Amph Question re: "Vertigo"

I had a similar discussion about this a while back on another board, and I thought I'd ask the opinion of the posters here.

I've been watching Hitchcock's "Vertigo", widely acclaimed as one of his best films, tonight on TCM, and it brings up a question to me: did Hitchcock make a mistake in the movie? To put it delicately, so's not to spoil it for those who haven't seen it yet, did the movie reveal the truth behind the mystery too soon?

What do you think? Just thought I'd ask.

 

You can use spoiler tags, you know.

I can't tell what you're referring to, I think the story unfolds well and there's no "mistake" I can think of in the reveal at the end that

Spoiler

Jimmy Stewart was a patsy.

 

The mystery had to be revealed when it did to begin the final act for Stewarts character. Man follows girl, Man fall in love with Girl, Man thinks girl has been murdered, Man's obsession leads him to fall in love with a girl that looks like the previous girl, Man finds out girl is the previous girl, Man goes nuts, Man does thing that eventually leads to the death of his girl.

The story is not about the mystery. The story is about Obsession.

 

We're not going to analyze the film for you. Write your own thesis.

2001, on the other hand...

 

Spoiler

It's about empathy. The reveal was a very intentional choice by Hitchcock. The obvious move would be to create a "twisty" climax, but by revealing Judy's motives early on, it allows us to empathize with the character as she undergoes the transformation into Madeleine. Additionally, by allowing us to understand both characters' perspectives, it makes the bell-tower climax all the more devastating.

why are you on a discussion forum if you don't want to discuss things and what makes you less prone to analyze vertigo vs 2001

 

No. He didn't. It's not a suspense movie or a twist movie. It's deeper than that. Also, placing the reveal where it does has an important alienating effect on the audience for the last section of the film. The whole film is built upon successive moments where the rug is pulled out and you don't know where it's going to go next.

 

much liek ur poasting

 

He made a mistake by making the movie.

 

What I want to know is this -- he already got questioned about the death of the real wife and it was dropped because she was supposedly 'suicidal' and stuff. What happens now that he faces a similar investigation when a woman who looks just like the previous dies in the same way at the same place and he is around AGAIN? The police are going to think he is a serial killer!

 

Oh yeah and spoilers and stuff.

 

Yeah, I think the reveal is handled perfectly. It's really eerie and really shocked me when it happened. There's that weird zoom in on the tower that happens when she's remembering what happened. It felt really creepy to me.

And, yeah, I think that the last act of the movie really has to have the reveal at the beginning of it; what Bacon said above about the empathy Hitch creates for that character is exactly right.

Also, JediYvette, I think he's not going to have to worry about the police.

Spoiler

It's always felt to me like Hitch cuts away just a split second before he flings himself off the tower. Every time I watch the movie, I feel like that's what's about to happen as the movie ends.

Does that count as a spoiler, since I'm talking about what I theorize happens after the movie ends? Well, better safe than sorry.

 

the movie is 54 years old. if someone reads this thread and is spoiled, it's their own damn fault.

 

Spoiler

He was Keizer Soze this whole time!

 

Vertigo 2!

I hope Jerry Bruckheimer produces.

 

I guess I'm in the minority, but I'd have preferred it if the audience had been clued in on the truth at the same time Scottie was. And, since it is indeed a suspense movie, it would've kept the audience guessing until the last possible moment regarding just how far Scottie would go with his obsession and just why Judy is going along with him.

 

Yeah, not being privy to the psychological state of the second main character of the film as she's being psychologically defiled would've made Vertigo much better. Audiences would definitely be onboard with Stewart as he forces Kim Novak to try on shoes, dresses, and suits, with the audience having no clue as to an underlying purpose of where the narrative is taking us. It may take you a few viewings, but Vertigo is not primarily a suspense film, but a meditation on the depravity that follows obsessional longing, the folly of nostalgia, and (arguably) a feminist critique of the effects of the male gaze and the sheer "power and freedom" that men misuse on a regular basis, all confined in the guise of a psychological thriller that refuses to follow any trappings of the genre in the first place. Even further, Vertigo follows Hitchcock's model of suspense to a tee. Except in the case of Vertigo, the bomb does go off.