Vertigo (1958)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 1958
	Director: Alfred Hitchcock (The Birds, Torn Curtain)
	Actors: James Stewart (Rear Window, Rope), Kim Novak, Barbara Bel Geddes
	Country: USA
	Genre: Romance, Thriller, Polar
	Conditions of visioning: 22.10.2014, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: A retired detective John Ferguson (Steward) suffering from acrophobia is hired by an old friend to follow his wife Madeleine (Novak) who is since recently not behaving like herself.
Review: I guess I had higher expectations from what is sold as Hitchcock's masterpiece. The suspense part is actually rather small, to the profit of an extended Romance story. I don't say this is totally bad, just unexpected and a bit lengthy. The mystery in the first half of the movie is intriguing and I loved the atmosphere created by the slow drifts in the street of San Francisco with a nice discreet music. This is also helped by the image quality of the Blu-ray edition: it ranges from stellar in the first 10 minutes (the best I have seen in this Hitchcock box-set and and one of the best of all the Blu-rays I own) to simply excellent in the rest of the movie (I don't know why the small drop of quality) with some worst moments when the lighting was bad, flickering or not constant. I like in particular the scene at the foot of the Golden Gate bridge, but throughout the whole movie I could appreciate the quality of the cinematography: low-angle to high-angle shots, close-ups, composition, without forgetting the famous "Vertigo effect" (compensated travelling). The directing is good as well: scenes like the one in the sequoia park are full of meaning, and I start to like the style of James Steward which is definitely not common. And the structure of the movie is original: it never goes where you would expect it and the resolution of the crime is not put forward, it is only the context to the meeting of two persons. I also liked the graphic design of the opening credits and of the amazing dream sequence by Saul Bass. I have to get for myself a copy of the book Saul Bass: A Life in Film and Design. After all this praise, why didn't I like Vertigo more than that? Well the more I think of it, the less downsides I can find, it is just a general feeling that I didn't get intrigued as much as in other Hitchcock movies, and the romance feels completely unrealistic nowadays (love at first sight). But the idealised part of the romance is balanced by some hints that the director gives only because he could not show more in a movie of that period. I have three examples: after John rescues Madeleine from the waters, he keeps on insisting that it was a pleasure to meet her, with the hint of a smile. Is it to remind us constantly that he undressed her while she was unconscious, and that seeing such a beautiful woman powerless and naked would be a solid reason to fall in love at that period? Then during the Sequoia scene, Madeleine is terribly excited while day-dreaming, and her hand wanders towards her legs before the camera cuts to a face close-up. Finally, when John meets Judy she says that she has been on blind dates before and that she has been picked-up by men, and after the first date she indeeds welcome John very close to her apartment door, meaning that she is accustomed to have sex on a first date, something unthinkable at that period. Those three examples make me wonder: was Hitchcock ahead of his time and anticipating the sexual revolution? In any case, I am not surprised that Brian de Palma wanted to shoot his own version of Vertigo 20 years later, he will be able to show more then. I was waiting to watch Vertigo before Obsession and I will thus soon be able to appreciate it and compare both movies.
Rating: 7 /10