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A Psychological Analysis Of Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo

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Meticulously directed by Alfred Hitchcock, Vertigo a film-noir psychological thriller has become the greatest movie of all times in America. A police detective John Scottie Ferguson (James Stewart) gets crushed with vertigo and acrophobia after chasing a criminal on the rooftops of San Francisco, and watching his colleague fall to death. Criminal Gavin Elster (Tom Helmore) places reliance on Scottie’s mental illness in order for the murder of his wife Madeleine ( Kim Novak) to appear as a suicide. Manipulation, obsession and guilt accompany Scottie during the pursuit of Madeleine.
Throughout the film, Alfred Hitchcock brilliantly emphasizes the spinning effects of Scottie’s vertigo obviously with strong visual images, and figuratively through …show more content…

She represents the ordinary real world that Scottie refuses to belong to.
On the other hand, at Midge’s apartment, Scottie is continuously surrounded with red, but while at Ernie’s spying on Madeleine the red and green tie on his neck reveals a controversial message of reality and captivation; Scottie is originally a police detective but is also a victim of the deception camouflaged within the charm, beauty and attractiveness of Madeleine.
Megan Friddle in her writing about Hitchcok’s women, describes Madeleine as “ impeccably dressed, with white-blond hair, red lips, an aura of mystery”(113). Truly, at first glance Madeleine at Ernie’s, is dressed with an attractive, glimmering emerald gown. She surely creates a high contrast with the red walls of the restaurant, especially when a zoomed shot of her profile is taken while Scottie is furtively looking at her. Later on, the exchange in colors between Scottie and Madeleine in his apartment displays a message of intimacy between both characters. This contrast between red and green perfectly replenishes the script of Vertigo. Both colors are on opposing sides on the color wheel; while red is the color of love and fantasy, green is the color of eternity. Unexpectedly, …show more content…

Similarly to Madeleine, Judy is wearing green and lives in the same hotel room but this time under her real name Judy Barton, like she explicitly explains on her identity card. This parallelism in repeating the same events with both Judy and Madeleine is a simple and smart way to create tension in order to reach the climax when the whole reality is revealed. Friddle narrates that “when the truth finally comes out, that Judy was simply performing Madeleine, Scotty is driven to destroy the woman of his desire and the destroyer of his fantasy.”(113). As a result, Scottie and Judy both reclimb the tower of death. He is now left alone dealing with a second trauma.
Apparently, Vertigo is a complicated movie. Characters, plot and visual effects make from this film the example of perfectionism of Alfred Hitchcock filmmaking. In an article of the New York Times magazine, Janet Maslin states that “Vertigo’s brilliance remains unmistakable.
And Hitchcock, for all his remarkable powers of reason, never shaped a film as fervently or perversely as he did this one.”
It is important to live day by day, and try to be optimistic but also it is extremely wrong to daydream and live in illusions. Illusions won’t last for long, and will be destroyed

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2. Vertigo is a film noir that was released in 1958. Vertigo followed a former detective named Scottie who was tricked by his friend and a con-woman. The con-woman (real name Judy) pretended to by friend’s wife and fake a suicide in a plot to murder the friend’s real wife. Scottie’s character followed Judy around town after being hired by his friend Gavin due to Gavin’s so-called suspicions of his wife having a possible mental illness.

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Those expressions are captured at different time, but kuleshov effect manipulates the audience thinking that Scottie is afraid of heights. Hitchcock uses kuleshov effect again when Scottie is driving his car on the road. Audiences are shown Scottie’s face and then the road he is driving on. This scene manipulates audience’s thinking that Scottie is actually driving when he is not. This effect is used again to convey character’s emotions to manipulate audience’s thinking.

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Alfred Hitchcock successfully performs suspense and shock in a number of ways. One way was when he reveals that the cop is following her, making us think that he found out concerning the money she stole. Another way is when we see Norman staring through the hole, examining her as if he is waiting to make his move. The last technique that Hitchcock constructed suspense is when we identify a shadowy character gazing at her take a shower, making us wonder who it could

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Alfred Hitchcock’s film Vertigo (1958) was voted the “best film ever made” by the 2012 British Film Institute, and for good reason. The plot is elaborate and intriguing and the cinematography is legendary. On top of this, the characters, like good characters should, all have their own needs and wants that are evident in the film. The needs of these characters affect each other and they affect the story and they all follow one common theme: control. Our protagonist, John “Scottie” Ferguson’s wants and needs differ greatly throughout the film, but his only constant is his yearning to get over his acrophobia, or fear of heights.

