Count Dooku

So, all my adult life, it has been the official position of the canon-keepers that Hitchcock's Vertigo is right up there with Citizen Kane and the first two Godfather films as one of the greatest movies ever made.

I've never thought it was so great, and here's why:

1) Jimmy Stewart is miscast. IDK what you call Stewart's style of acting, but it is the wrong method for this character. Scottie is psychologically fucked up, and Stewart is all grimaces and horrified looks.

2) And this is the real problem. Judy's motivation does not make a lick of sense!

Judy impersonated Madeleine at Gavin's behest, helping him get away with murdering his wife. And in the course of that plot, Scottie becomes obsessed with Madeleine.
The murder plot plays out as planned, and Scottie ends up in a mental hospital.
Judy had been Gavin's lover, but that affair has ended. (Not much detail on that important part of the story, I'd say.)

Now, some time has passed, and Scottie spots Judy, sees that she resembles the object of his obsession, and pursues her romantically. He makes her over in the image of Madeleine, but then realizes Judy and his Madeleine are the same person.

Why does Judy go along with any of this? We're supposed to believe that it is because she loves Scottie and will do anything to be with him. Why? Why would she love Scottie?

Scottie is 25 years older than her. He's not particularly good-looking (Stewart is no Cary Grant). He's not wealthy. He's been in the nut house. And he "loves" her because of her likeness to another woman.
Scottie does not love anything about the real Judy Barton. And there's no way she doesn't realize this on some level, right? And Judy is a very beautiful young woman, so it's not like she would have trouble finding lots of men that want to spend time with her, Judy Barton, not a dead fantasy woman.

I've seen Vertigo a few times in my life, and I always think the same thing: Why is this woman going along with this crazy guy's crap?

TomOpus

Is Jaws the next movie to get the hate treatment?

Ash Ketchum

It's a beautiful film in many ways, but I've always found it deeply disturbing. Stewart's Scottie is seriously a sick man. There's no romantic feeling here, despite what Bernard Herrmann's lovely score might have us think. I might have put up with it more if Kirk Douglas had played the part, since he'd done those kinds of obsessive characters before and since and there would have been greater sexual tension between him and Kim. (But, alas, there's no way the volatile Kirk could have handled working with Hitchcock).

My big problems on recent viewings of VERTIGO have been the plot holes. At the inquest Scottie would have seen the photos of the death scene and the pictures of Gavin's wife and realized it wasn't Kim Novak who had died. In fact, I find it hard to believe that Gavin could have pulled off bringing Kim to the restaurant in that early scene since everyone would have recognized he wasn't with his wife and since Scottie would surely have already known what Madeleine Elster looked like, since she was a socialite high up in S.F. circles, the daughter of a shipping magnate, and would have been in the papers all the time. Besides, Gavin was an old college buddy so it's hard to believe Scottie wouldn't have been aware of his marriage to such a prominent socialite and seen pictures. And if Gavin's wife actually looked like Kim Novak, as some have suggested but which is completely implausible to me, why would he have offed her in favor of a lookalike who has no money? Makes no sense.

Norm de Plume

What can I say? I was unimpressed by it, but aside from Rear Window, I'm not much of a Hitchcock enthusiast.

Hokeyboy

Vertigo was never a favorite of mine... until I saw it on the big screen about 4 years ago. And then I was utterly mesmerized by the movie. It's absolutely engrossing from start to finish. I can't explain why it never connected with me at home on a smaller screen, but projected on a huge screen in a darkened theater with amazing sound I was absolutely transfixed.

Paff

I'm a Hitchcock fan, and Vertigo is way down on my list of films I like from him. Just last year I watched Notorious for the first time, and it's fantastic, far better than Vertigo.

ETA: Hokeyboy could have a point about seeing it theatrically though. For an analogy, Dr. No was never one of my favorite Bond films, till I got to see a 35mm print, and was blown away seeing those sets and Dr. No's laboratory in floor-to-ceiling glory.

clckworang

I thought it was clear that Judy was a basically a doppelganger for Madeleine and that Gavin essentially did the same thing to her that Scottie ultimately would do. As for why would he kill his wife, does it really matter? I don't think it's important to the story of Scottie, but it could be any number of reasons: maybe it mainly was her money and Gavin wanted it to himself; she found out he was cheating, she was a bitch. Again, it's not really important.

Why would Judy go along with it? I guess because people are screwed up and often put on appearances to please others. Judy was rougher than Madeleine. She likely had a more problematic childhood. Her relationship with men was obviously a complicated one. Here's a poor girl who gets attention from a rich guy who ends up dumping her, and during her performance, lines blurred together and feelings emerged for Scottie, but Scottie was in love with the performance, the image and not her.

I think the movie is a lot about identity and what or who we'll be for others - and how much we expect others to be who we want. Maybe it's easier to think of it in terms of movie making, the relationship between actress and director, and even the relationship between the actress and the audience.

I've listed Vertigo as my favorite film for many years. It just works for me.

rw2516

What I find interesting about Vertigo. The first time you see it, not knowing Novak isn't Madeleine, you take for granted she is. Repeat viewing, knowing the twist, you notice all kinds of tells in Novak's expressions and mannerisms that don't register the first time. Like rewatching the Sixth Sense and noticing things.