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Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock, 1958)
Vertigo is thought of way better than it once was, but it deserves to be. Vertigo is basically about obsession, transference, guilt, fate, and possession of the characters. It's multi-layered, even if it's the viewers who increase its significance through repeat viewings. You've pretty much got what the characters did in the film after the first bell tower scene, but it should really be looked at from the perspective of a dream or nightmare which it resembles for the most part. It's not supposed to be rational, so if your problems with it are that it doesn't make sense, you'll never like it or get what you're supposed to get out of it. If you try to go along with it, you'll be rewarded with a hypnotic experience. I realize that I criticize similar films for similar reasons, but take my word for it
, this one is better. I love the on-location and subjective photography of San Francisco and its environs but my fave is the walk in the Redwoods. Vertigo is not your average film or viewing experience. It seems to defy logic and has few likable characters. However, the photography and music are hypnotic. Vertigo is the kind of film which demands multiple viewings to "get into it", and then eventually you discover that the film is thematically-rich, not only in the way people behave in a relationship but how directors/scripters use their actors and how films use their viewers. Vertigo is a film which greatly divides people. Many believe it's the apotheosis of everything Hitch ever did and reveals himself more than any other film. Then there are those who like it up to a point but are baffled by some of the plot, plot twists, and character revelations. They just think it gets stupid and/or silly.
Vertigo is thought of way better than it once was, but it deserves to be. Vertigo is basically about obsession, transference, guilt, fate, and possession of the characters. It's multi-layered, even if it's the viewers who increase its significance through repeat viewings. You've pretty much got what the characters did in the film after the first bell tower scene, but it should really be looked at from the perspective of a dream or nightmare which it resembles for the most part. It's not supposed to be rational, so if your problems with it are that it doesn't make sense, you'll never like it or get what you're supposed to get out of it. If you try to go along with it, you'll be rewarded with a hypnotic experience. I realize that I criticize similar films for similar reasons, but take my word for it
, this one is better. I love the on-location and subjective photography of San Francisco and its environs but my fave is the walk in the Redwoods. Vertigo is not your average film or viewing experience. It seems to defy logic and has few likable characters. However, the photography and music are hypnotic. Vertigo is the kind of film which demands multiple viewings to "get into it", and then eventually you discover that the film is thematically-rich, not only in the way people behave in a relationship but how directors/scripters use their actors and how films use their viewers. Vertigo is a film which greatly divides people. Many believe it's the apotheosis of everything Hitch ever did and reveals himself more than any other film. Then there are those who like it up to a point but are baffled by some of the plot, plot twists, and character revelations. They just think it gets stupid and/or silly.