Vertigo Analysis

Vertigo was a movie created in 1958 by Alfred Hitchcock. The movie is about a retired police detective, John Scottie Ferguson, who suffered from acrophobia which also mean he lost his equilibrium and body position when he is too high off the ground. One of Scottie old friend, Gavin Elster, asks Scottie to follow his wife, Madeleine Elster because he thinks she is possessed by her greajt grandmother, Carlotta Valdes. Scottie agrees and began to follow Madeline for a few days. In the movie, Scottie was so disturbed by his fear; he had to quit his job. Elster knew what Scottie was incapable of therefore he wanted Scottie to take the job to fit his plot of killing his wife. When he tried to recreate Judy into Madeleine, it is clear that he became completely obsessed and lost in the world of illusions and fantasies. He became so lost that he was unable to articulate rational reasons for his behavior. He then altered states of consciousness when he was lost in his own illusions. Yet he doesn't know what good it'll do for Judy to become Madeleine, but he is still determined to have the image and sensation of Madeleine, even if it risks driving Judy away. As for Madeleine, she created a perfect image of a mysterious woman that Scottie fell for, which was created by Elster. Madeleine was supposedly possessed with the spirit of "Carlotta", her great grandmother. She was obsessed with death because Carlotta committed suicide. Therefore she attempts to reenact her great grandmother death. Judy, on the other hand, is a typical human being with many flaws and imperfections. She agreed to participate in Elster plan to gain some money, but she doesn't think she would end up falling in love with Scottie. The only similarity they shared was the love they had for Scottie. Yet when Scottie saw Judy, he still recognize some of Madeleine resembling in her therefore he still question her about her identity. Judy is desperately trying to reclaim her true self to Scottie after the role play of Madeleine by trying to stay with him and making him falling in love with her true self. When she found out that Scottie will never love her as Madeleine, she allows him to dress her up as Madeleine. She made a mistake when she wore "Carlotta" necklace to dinner one night, thus letting Scottie find out about the truth. Going mad about what he just found out, he tries to overcome his acrophobia by reenacted the scene of Madeleine's death with Judy with the apparent desire to kill her. He finally overcame his fear when he reached the top forcing Judy to look down at the scene. An unexpected twist came about when the nun entered and Judy got scared and slipped off the tower.

...