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Both of Alfred Hitchcock’s films, North by Northwest and Rear Window, were great movies with lots of suspense. The suspense, however, would not have been created without the entire mise-en-scene of the movies. Hitchcock was a master at using the elements of lighting, sound, and cinematography to heighten the suspense in his movies. The first key element of mise-en-scene that played a significant role in both movies was lighting.

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To the unknown eye, Hitchcock has carefully and skillfully used Mise-en-scene to his advantage, causing the audience to feel fear and a sense of caution towards the character of Norman Bates. It isn’t until we reflect back on the scene and notice how intelligently Hitchcock uses the positioning of props and the characters, lighting, camera angle and staging, that we notice how he has added meaning to his characters but has also to the film, creating suspense and fear from one scene to the end of the film. Ultimately proving the point that Hitchcock “the master of suspense” uses Mise-en-scene to not only help make a brilliant film but also uses it as his disposal to add meaning in his

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Many argue when the Golden age of Film Noir ended. One on the most common arguments is that Orsons Wells A Touch of Evil was the last of the great Noirs. However, the real last true noir may actually be Alfred Hitchcock 's Vertigo which came out later the same year is the true last noir. The first evidence Vertigo gives us is the main character John "Scottie" Ferguson. Scottie is a ex-detective with a past that haunts him.

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The film Vertigo by Alfred Hitchcock employs various clever camera movements and sequences which seem to portray the main character’s state of mind. Right from the opening sequence the cinematography in this film had me intrigued. The viewer is show the red filtered eyes of a mysterious woman which zooms into a black void where animated colored rings spin and zoom to a menacing and mysterious sounding score, all of this provides the foundation for a film about illusions. The film also does a good job at using an unreliable main character who is oblivious to the trickery going on around him. The character of Scottie is flawed through his naivety and his investment in romance.

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The Film Psycho, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, effectively presented the ideas of murder and schizophrenia through the use of characters, with the double-sided Norman Bates in particular, and visual techniques as well as sound techniques. The ideas of murder and schizophrenia were presented well in the movie "psycho" through the use of characters. The character of Norman Bates was the central character in the film and had a complex and differing personality. One moment he was shy, kind, lonely Norman Bates, a mother's boy, and the next he was a deadly jealous Mrs. Bates, his deceased mother.

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Everything about this film for me was perfect. Starting with first scene, the establishment shot showing the California buildings then panning and zooming to the characters room. For a black and white old movie, there are so many powerful techniques used that are still relevant even to this day’s horror movies. Alfred Hitchcock (producer and director) managed to execute a horrifying film without using props and ghosts.

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This movie detained the top position for the fifty years until it cut down to succeeding following Vertigo (1958). The movie “Citizen Kane” is typically admired for its obscured plot, packed with the flashbacks that drag feet of the viewers towards the chronology of the life of the Kane, its astonishing performances; its spectacular technical stunts and aerial tricks and its deep-concentrated photography. A small range of if any among the technical possessions are completely unique to the Kane, although Orson Welles and his crew’s masterly use of the so many of them in single movie has built the “Citizen Kane” and weight on almost the whole things that came later than. (bj_kuehl,

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The Suspense and Mystery created successfully by Alfred Hitchcock in Spellbound and Rope When mention about suspense, “Hitchcock” must be the first word appears out in the mind. Alfred Hitchcock produced plenty of films which are suspense and thrilling. In his filmography, Spellbound and Rope were produced in a bit earlier stage. Spellbound is the first batch of film using the topic of Psychoanalysis.

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The ‘Hitchcock blondes’ represent Hitchcock’s fantasy woman. She is unreachable, seductive, mysterious, and seems forever young; the female lead in Vertigo is not an exception. In Vertigo, Scottie is a detective who is hired to

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Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 film Psycho redirected the entire horror genre, and in doing so dismantled the prudent 1950’s societal barriers of cinema. Although unseen for its potential by the large studios of the time, Psycho became one of the crowning achievements of film history. While based partially on a true story of murder and psychosis from Wisconsin, the widespread viewing of this tale made way for a new era of film and ushered in a new audience of movie goers. The use of violence, sexual explicitness, dramatic twists, sound, and cinematography throughout this film gave Hitchcock his reputable name and title as master of suspense.

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These were explored by the use of the motifs of birds, eyes, hands and mirrors (Filmsite.org, n.d.). Hitchcock skilfully guides the audiences through a tale

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