Criterion Challenge week 14: Vertigo (1958)
Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures Corporation / Wikimedia Commons
Vertigo (1958) is a must-watch-film with an unforgettable final act.
*Spoilers Ahead*
The Criterion Challenge is an annual online film challenge in which people (mostly Letterboxd users) watch 52 films from the Criterion Collection in a year. I most recently watched Some Like It Hot (1959) to satisfy week 13: films made in the 1950s.
While the Criterion Collection is a physical distribution company, it also moved to online streaming due to its popularity. The company now houses the Criterion Channel, a streaming service where users can sign up for yearly or monthly subscription access to more than 1000 films.
Week 14's challenge was picking a film from the Criterion Channel's “all-time favorites” list. This list, which changes periodically, includes the most popular films available on the channel, full of recognizable titles and iconic classics.
I chose Vertigo (1958), directed by Alfred Hitchcock, to watch this week. I had never seen the film before, but since I have always enjoyed Hitchcock’s work, it has been on my list for a while. One of his earlier films, Rear Window (1954), is currently in my Letterboxd profile’s top four favorites. Vertigo (1958) is now widely considered one of the best films of all time and Hitchcock’s magnum opus.
Vertigo (1958), starring James Stewart as John “Scottie” Ferguson, is about a San Francisco detective who retires after a traumatic event leaves him with crippling acrophobia: fear of heights. He is then hired by an old friend, Gavin Elster (Tom Helmore), as a private investigator to follow Elster’s wife, Madeleine (Kim Novak). Madeleine has been suffering from various mental illnesses, causing concern and erratic behavior(s).
Scottie follows Madeleine to multiple places, including the grave of a woman named Carlotta Valdes and then to a museum portrait of what appears to be the same woman. After discovering that Valdes was Madeleine’s great-grandmother, Scottie believes the woman possesses Madeleine from beyond. He then follows Madeleine to San Francisco Bay, where he rescues her from what appears to be an attempt on her own life. After being saved from her jump, Madeleine claims not to remember any of the places Scottie saw her visit that day.
The following day, Scottie spends the day with Madeleine and develops romantic feelings for her. The two of them travel to a church in San Juan Bautista that week, Carlotta Valdes’s childhood home. When Scottie tells Madeleine he loves her, she runs up to the church and tells him not to follow. She runs to the top of the clock tower, and Scottie is unable to follow due to the vertigo induced by his acrophobia. From a window, he helplessly watches Madeleine fall to her death.
Her death is ruled a suicide, and Scottie becomes severely depressed, spending time in a sanatorium and returning to the places Madeleine had frequented, often convincing himself that he sees her on the street.
At this point, I assumed the movie was over. I was incorrect— there was over half an hour left in the runtime, most of which had me speechless. I had seen some spoilers previously while watching, but the events of the final act took me by complete surprise. The twists and turns of this film cement its place in the thriller genre. I won’t spoil the rest of the plot because I highly recommend this film— you should all watch it.
Hitchcock, you crazy man, you have done it again. I must say, I absolutely agree with the consensus that this is one of the best films of all time. I give this movie four and a half stars on Letterboxd and would watch it again.