Vertigo, 1958 | Film Analysis

Vertigo, 1958 workforcetal picture AnalysisVertigo is a 1958 suspense thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock, create verbally by Alec Coppel and Samuel Taylor and based upon the 1954 novel Dentre Les Morts by Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac. feature James Stewart, Kim Novak and co-starring Barbara Bel Geddes.James Stewart plays the part of detective John Ferguson or Scottie as he is greetn through and passim the film, who develops a fear of heights, acrophobia, later he capturees a police force earthly concern fall to his expiry during a police chase over the San Francisco rooftops. Following the incident, Scottie retires from the police force, except old wiz Gavin Elster (Tom Hel much(prenominal)) hires him as a private detective to follow his wife, Madeleine Elster (Kim Novak) as she has been behaving strangely. Elster believes that she is have by the ghost of a dead relative, Carlotta Valdez. It is not abundant onwards Scottie starts to find himself worthy obse ssed with the beautiful and troubled Madeleine and fall in love with her.As the introductions roll onto the screen, we are confronted by a close up of a black and white wo worlds face, first her lips, her nose, her essences, then onto one eye, w here we great deal see a tear Her gaze however soon meets ours, when we first see her eyes, but then they are parry from left to right. The music gets more intense and the scene turns red, as the eye we are focused on widens in what we give awayhouse exactly wear upon as shock or horror. We then see coloured patterns, start first in the pupil, then swirling round on the black screen, in stages becoming larger and enveloping the screen and the sense of hearing. This setting of emotion and occasion of the earreach in what is to be classed as mis-en-scene the creation of emotion through visuals and audio.Fig. 9 Introductory scenesThe opening scene underpins the whole of Scotties acrophobia, and as an audience, we excessivel y get to understand what it is hes niping. The music is tense, we asshole see the skyline, we see them jump from roof to roof, then we see Scottie slip, hes clinging on to the till by his fingertips to reveal himself from plunging to a certain death. The other officer turns to help him, asks him for his hand, but he falls from the roof, to the flat coat hundreds of feet below. The distance and acrophobia is highlighted by the view on the ground below panning in and forbidden toward us. People who suffer with vertigo feel as if they or their surroundings are moving. These false sensations are lots accompanied by a feeling of spinning (Smith et al, 2000 603). It has withal to be noted that psychologists believe there is tension from the feeling of vertigo, whereby there is a desire to fall yet there is a dread of falling. The audience is make to feel the fear and terror that Scottie is experiencing, the feeling that death is so close, could be so easy. To survive he has to de sperately cling to the gutter, his fortification and body stretched to their capacity, his mind full of terror, whereas to die, he only has to permit go. inwardly this scene, the audience is given minimal information. We see three men in sequence climb over the top rung of a ladder, the encourage being a policeman, so we assume the first is a guess? Thirdly, there is Scottie, but he is in plain clothes, so he could be anybody, but he must be connected to the policeman as he is pursuing him. This is shown as three close up shots, then we have panned out to reveal all three men running across the roof. In turn, they jump to some other roof. This is when we see Scottie slip. This can be related to Freuds theory of the Id, Ego and Superego. The Id is the first man he wants his urges snug regardless of society, his focus solely on his pleasure, relative to criminality. The mo man, being the policeman, can be shown as the Superego, with strict and rigid morals, relatable to the fa ther. It is as well in this scene that we can take into account the Oedipus Complex, the son, Scottie, is responsible for the fathers, the policemans, death as he tries to save him from falling, whilst the Id has got free into the darkness. Scottie is left hanging from the gutter we never see how it is he escapes this function, leaving him metaphorically stuck there for the peculiarity of the film. Wood in addition mentions this theory in his book when he revisits Hitchcocks films.Fig. 10 Hanging and fallingAnother thing to take into account here is Freuds relation between events and pay trauma and the separation between baffle and child. Although he said that a child couldnt recall these memories, they were steady instilled in doorways our subconscious. So the idea of falling is, in a way, a re-enactment of birth trauma and separation. This was thought to be at the forefront of anxiety.In the following(a) scene, we are placed indoors Midges apartment. It is constructed o n separate shots between Scottie and Midge and the man worry/female space in which they inhabit throughout the chat. They are defined by definite objects, such as Scotties cane and the bra that Midge is sketching. Scottie is re-affirming that he will be free of the corset that is binding him tomorrow, taking cover song him masculinity and cause within the situation. It is only at three points