BEHIND THE MOVIE: Hitchcock & "Vertigo"

I took a film class a few years ago, and we analyzed several movies over the course of the semester. I hope to post some of my (edited, so I won't spoil the story too much) thoughts in this space, via a series of BEHIND THE MOVIE posts that are more than a review; it will discuss the hidden meanings and message 'behind' the movies, and why the director may have done the things he did. First up? I felt "Vertigo" was appropriate because I have mentioned the movie several times on this blog already.

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You shouldn't keep souvenirs of a killing. You shouldn't have been that sentimental.
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Alfred Hitchcock films often present themes dealing with the relationship among the villain, hero, and audience. In his 1958 psychological crime thriller, "Vertigo," these issues not only arise, but dominate the script. Former detective John “Scottie” Ferguson (James Stewart) becomes recruited by Gavin Elster (Tom Helmore) to investigate his wife Madeleine (Kim Novak), whom he thinks may be possessed by a spirit seeking revenge from the dead. The plot focuses on Scottie’s growing relationship with Madeleine, as he secretly follows her around San Francisco and discovers her mimicking the identity and actions of her great-grandmother, Carlotta Valdes. Madeleine soon learns to love the man who follows her, and Scottie reciprocates the feelings.

Although the psychological crime thriller is a common Hitchcock genre, "Vertigo" stands apart from his previous works with the construction of the hero versus the villain. Similar to what the name insinuates, "Vertigo" creates a dizzying, disoriented state of mind that blurs the role of the villain and hero until the final scene. Hitchcock persuades the audience to think they can classify hero from villain, when early on he devises a central character whose appearance, position within the composition, and actions are simply a framework to point the audience in the wrong direction. One of the first images the audience encounters is Scottie’s character helping an old friend, Gavin Elster, despite his pledge of retirement following a horrifying experience which left him suffering from acrophobia.

Quickly, this establishes Scottie as the primary hero of the film. He sets out to help Elster, and distinguishes himself as the protagonist attempting to aid in Madeleine’s mental recovery. Similarly, the ostensible villain is suggested through Hitchcock’s early intrinsic use of Madeleine’s figure as the dominant image within each composition. The audience comes to know Madeleine’s character simply through other people’s words, primarily Gavin, and her own actions, assumed to be seized by Carlotta.

Madeleine is being developed in such a way that the audience feels her humanity, yet is uncertain about the forces that control her. This Hitchcock guise for developing such a villain is not uncommon. What is unusual, however, is how he devises Madeleine into something which she is not: the villain. In many of Hitchcock’s other films, the villain has a clear role from beginning to end. The continuous reversal of hero and villain only serves to propagate the sense of confusion in this thriller, and ultimately shock the audience with its ending.

As the aforementioned stated, in many of his works Hitchcock constructs the villain so they possess qualities the audience may relate to, which evokes a sense of sympathy toward the very character who the viewer is traditionally taught to despise. He uses this construction to turn the initial distaste for the character into compassion, yet in "Vertigo," Hitchcock employs this technique to fool the audience into believing in the wrong villain.

In "Psycho," the audience has a certain compassion first for Marion Crane’s (Janet Leigh) criminal behavior, and then for villain Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins), a known murderer. As Francois Truffaut said during an interview with Hitchcock, “the villains are human and even vulnerable. They’re frightening and yet we sense that they, too, are afraid.” It is rare to hear Norman’s opinion, and his isolation in the deserted Bates Motel sustains the belief his dreams are withheld by a domineering mother -- although he does not admit it directly.

Likewise, in Hitchcock’s 1946 "Notorious," Alex Sebastian (Claude Rains) serves as the villain whose marriage with Alicia Huberman (Ingrid Bergman) ultimately hinders his own ambition as a Nazi. Alicia, a woman working for an American intelligence agency, helps to undermine Alex’s covert operations by obtaining valuable information. It could be considered that his emotions are also limited because he cannot receive full emotional reciprocation from Alicia, as she truly loves T.R. Devlin (Cary Grant).

"Vertigo’s" Madeleine is established as the villain, though not as directly as some other Hitchcock films. She does not steal money, nor is guilty of murder. With her fixation on, and apparent physical embodiment of Carlotta Valdes, Madeleine exudes an evil flair best demonstrated through stylistic clothing techniques and lighting changes. For example, her ugly, hallmark gray suit becomes a symbol of negativity when worn by a normally pretty blonde woman. Hitchcock’s lighting techniques work in a related manner. At the bookstore, when Scottie listens to the story of Madeleine’s great-grandmother, the scene diminishes into a darkness emphasized by high-contrast lighting. Such dark lighting immediately recedes once Scottie leaves the store. This technique could be taken as a foreboding clue to the evil nature of this great-grandmother. Once again, the villain is construed as a helpless victim whose own life excites a benevolent audience attitude. Madeleine apparently cannot function as a normal human would because an outside force prevents her from doing so.

The extreme long shot of Madeleine visiting the museum and cemetery allow the audience, and Scottie, to be kept at a safe distance from her. The sense of seeing Madeleine only from a distance gives her an air of mystery, intrigue, and a certain helplessness. She seems like a rather normal person visiting such places, but the cinematography and arrangement of her figure’s stiff, trance-like pose suggests otherwise. The audience knows they must focus on her as the object of attention among the mise-en-scène. Hence, when Madeleine earns the long, medium, or extreme closeup shot further into the film, this is significant.

The director does, however, still place the audience in the situation of possibly emphasizing with Scottie’s fear of heights through the cinematic technique of forward zoom and reverse tracking shot, a very innovative skill for the 1950s. As Scottie climbs the stairs of the bell tower during the last minutes of the film, his acrophobia hits an ultimate high. His point-of-view shot allows viewers to once again identify with his emotions and views of the situation at hand. In truth, this point-of-view reconnects the idea of Scottie as the hero simply through reestablishing his “innocence” in such a way. The spiral, dizzying affect of the stairs manipulates viewer perception that all facts are known. As the culminating act of the scene, Hitchcock finally reveals the flawed logic of the audience: that the villain is not always who they appear.

He insinuates that viewers should ponder the villain’s role along a narrative that focuses on the hero and the MacGuffin of Madeleine’s mental instability. As Truffaut explains, Hitchcock films often “center on an interchangeable killing, with one character who has committed the crime and another who might just as well have been guilty of it.” The fluctuating status of the villain simply puts the “psychological crime” in this thriller, leaving audience expectations radically hoodwinked.