Vertigo: Initial Viewing Notes & Context

Vertigo: Initial Viewing Notes

What happened? (Plot)

4 main plot points

1 . Meeting Scottie has with Elster; Madeleine's curious behaviour is first outlined; Scottie is tasked with observing her

Scottie observing Madeleine

- This video presents exemplifies the themes that Hitchcock is presenting during the first main plot point. This scene conveys Madeleine's curious behaviour as it is unbeknown to the audience why she is staring at the picture & Scottie is still trying to work out what is behind Madeleine's 'madness' as he is investigating what she is doing. The music emphasises the tension and mysterious nature in this scene as the non-diegetic sound creates an atmosphere of suspense.

2 . Scene in Scottie's apartment following his rescue of Madeleine; first scene where they directly interact; personal relationship is established 

Apartment Scene:

This scene is the first scene where they interact; this establishes their relationship and is the beginning of Scottie beginning to fall in love with Madeleine

3 . Scottie's failure to stop Madeleine's apparent suicide

Madeleine's Suicide

This is the turning point in the film as this leads to Scottie's devastation as his love dies and this changes the direction of the film as Scottie struggles to recover from his failure to stop Madeleine's 'suicide'

4 . Judy reveals the truth in writing a letter to Scottie explaining her part in his deception and the real Madeleine's murder

Judy & Scottie interaction:

This scene emphasises Scottie's infatuation with Judy.Madeleine & is the build-up to the big reveal that they are the same person. 

Narrative (not plot)

Two distinct but linked narratives

1st - Madeleine Elster narrative

2nd - Judy Barton narrative

Linked by central theme surrounding Scottie: self possession + control in a dangerous and uncertain world

Film in 2 halves -> Madeleine's suicide as a middle point

Acts - 3 act structure

Syd Field's 3 acts -> Field was a leading American scriptwriter & author. Within this structure, the writer sets the film's plot within the first 20-30 minutes, then the protagonist experiences a plot point which provides them with a goal. Half of a movie's run time focuses on the protagonist struggling to achieve this goal. The second act is confrontation & the midpoint is often a devastating reversal of the protagonist's fortune. The 3rd act depicts the protagonist's struggle to achieve their goal + the aftermath.

Vertigo: 3 acts, 2 halves, and a spiral

Spiral = Scottie's mental state

Midpoint marked by Scottie failing to save Madeleine

Saving her would've helps him complete a narrative circle

He fails, and so 'spirals' into a psychological breakdown

Spiral continues when he fails again in act 3

Production context (social and economical)

Influences:

1920's art-film movement / stressing experimentation + strong use of imagery

German expressionism (F.W. Murnah and Fritz Lang) -> method of exposing the inner life of characters through unusual camera angles, moody lighting, and exaggerated mise-en-scene (stage setting)

- The trailer on the left is Metropolis which is directed by Fritz Lang & was released in the mid 1920's

Soviet montage cinema - Hitchcock's elaborate editing techniques came from soviet films of the 1920's which relied heavily upon editing and brought formalism to filmmaking. Hitchcock cites editing (and montage) as the lynchpin of worthwhile filmmaking.

Hitchcock particularly acknowledged the significance of the Kuleshov (effect, from which he deprived his fondness for the point-of-view shot and for building sequences by cross cutting between person seeing and things seen. This effect is demonstrated by Soviet filmmaker Lev Kuleshov in the 1910's/20's. It's a mental phenomenon by which viewers derive more meaning from the interaction of two sequential shots than from a single shot in isolation and the implication is that viewers brought their own emotional reactions to this sequence of images & attributed those reactions to the actor.

1950's-60's Issues:

Post WWII America - society full of anxiety

End of WWII didn't bring a feeling of victory and power to American culture; it created churning discomfort, an uncertainty about the future and a lack of clarity about the past

Revelations of Germany's extermination of the Jews and the explosion of two atomic bombs over Japan shook the culture an confirmed how easily myths of civility order could fail

Late 1950's - Americans deeply troubled by so many social shifts

Vastly approaching the Atomic age

Communist scare and fear of Russian expansion

Move towards suburbia and the growth of multinational corporations were flourishing

The real world issues of the 50's are reflected in Vertigo as Hitchcock presents Scottie as a character with an air of paranoia surrounding him and haunting him which represents the fear that the everyday man faced in America during the 50's due to the many conflicts that were occurring.

Scottie represents America

Gender politics:

Re-identification of gender roles -> loss of male identity and sexuality was a major concern - shown in Vertigo as Judy is in control of Scottie

Vertigo acts out the struggle for socially recognised gender roles, mostly through a battle for sexual domination between Scottie and Madeleine/Judy

Madeleine/Scott relationship encapsulates gender issues in America in the 50's -> women hold all the cards, sexually/intellectually cunning and superior to men -> takes femme fetale to a further extreme

Scottie is old school, goes through coming to terms that world isn't how he knew it -> this links to context as many men in America felt a similar feeling in the aftermath of WW2.

During WWII, women came flooding into the workforce but were reinserted into their former passive routines following men's return from battle

Movies, magazines & newspapers once again extolled the importance of motherhood

Vertigo supports the idea of the submissive domestic female through the character of Madeleine

Many films at this time examined questions of gender -> presents that the attitudes of Hollywood was starting to change in the aftermath of WWII.

Vertigo deals with many concerns through the creation of a deeply repressed man, contained by his fears & driven by his obsessions

Scottie is the timid 1950's man, reduced in stature and capability and can therefore be seen as a metaphor of all the 1950's middle-class, middle-aged men, undone by forces over which he has lost control

Vertigo is one of the most potent investigations of heterosexual panic undertaken in 1950's film