Review of Vertigo (1958) by Robert A — 08 Jan 2017

Disorienting, dizzying, and quite unsettling at times... All the workings of a Hitchcock masterpiece, and this film rightfully can be considered a definitive example of that. It's not structured the way a thriller so often is, both nowadays and in the era when it was released, in that the pacing can be considered particularly slow at times.

However, if viewers can get over that stigma, they'll find a highly captivating story of a traumatized detective hired for one more case, a case he is woefully unprepared for. Jimmy Stewart is brilliant as usual as the lead, Scottie Ferguson, bringing his every-man, sympathetic persona to a character that could have easily come across as a completely unsympathetic, unstable and unlikable individual had a lesser actor taken the role.

Instead, as the case unravels and his fears and obsessions begin to take hold, Stewart's portrayal brings mixed feelings of pity and disturbance, an intriguing train-wreck that is a broken man trying desperately to keep himself together, and failing.

Co-star Kim Novak is similarly brilliant as the mysterious woman that Scottie is asked to investigate, a woman he finds himself falling for, only to find he's fallen for what is quickly proven to be a deceptive performance, and not entirely a willing one on the deceiver's behalf.

The mystery, as many will claim, is one that quickly solves itself before the film's climax, but this isn't meant to be a mystery film, it's a character study, one that shows just what past traumas, obsession, and fabrication can do to a person, and the ensuing consequences that can result from their attempts to deal with such things.

It all plays out like a massive car pile up, a horrid sight, but one you can't take your eyes off of, and I mean that in the best possible way. Hitchcock at his prime was a master at pulling off this sort of thing, and Vertigo may well be the prime example of this mastery.