The movie Vertigo by Alfred Hitchcock is considered by many critics to be one of the best American films. However, because the movie has an overly complicated plot, a confusing way of portraying characters and ideas, and several plot holes, it should not be. These elements take away from the movie and make it harder to understand and enjoy. The plot of Vertigo is more complicated than it needs to be and takes longer to build than necessary. The first part of the movie drags on with repetitive chase scenes and extra dialogue and leaves the last part moving too quickly. There isn’t much time to understand what is happening with Judy, or why. The major plot twist, that Judy is in fact Madeliene, also comes very suddenly, with very little of the …show more content…
Towards the end of the movie, after Madeliene’ death, Scotty spends a year in a sanatorium and comes out much more paranoid and aggressive than how he acts earlier in the movie. He tries to change Judy back into Madeliene and refuses to take no for an answer, instead acting in an angry and abusive way until she agrees. The way that his behavior changed, and how suddenly, was surprising and took away from the movie. Several other things, like Scotty’s dream, were conveyed in ways that didn’t quite work with the dark theme of the movie. The dream began with colourful shapes and designs that highly contrasted with the surrounding parts of the movie. Vertigo ended in a way that left many questions unanswered. For instance, after Gavin Elster murdered Madeliene, what happened to him? Or, if Judy loved Scotty so much that she would change herself again for him, why didn’t- or couldn’t- she tell him what had happened? Why was Judy so scared of the nun in the end? These questions and others leave the movie open-ended and made the ending frustrating in an unappealing way. Due to the complicated plot, characters, and plot holes, “Vertigo” does not deserve the level of praise that it receives. However, if Hitchcock, had access to modern technology, like new cameras and CGI, perhaps many of these things would not be issues and “Vertigo” might be a more impressive