I’ll write a quick post in a second that is on a different subject (on Hitchcock in general vs this post on “Vertigo”).
I’m sorry that’s it’s taken me such a long time to write a post about this film-it’s just that I feel apprehensive about commenting on this material. Ben and I had a conversation today about the problems/stigmas that come with writing about Hitchcock. The main one being, of course, that so many have written, analyzed and theorized about his general work as well as specific films, right down to the very last frame, and I feel like I have nothing original to contribute to the conversation that hasn’t already been said and written about thousands of times over.
But about “Vertigo”…ever since I saw the film (I think I was around 13 or 14), the ending has always killed me…not as it killed Judy (or is it Madeline…?), but emotionally (though not to Scotti’s extent, of course). I find myself unable to move for a few seconds or else dreading it inside because I know exactly what’s coming. (That shot of Jimmy Stweart just completely destructed… ) I believe that most of the emotional outrage has to do with what Campbell was saying in class today-sort of the “everyone comes out in the end and tells the truth, but what does it matter?” issue. But I feel it’s more than that. I feel it isn’t our idea that everyone should be happy after everyone tells the truth. (The movie would be much less dramatic and interesting had Scottie said, “Well, well you know? Tha-that’s ok by me, Judy. Let’s get married right away.”) I feel Hitchcock toyed with us. This is a simple statement, but ponder it. We have so much invested in these two characters. We see Scottie developing, struggling and coping with his vertigo. We see him fall in love. Hard. We see him completely obliterated when he “loses” Madeline. We find him in a little institution, unable to speak or move. When he recovers, we find him driven by his memories, and we see him crushed in that last shot (I hate even thinking about it visually. Tyler and Megs can vouch for how much I hate those last twenty or so seconds). With Judy/Madeline, we see her in love, haunted with something that isn’t Carlotta Valdez. We see her fall in love. We find that she fell in love against her job. We see her risk everything to be with Scottie again, putting herself (not just appearance) behind her. (“Alright then, I’ll do it. I don’t care anymore about me.”) It’s remarkable to see someone willing enough to go through that for any reason.
We see them kiss and embrace in a room full of green light (I would also like to say that green in this film, not red, is the color of passion, interestingly enough. Scottie after he has undressed Madeline, when Scottie first sees Madeline in the room looking like a total fox, even when he sees Judy with all of her friends looking, again, very nice, etc.)
But through all of these things, I have to ask the Campbell question, “What for?” Hitchcock toys with us into caring so deeply about these characters then destroying both in different fashions-but why? I don’t believe it’s a, “what’s the point of anything, even if everyone tells the truth” thing…I have far too much faith in Hitchcock that he only made us care to hurt us in the end. What statement was he trying to get across? I feel it has to be much more than plot to do so. Maybe this was Hitchcock’s version of karma-that no matter who you are, how much you love someone, what you are willing to do, or the truths you’ve told to clear your conscience, you cannot escape without paying for what you initially did (and I believe that taking part in the murder of another man’s wife constitutes grounds for major karma.) WAIT! Stop the presses! If this is JUDY’S karma for helping in the murder of the real Madeline, perhaps this ghost-like nun has the appearance of the murdered Madeline (as Tyler pointed out to me), and even if only in Judy’s mind, she frightened her into falling to her death, thus giving the slain Madeline her revenge and justice (that, unless you’re French and/or British, you didn’t see happen with Gavin Elster). If this is the case, perhaps this is the one instance of the film when Madeline and Judy are separate entities.
Perhaps one reason why we become so involved in the characters of Scottie and Judy/Madeline is to undertand that revenge is almost always had, no matter the circumstance. Perhaps, even as Judy falls to her death, she and Madeline are one in the same. I’m not sure…