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Vertigo

Vertigo The Alfred Hitchcock film; Vertigo is a narrative film that is a perfect example of a Hollywood Classical Film. I will be examining the following characteristics of the film Vertigo: 1)individual characters who act as casual agents, the main characters in Vertigo, 2)desire to reach to goals, 3)conflicts, 4)appointments, 5)deadlines, 6)James Stewart’s focus shifts and 7)Kim Novak’s characters drives the action in the film. Most of the film is viewed in the 3rd person, except for the reaction shots (point of view shot) which are seen through the eyes of the main character.(1st person) The film has a strong closure and uses continuity editing(180 degree rule). The stylistic (technical) film form of Vertigo makes the film much more enjoyable. The stylistic film form includes camera movements, editing, sound, mise-en-scene and props. Vertigo is an Alfred Hitchcock film that was made in 1958. It stars James Stewart as Detective John Ferguson and Kim Novak as Madeleine Ellester and Judy Barden. In Vertigo, John Ferguson has a fear of heights that results in the death of his partner. Due to this situation, he leaves the police force and became a Private Investigator. Ferguson is contact by Gavin Ellester an old college buddy. Gavin asks Ferguson to follow his wife who he believes has gone mad. Gavin believes his wife Madeleine is being possessed by her great grandmother Corlata Valdez. He explains why he has come to this conclusion and fills John Ferguson in on all the details of the case. Mr. Ferguson questions the integrity of the story, but still accepts the case. When he starts to spy on Madeleine, he begins to notice changes in her personality and similarities to Corlata Valdez's past. One day when John Ferguson was following Madeleine, he saw her jump into San Francisco Bay. After he rescued her, he brought her back to his house and cared for her. Afterwards he and Madeleine started to spend time together. They began to fall in love and Madeleine became more insane. She started to see images from Corlata's past. Madeleine started to live the life of Corlata Valdez and had visions from her life. One day John and Madeleine went to an old Spanish missionary outside San Francisco, which Madeleine had seen in one of her images. When they arrived at their destination Madeleine began to remember things from Corlata's early life and became hysterical and ran to the bell tower. As she climbed the steep stairs, John tried to rescue her, but his fear of heights prevented him from following Madeleine and couldn’t prevent her jumping to her death. Afterward, he became heart broken and fell into a depression for a few months. Soon, after he began to replace Madeleine with other people. One day when he was in downtown San Francisco, he saw a woman who looked like Madeleine. The woman's name was Judy Barden. John approached her and asked her out on a date. As they began to fall in love John began to change her into Madeleine. One night when Judy and John where about to go out to dinner, he noticed that Judy had a necklace that was similar to Corlata's necklace. To create closure in his life, John took Judy to the Spanish monastery and her forced to go into the tower, where he overcame his “Vertigo” where Judy confesses to John that Gavin was using both of them in his plan to murder his wife. During her confession, Judy became frightened and fell to her death. The Hollywood Classical Film characteristics in Vertigo, helps to develop the plot and story. The first element of a Hollywood Classical Film that I will be examining is that individual characters are casual agents of the film. This means that characters in a film act as if they really exist, they have goals, fears, feelings, motives and emotions. The characters in Vertigo who are casual agents are the following: John Ferguson is the main character, he is a ex-cop who suffers from a fear of heights, he is spying on Madeleine Ellester and eventually falls in love with her. Due to this situation he goes through many changes in his character. Another main character is Madeleine Ellester, who we later find out to be Judy Barden in disguise. Madeleine is the wife of Gavin Ellester an old college mate of John Ferguson, who believes she is being possessed by Corlata Valdez. Gavin Ellester has hired Judy Barden to act as his wife for John Ferguson. So he would be able to kill his wife with no legal problems. Gavin is one of two supporting characters in the film, Midge is the other. Midge is John Ferguson’s friend who is secretly in love with him, she is used to represent John's casual persona. All these character are casual agents who have a goals and try to accomplish them throughout the film The desire to reach a goal is the force that drives the film. It allows the audience to become involved with the progression of a film. John Ferguson’s goals are the following: first, he tries to get over his fear of heights, he then tries to solve the mystery concerning Corlata/ Madeleine. After Madeleine’s death he tries to create a new Madeleine. After he had created a new Madeleine, he starts to piece the puzzle together and tries to figure out what really had happened to him and Madeleine. These goals keep the film moving and allow the main character focus to shift. The next characteristic I will examine is the shift of the character's focus, this is when the character's goals are changed due to circumstances that have developed in the film. John Ferguson’s focus shifts many times throughout the film, he first was concentrating on his fear of heights and tries to get over it. He then becomes involved