throughout the scene that Midge and Scottie are shown together. Firstly, when Scottie approaches Midge to talk closely the bra she is drawing-she speaks of it in a precise matter of fact way, telling Scottie that he is a oversized boy and knows of such things. Next, Scottie talks of curing his acrophobia a small measuring rod at a time, he stands on a stool, Midge takes over the situation by bringing him a set of steps to climb, which she encourages him to do so. He sees out of the window between the buildings, like the scene he proverb when hanging from the gutter at the start of t he film, but we are still held in reality by the flowers on the windowsill, but his vertigo grips him again. fifty-fifty the security of Midges home is not enough, that flexs the vision and the drop becomes real. Next, we see Scottie clutched to Midges breast, whilst she holds him and soothes oh Johnny, Johnny. The crude theme throughout is the presentation of Midge as the mother figure. In the scenes where they are shown together depict the mother/child relationship that they have. This is a solid ground why Scottie wouldnt be attracted to her like he is to Madeleine. She is too independent, whereas Madeleine is helpless and sable as we find out as the film continues.Fig. 11 maternally loveIt is this scene that particularly also states Scotties condition as maidenly. When he approaches Midge to ask her what the bra on a wire frame is, she relates the figure of speech is based on that on a bridge, the latest in rotatory uplift made by an aircraft engineer. Not only is the relation of a bridge, which is a high place with regard to Scotties acrophobia, linked with the femininity of a womans undergarment, but the design of it has also been constructed by a man, thus verbalize that femininity is exactly that. Scottie cannot fulfil his role in society as a police man because of the fear, like Jefferies couldnt in Rear window because of his injuries.Next we are presented with the exterior of Gavin Elsters office, then straight to Scottie and Elster having a conversation inside. Elster is asking Scottie to follow his wife for him. Around the office, there are mentions of ships, suggesting escape, and also references of the old San Francisco, relating to the power and freedom you gained then, as a man, again, this is mentioned later on whilst Scottie and Midge are talking to Pop Leibel in his bookstore. This relates to the conversation they are having about Elster wife, she is the object in the conversation between the two men, an intensifier of the pro scribed desire that we often see within films one woman and two men who both lust after her. The position of power is also shifting between Scottie and Elster. When we first enter the room, Elster is posing behind his desk, whilst Scottie is go around the office, looking at things, he then gets up and explains what he wants Scottie to do, taking power by positioning himself higher than him.Fig. 12 Stances of powerNext the viewer is positioned inside the eating place and is introduced to Madeleine with Scottie. The camera pans across the restaurant and comes to rest upon Madeleines affirm, her bare shoulders showing. She is shown as an object of desire a close-up allows us to see her features as a still portrait, like that of the painting of Carlotta Valdez as she gracefully glides through the restaurant in a dream like manner. From this instance she is a mysterious object of desire that we must know more about. She has no idea that our gaze is upon her, she is helpless to it we are an partner in crime to Scottie, if not already him, and what it is in turn we are going to enter upon about Madelines secret life.When Scottie follows Madeleine in his car, it is downhill, to an alleyway. He follows her inside, through the back door in which she enters, where she is buying flowers. We are seeing from Scotties point of view. When he spies in through a crack in the door, this is how we see her also. When she turns, we see her observation on the reverberate door that Scottie gazing through the door, completely unbeknown to her. She is surrounded by flowers, bathed in a soft light, enhancing her subtle beauty and femininity accompanied by a haunting music. Is she somehow a mirrored image of Scottie/the viewer? Koftman (1985 cited in Modelski 1989) stated that mens fascination with the eternal feminine is nothing but fascination with their own double, and the feeling of uncanniness, Unheimlichkeit, that men experience is the same as what one feels in the face of any double, and ghost, in the face of the abrupt reappearance of what one thought had been overcome or lost forever. This links back to Freuds castration complex. The view of the camera is very much from Scotties point of view, subjective, only further reiterating the point that the feminine is seen as lacking and the masculine is to look.Fig. 13 The perfect and unobtainableWithin this scene, another thing to note is the recurrent theme of the oil painting, with the surround of flowers, but also the mirror, not only relating to the Koftman quote above, but also briefly I would like to touch upon John Berger. Within his essays, Ways of Seeing, he talks of the relevance of mirrors, that they reflect the judgemental gaze of others, as well as her own. They are also a symbol of vanity. If a woman is seen appraise herself in the mirror, it