Vertigo Analysis

Hitchcock’s film ‘Vertigo’ revolves around retired detective John ‘Scottie” Ferguson, who develops vertigo after witnessing the death of a policeman. Asked by acquaintance Gavin Elster to watch over his thought-to-be possessed wife, he follows Madeline and saves her after throwing herself into the San Francisco Bay. They spend the day together and go to Mission San Juan Bautista, where they confess their love for each other. Suddenly, as Madeline runs up the bell tower, Scottie is halted by his acrophobia and sees Madeline fall to her death. Scottie becomes depressed, and catches sight of a woman who looks like Madeline. She told him her name was Judy Barton, and everything is revealed.
For me, the characters stole the entire film . Scottie’s obsession with Madeline later in the film had me on the edge of my seat. He had become so incredibly enthralled with the Madeline he knew, that he would go to the extent of making Judy mimic her entire appearance to be like her, even to the point of accidentally calling her Madeline. His decent into madness was only accelerated after starting to see Judy, moving from depression into insanity. At the introduction
This is meant to be the reveal, but we are only two thirds through. I found myself identifying with Judy whilst watching her go down this hole to hell, and sympathising with her struggles in becoming a clone of Madeline. Another shot which resonated with me was when Judy comes out of the bathroom, looking exactly like Madeline, and there is a line of light over her, which makes her look unearthly, as if she was a ghost, as if she was the spirit of the now deceased Madeline. We where put in Scottie’s perspective in that moment and I feel we saw exactly what he