, or how directing in such a way works.

I don't usually get taken in by old films, but whenever I sit down to watch a Hitchcock film I feel such a sense of romanticism - be it the orchestral opening credits, and then splashes of strings interspersed throughout to accent especially emotional moments, or the dull, muffled way the speech is recorded. I love being taken back.

Vertigo is brilliantly executed. I love the on-location shots, the way Hitchcock frames everything so the use of height is a massive focus. Gradiose structure, cloudless distant skies and appartments in high-rises all add to the tone of distance, also giving the viewer an inadvertent sense of vertigo themselves.
Hitchcock does wonderful things with relationships, and Vertigo is no exception.
The weaving of a passionate affair between James Stewart and Kim Novak is played out in a way that is so romantically perfect, that you almost feel guilty yourself for drawing doubt in what is ultimately an extremely flawed situation.

Novak is spellbinding as an almost ghost-like (funny, given the conclusion!) suicidal femme fatale, who excuses her actions by being 'overtaken' by a woman wanting to kill herself. The way the viewer sizes this up is ultimately how romantically linked to the film they are - her character's demise is undoubtedly tragic due to the love affair, but in reality she is totally insane, and Stewart is more of a fool in the first place for falling for her.

While Novak's suicide is easily the most tense event of the film, the truly scary realisation comes with the conclusion, as Barbara Bel Geddes is slowly transformed into the character Stewart wants her to be. His morbid fascination with height, death, and Novak's suicide leads him to live out the 'one final thing I have to do. Then I'll be free of the past.'

While Bel Geddes is clearly not Novak in any way, this makes her transformation even more shocking. When Stewart propositions her 'I need you to be Madeleine for a while. Then we'll both be free', you feel shocked for an instant that she is even considering going along with it, even for the good of Stewart's own sanity. How has a strong woman like herself got caught up in such an insane situation, in a love affair that doesn't even involve her? She is forced to play Stewart's insane twisted game, to play a part she has no idea how to play. Her naieve lies fuel his insanity, in turn sealing her own fate.

Herein lies the true tragedy; a forced love, a forced identity, and eventually a forced suicide.