VERTIGO had mixed reviews but since the 1980s it has been acclaimed, currently topping Sight and Sound's '100 Greatest Films' list - it is pure cinema.
Scottie, retired from the San Francisco police when his acrophobia resulted in another officer's death, is asked by an acquaintance to follow his wife who is acting strangely.
Scottie follows Madeleine who seems haunted by an ancestor Carlotta Valdes, visiting her grave, sitting transfixed by Carlotta's portrait and copying her hairstyle.
Scottie saves Madeleine when she attempts drowning but she cannot remember her actions; Scottie is now obsessed with her as they grow closer.
They visit a Mission where Carlotta had lived, but when Madeleine impulsively runs up the spire staircase, Scottie cannot follow due to his acrophobia. He hears a scream and Madeleine plunges to her death.
A year on, Scottie meets Judy Barton who resembles Madeleine but trying to replicate Madeleine brings tragedy...
Shelf or charity shop? On a (not too high) shelf as befits one of my favourite films. Hitchcock's sublime vision of 'amour fou' was based on Boileau and Narcejac's D'ENTRE LES MORTES but he ditched it's WWII setting and the villain's come-uppence to create a masterpiece of longing and deception, helped immeasurably by Bernard Herrmann's sweeping score and Robert Burks' misty dream-like cinematography. A film that cries out to be seen more than once for Hitchcock's marvellous storytelling, James Stewart's subtle performance of a man lost to his obsession and Kim Novak's under-appreciated dual role as the ethereal and haunting Madeleine, and the hard-edged, increasingly desperate Judy Barton; it's a performance that is best appreciated seen twice (or more). A special mention too for the supporting performance of Henry Jones as a snide coroner. Timeless and haunting...
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