Vertigo

Obsessions & Masterpiece

Vertigo, Agoraphobia, fear of heights, well it seems as common and sensless as seasickness, not to Mr Hitchcock though, who made it the title and the theme of one of his many masterpieces, about obsession, possession, and identity

John "Scottie" Ferguson is a former police officer, who left the force after a traumatic event, which makes him agoraphobic, he spends his days in the atelier of his artist friend Midge, when he is contacted by a former college friend to invistigate the strange behaviour of his wife Madeleine.

Scottie accepts Reluctantly and he finds out that Madeleine is quite strange, and that she is from a cursed lineage, and he gradually becomes obsessed with her, which leads him to cross paths with suicide, double-identity, heights, and a woman who died one hundred years ago.

This movie is quite a masterpiece, it has a precise rhythm lifted by Bernard Hermans famous score, John Stuart's quite heroism, and the scenery of a San Fransisco that doesn't exist anymore, without forgetting the brilliant Title Design by Saul Bass, which was ages before it's time, and also beautiful experimental camera techniques, which led to the classical "vertigo" camera move.

As Scorsese Said it's quite surprising that a movie made in the studio system could be that personal, but Mr Hitchcock was one of the only ones who could get away with the holy graal, working for the man without becoming the man, the inventivity in this movie is deep, and it has diffrent levels of meaning, but it's main theme which stitches it all is Obsession.

Obession will lead Scottie Ferguson to a series of encounters including ones with his own fear, and his own demons, this movie can be a solid entertainment, and can also be seen as an exploratory piece on human nature, and how a man always hunts what he can't get, and sometimes what he just wouldn't get

Anyways, you can't call yourself a movie fan without watching this one, better late night, the production company did a beautiful restoration job, and maybe it will cure your own phobias, with the magic of silver screen, you never know.