is for the benefit of the male, showing her subservience and willingness to become pleasing to the eye, but also her vanity. This in turn can is re latable to Freuds theory of the Electra Complex and appendage Envy. Her affections are transferred from her father to other men to give her what she ultimately wants, delinquent to her lack of a penis, which is a child.This is turn leads onto a point made by Jacques Lacan, whereby he states that the mirror stage of a childs development is life-and-death so it can place itself within the world and relate to others. a good deal like Freud stated within the Oedipus and emasculation complex, whereby the son relates to his father, wanting to be like him and grow into a man so he can have a woman of his own, like his father has his mother. The screen within the cinema frames its actors much like the mirror frames the self. As Mulvey statesIt is the birth of the long love affair/despair between image and self-image which has found such intensity of expression in film and such joyous light in the cinema audience. (Mulvey, 2009 18)When Madeleine falls into San Francisco bay, Scottie red eems her and takes her back to his house, undresses her and puts her to bed. Once again, he is the hero and she is the helpless woman who, without Scottie, would be dead. His obsession is becoming more and more with her. Whilst in his apartment, her near first concern is of the pins from her hair and her handbag, so she can find a mirror and put her hair up, making herself presentable for Scottie. The relation of power is also clear in this scene Madeleine is sitting on the floor, whilst Scottie takes the higher position of the sofa arm to question her, to watch her. She is the object of desire of his desire, as well as the male viewing audience object of desire.From here we can see the relation to any stereotypical fairytale the hero rescues the helpless princess from the evil man/woman, although there is more to fairytale, for the use of this essay, I am outlining it in this very simplified manner. Take, for example, Cinderella, she is a servant to her stepmother and step siste rs, but she goes to the ball, meets the prince, who does everything in his power to find his princess and rescue her. Freud also made this point, highlighting the lengths a man will go to, to rescue the woman they love, even if, as Freud (1910 cited in Perron 2005) stated, another man can claim right of possession, Madeleine being Elsters wife. This in turn, can be linked closely with the Oedipus complex. Freud (1910 cited in Berman 1997) also stated A man rescuing a woman from water in a dream delegacy that he makes her his own mother.In the bell tower scene where Scottie is chasing Madeleine, it is where his masculinity is compromised once more because of his acrophobia. He should have taken his role as a man and stopped her from falling, he should have rescued her, but he failed and she unrelenting to his death. Elster had hired Scottie to follow his wife, but once again, he failed at his job, like he did as a policeman. Scottie is plagued by nightmares of the tragical event. He is falling, like Madeleine, haunted by Carlotta Valdez, colours flash red, signifying not only Scotties vertigo but also his fantasies.Fig. 14 Re-occurring fallWhen Scottie is back in San Francisco, every woman he sees bears a resemblance to Madeleine. Women on the street, in restaurantsHe seems like a broken man, not the strong reproduction that the audience want to relate to. He follows a woman, Judy, to her apartment and asks her out to dinner. Slowly, we can see Scottie becoming more and more obsessed with Judy, assert his masculinity by offering to take care of her, but her flowers, clothes. Judy is becoming an ideal passive counterpart to Scotties active sadistic voyeurism. She knows her part is to perform, and only by playing it through and then replaying it can she keep Scotties titillating interest (Mulvey, 2009 25).We, as an audience, have already made the discovery that Judy in reality is Madeleine, that she played a part for Elster. It is an uncomfortable discover y as Scottie doesnt know. We approximately feel as though we are cheating him, hes falling into a trap and we cant warn him. We are only watchers to the scenes playing out before us, regardless of us things will still happen and go forth. The essential fact is to get real suspense you must let the audience have information (Hitchcock cited in Bays, 2004).Scottie is trying his hardest to change Judy to Madeleine, and she is let him. The roles of passive female and the active male are mirrored in the re-enactment of a scene that happened between Scottie and Madeleine. She is a visually objectified other, confirmed by her dress, make up and style. Also, this, again, can be linked back to the Oedipus/Castration complex, when the sole object of the boys desire was his mother. In his eyes, she was the perfect woman and satisfied all his needs. It is only when Scottie is happy that Judy looks enough like Madeleine that he begins to become sexually attracted and interested in her. He has s uccessfully turned her into a fetish he has eliminated the threat of castration. The tower in which Madeleine and Judy both fell off are very symbolically phallic, re-asserting the masculinity of the situation.The film makes the audience confront their own lives and past.