with Madeleine/ Corlata, then he falls in love with her. Afterwards he tries to get over her death, but cannot. Therefore, he creates a new Madeleine out of Judy. The final shift in the main character's focus is when John tries to piece the puzzle together and find out what really happened to Madeleine. The shift in the character's focus plays an important role in the character’s desire to reach a goal. It allows different actions to develop and allows the character to drive the action in the film. A very important characteristic of the Hollywood Classical Film is when a character is able to drive the action in the film. Kim Novak’s characters; Madeleine Ellester, Corlata Valdez and Judy Barden do a great job of driving the action in Vertigo. Madeleine changes John Ferguson’s focus through out the film. First, he is curious about Madeleine, next he spies on her and then he worries about her. Afterwards he falls in love with her, then he loses her, then he tries to get over her and finally creates her again. The main character's focus shifts among these three characters and this creates a change in his character that causes conflict in the film. Conflict in a film effects the character's desire to reach a goal, it shifts his focus and affects the plot. There are many different conflicts in Vertigo. First, John Ferguson has a fear of heights that effect his actions throughout the film. Another conflict that occurred in the film was when Madeleine thought that she had been transformed into Corlata Valdez and how it effected her actions. Other conflicts that occurred in the film were the following: when Madeleine and John fell in love, Madeleine’s death, John getting over Madeleine’s death, John recreating Madeleine and John figuring out what happened to Madeleine. These conflicts made the film more interesting. Vertigo had a strong closure, it had tied up all the loose ends at the end of the film. John Ferguson had gotten over his fear of height at the end of the film, he was able to figure out what happened to Madeleine, he had finally gotten over Madeleine and ended his fictional relationship with Judy. The film did not give the viewer a sense of closure in the character's lives, because it did not have a happy ending, but in my opinion it did have a strong closure. Vertigo was a very restricted film, most of it was seen in the 3rd person and had followed the 180-degree rule and uses continuity editing i.e. analytical and inter cutting editing. Most of it was edited in a medium camera shot with some close ups and long shots. These factors gave the film a nice flow. The only time the film was seen in the 1st person was in the following scenes: John Ferguson's dream sequence, John's reaction to his recreation of Madeleine, Madeleine and Judy's deaths, John's fear of heights, when John figured out what really had happened to Madeleine and when Judy experienced her flashbacks. During these scenes the camera movements and editing techniques are different from the rest of the film, there are plenty of crane shots, rapid camera movements, discontinuity editing, montage editing and long shots. Most of these are used for reaction/ point of view shots. The final characteristics of a Hollywood Classical Film are the objectives: appointments and deadlines, these characteristics occur when time plays a role in the film. The appointments and deadlines in Vertigo are the following: John Ferguson getting over his fear of heights, the fact that Corlata Valdez and Madeleine Ellester died at the age of 26 years old and the long car rides. John's meeting with Gavin is a perfect example of an appointment and John spying on Madeleine is an example of a deadline. These scenes order the plot in a way that the viewer can recognize the cause and effects of the characters' actions. The stylistic form in Vertigo is great, the sound and mise-en-scene made the film more enjoyable for the viewer. The sound effects and music play important roles in the film; music is present during the long car rides and every time John experiences his fear of heights the music places the viewer in suspense. Throughout the film the different sound effects and music capture the audience. An example of this is the sound during John's dream sequence. The music hypnotizes the viewer into a trance which helps him/her view the film in the first person. The mise-en-scene in Vertigo also plays an important role in the film. The scenes were enhanced by the mise-en-scene are the from the beginning of the film. Throughout the film I was aware of the locations. The San Francisco setting was presented to the viewer in the beginning and that made the audience more aware of the film's environment. The monastery and other locations of Corlata's past gave me a better understanding of Madeleine’s problem. The make-up and costume play an important part in the recreation scenes, while the props assisted the audience and John Ferguson in piecing the puzzle together and figuring out Gain’s plan. The lighting enhanced many scenes in the film. The parts that impressed me were the following: the recreation of Madeleine scene, John's dream sequence, the monastery scenes, Judy's guilt trip and the scenes involving John's fear of heights. In conclusion, all these factors made Vertigo a great film and made it much more enjoyable for the audience. All the Hollywood Classical Film characteristics that are used in the film enhance the power of Vertigo. Everyone should see Vertigo, since it is a perfect example of a Hollywood Classical Film. In my opinion Alfred Hitchcock was a genius and Vertigo is one of the greatest Hollywood films ever created. Bibliography:

Word Count: 1947