Authenticity, a powerful word that conveys a feeling of genuine, real stuff that can be easily differentiated from the contrived, fake stuff. Any author, director, poet, or storyteller endeavors to create an authentic work that will resonate with their audience. Some artists experiment with the concept, creating new ways of dealing with it in a film. In Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo, he weaves a masterfully authentic film using some of the most inauthentic characters.
Vertigo’s struggle with authenticity is directly tied with the main character, and begins with the scene on the rooftops. This scene introduces the main character; an otherwise successful everyman detective, who is suddenly paralyzed by a common fear, acrophobia, the fear of heights. This
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The audience has now witnessed Scottie, once firmly rooted in authentic reality, slip all the way down to the point where he is willing to accept the illusion, which, in turn, causes the audience to want that for him as well. They are sort of unconsciously rooting for him to be happy, and if that means transforming Judy, then so be it. When Judy finally agrees to become Madeleine for Scottie, the audience will naturally be happy that they will be able to stay together. However, Hitchcock does not go with what the audience may want here, but instead Scottie discovers that Judy was Madeline all along! In a mix of feeling both attracted to and repulsed by Judy/Madeleine, Scottie confronts her about being part of the plot, choosing the authentic reality over the illusion, even though he loves Judy and would also like to stay with her. Through yet another tragic turn of events, Judy dies, again falling out of the tower, this time not under the illusion, but in the authentic reality, thus ending Scottie’s hopes. This return to the truth, in spite of the preferable illusion, is really what makes Vertigo’s treatment of authenticity