Fear In Alfred Hitchcock's Film Vertigo

Vertigo

As the eyes flicker back and forth in a way of fear, a red hue comes across the screen with a dark, unsettling tune shadowing in the background. It is at this point the audience is first introduced to the sense of fear that will be portrayed throughout Alfred Hitchcock’s film, Vertigo. The fear of loss, love, and truth are the basis of the unravelling story of a retired detective hired for a job only to be manipulated and hurt by a woman he falls in love with, multiple times. There are two main characters, both with so much depth and mystery. John “Scottie” Ferguson, an ex detective who suffers from acrophobia. His fear of heights leads to many unfortunate events in the film that he is never able to recover from. Unable to have a true

This is where Hitchcock really brought in the psychological thriller aspect; unexpected events and messing with the minds of the audience. We begin the film knowing that Scottie was suffering from acrophobia, and he is hopeful and ambitious to learn to get it under control. He also is a good friend because he takes a case from Gavin after retiring from detective work. All nobel and strong traits for a protagonist, but there was some interesting character development that worked in the opposite way one would expect. Scottie was put through a lot; manipulation, and witnessed two deaths, one being a loved one. The scene where he was in the hospital showed that he was mentally unstable because of guilt and trauma, but after that is when it began to twist and turn. Every woman he saw that was blonde reminded him of Madeleine, and once he found Judy he was set on creating Madeleine’s perfection again. He was demanding, obsessive, and simple crazy. You begin to feel for Judy and forget that she was an accessory to murder and is the bad

supernatural. Hitchcock’s manipulation of reality already included the use of special effects, character development or lack thereof, and hiding truths, but by using supernatural aspects it allowed the ending of the story to be played out in a very specific way. When Scottie was first introduced to the job Gavin offers him, he was told that Madeleine was possessed by a spirit. The reason being was so Gavin’s elaborate plan of killing his wife had a reason to end with her suicide. Although this was the direct reason for the use of ghosts I also think it was used so the audience realises that supernatural ideas are going to be used in the film, and this was a way to ease into it without it being cheesy. The spot where it played a very important part of the film was at the very end when Judy falls off the bell tower. Fear and guilt of the truth was destroying Judy from the inside out. She was becoming an emotional wreck; understandable because she was caught of being accessory to murder and the man she loves hates her because of all the manipulation. While all of this was going down a nun comes up to see what was happening, but in the dark she appeared as a shadowy figure and frightens Judy so much she runs off the edge of the bell tower. Now Judy wasn’t exactly afraid of the nun, but she thought the shadowy figure was the ghost of Madeleine. Not only that,