Gigi

This 31st Annual Academy Award Winner, is a musical romantic comedy, directed by Vincente Minnelli, that follows the courtship of Gigi as Gaston, an upper-class playboy, spends time with her in early 1900s Paris.  

However, another film was released in 1958, and it deserves another look. For me, “Vertigo” is one of the most intriguing and rewatchable (not sure if that’s a word, it should be) movies made. And I’m not the only one who feels this way. It is No. 1 on “AFI’s 10 Top 10” “mystery” list, and just last year replaced “Citizen Kane” as “the best film of all time” by Sight & Sound magazine’s critics’ poll.

The film follows “Scottie” Ferguson, played James Stewart, as a recently retired San Franciscan police detective, who is now battling depression and vertigo after seeing an officer fall to his death during a foot chase.  Too young to stay complacent in his retirement, Scottie is talked into “tailing” an acquaintance’s wife, Madeleine, with the objective of disproving any suspicions that her recent, odd behaviors are a sign that she is possessed.  Scottie follows Madeleine, played by Kim Novak, as she spends her day visiting the grave of Carlotta Valdes (we later find out she committed suicide) and later spends hours in an art museum, staring at a painting of a woman almost identical to herself, entitled “Portrait of Carlotta.” The next day, Madeleine jumps into the San Francisco Bay, but Scottie saves her, takes her to his home and the two share a tender moment before she disappears into the night. Scottie later accompanies her on a day date, now fearful she might attempt suicide again, but still denying any paranormal aspect to the situation. Scottie and Madeleine kiss and profess for one another’s love just before she abruptly tares herself away from Scottie, runs up the bell tower and leaps to her death. Scottie, ashamed of the vertigo that disables him and his resulting inability to save her, he sinks further into depression and near madness. After a slow recovery, he wanders all the locations he and Madeleine had previously visited and occasionally, in his delusion, spots women he mistakes for his lost love. One day, Scottie spots a woman who looks remarkably like Madeleine and lost in obsession, he decides to take her out, change her make-up, her clothes and at one point, even her name; giving himself a second shot at having the woman for whom he’s pining.

The film’s title is analogous to Scottie’s spiraling decent into madness. The film feels like you’re moving downward, deeper into obsession, deeper into depression and deeper into the story’s web. Hitchcock, the film’s director, can do that – the kid had some promise. In fact, Hitchcock’s films are on the verge of taking over “AFI’s 10 Top 10” “mystery” list, with “Vertigo,” “Rear Window,” “North by Northwest” and “Dial M for Murder.” The hilly streets of San Francisco afford the perfect setting to symbolically illustrate Scottie’s decent, as one wrong turn, down the wrong street, could send our detective further into melancholia and rock bottom. One film critic has even pointed out that an overwhelming majority of parked cars in the background are all pointing downhill, possibly showing the pull of Scottie’s surrounding environment in that direction.  Early in the film, Scottie’s ex-girlfriend mentions that perhaps only another trauma could jog him out of his acrophobia, and the film’s climax forces Scottie to conquer his crippling fear of heights and the bell tower from which Madeleine jumped. This poses the dichotomous theory that a literal assent could hold the key to Scottie’s mental salvation.

Let there be light! A few aspect of this film prohibit it from being classified as absolute film-noir, but the greatest difference between “Vertigo” and any other detective story, including even the comedic “The Big Lebowski,” is the sheer amount of light allowed in each scene. I mean, the film takes place in San Francisco for Pete’s sake! There are a lot of really dark things being explored under throughout many beautiful days with bright sunshine and clear, blue skies. When this light is ripped away from us, we know it’s about to get real. One of the most horrifying scenes in movie history takes place at night, in Madeleine’s dark hotel room. With only the eerie light of the hotel’s green neon light spilling into the room form the window, Scottie allows his delusion to take over as the final stage of Madeleine’s transformation completes.

I don’t know how to best classify this movie into one, particular film genre; it’s a mystery, a psychological thriller, a drama, a detective story, a horror film, a love story ­­­­­– all Hitchcock.