Vertigo : A messsage inside

“If it's a good movie, the sound could go off and the audience would still have a perfectly clear idea of what was going on.” Alfred Hitchcock

The profound content of Vertigo seems arcane, even after watching the movie several times. Only a master like Alfred Hitchcock could develop a work of art with so many internal relationships.
The way in which themes are treated, the colours that Alfred Hitchcock chose, the symbolic meaning of each element in the movie, the clothes of the characters and their psychological characteristics denote an intense work and perhaps they are all a reflect of Hitchcock's soul.

Only a masterpiece is appreciated by different generations. If a work of art is not good enough, it dies. Vertigo has been appreciated since its date of release.

In this post, we are going to mention some symbols, motifs and themes that we seen in the movie. Certainly, Vertigo has many more, but some of them are part of a large list and the others are wrapped in secrecy by the movie itself.


1. Symbols " something that is used to represent a quality or idea" (From Cambridge, Advanced Learner's Dictionary)


1.1 Colours: If we recap main scenes of Vertigo we will remember two colours clearly: Red and Green. The red colour is sometimes related to Danger (1). The first scene where we can see Red as a main colour is the scene at Ernie's Restaurant, where Scottie saw Madeleine for the first time. Red is also the colour of the Bridge, near of which Madeleine was about to commit suicide. Also in a nightmare that Scottie had, red appeared intermittently. The images that he saw combined with red were: images of himself at the court with Elster and Carlotta Valdes.Carlotta Valdes looks at Scottie in a way that seems to be asking for help. In the scene at the court, Elster had told Scottie "It was my responsibility, I should not have involved you"; The portrait of Carlotta, in which her necklace is shown in extreme close-up, maybe suggesting what Scottie should pay attention to in the future (maybe to solve a crime). Finally, himself walking towards a grave and then falling over a roof, that seems to be the same where Madeleine had fallen.When Judy begins remembering what had happened in the tower, red also appears.
Green is a recurrent colour in the film. Although sometimes green represents life, it can also represent the ghostly or uncanny(2) In folk-tales, for example green represents the Spring, but also it is related with life after death embodied by ghosts and spirits(3)and it is used as such in important scenes of the film. From Vertigo, "Vert" means Green in French, and if we consider green as representing death we will find a close relation between this meaning and the former name for this movie that was "From among the Dead".

At Ernie's Restaurant, Madeleine wears a green gown and her car is also green.Green is the colour of the lawn next to the tower, the sequoia trees are green and the neon sign at the Empire Hotel is green too. This sign has a special meaning when its light was reflected on Judy when she was transformed into Madeleine. That made her look as if she was coming from among the dead.


1.2 Phallic symbols: The Coit Tower is considered as a phallic symbol. It is said that the main character of the novel "D'entre les morts" by Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac was impotent. The tower can be seen from Scottie's apartment. It is said that Hitchcock chose deliberately this place to show the tower. In a scene Madeleine told Scottie that she had found his apartment thanks to the tower,Scottie said that that was the first time he was grateful for Coit Tower(4).Another phallic symbol seen in the movie, is the stick with which Scottie appears playing at Midge's apartment. Scottie says about the stick "I will throw this miserable thing out of the window".

2. Motifs Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, or literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major theme (5)

2.1 Spiral : The spiral is present in several parts of the film. At the beginning of the movie, it comes from an eye. The spiral is part of the hairstyle of Madeleine and Carlotta Valdes, representing the spiral into which she will lead Scottie.
The stairs at the bell tower also have a spiral shape, that show the dizziness that Scottie feels while being in high places. There is a spiral inside the tree where Madeleine settles her date of birthday that may symbolize Life itself: We all come to this world but then we die. Madeleine travels around the city, in a way that seems to be circular, also symbolizing the feeling she is leading Scottie to: The Vertigo.

2.2 Bunch of Flowers : At the beginning of the movie, Madeleine buys a beautiful and delicate bunch of flowers. The beauty and delicacy of this bouquet represents Madeleine beauty and femininity. When she is about to throw herself into the water, she tears flowers. This act may symbolize her own destruction. The bunch of flowers also appears in the nightmare that Scottie had. First we can see the bunch of flowers and its petals being released little by little. Before this bunch was destroyed, the colour green appears intermittently, anticipating and symbolizing death.

3. Themes: Main ideas in Vertigo

3.1 Death shown in different aspects : The movie touches death from several points of view.
In the movie the death is shown as a consequence of an accident :From the very beginning of the movie, death is present. Few minutes after the movie begins, a policeman dies and Scottie does not fall from the tower and dies thanks to a "miracle" (it is not clear how Scottie managed to climb the roof of the tower). Death as the consequence of a murder plan : For example, the death of Elster's wife. Death and a supernatural phenomenon shown in a relation between dead and not dead people. Madeleine is apparently possessed by a person who is dead. Death is also presented to the audience in a psychological level. After Madeleine dies Scottie tried to make Judy the living image of Madeleine. In the scene where Judy comes from the bathroom, the green light of the sign of the hotel is reflected on her body. When Judy as just left the bathroom, she looks transparent (like a ghost), and then, she is little by little the reflect of the green light, that represents death.




The information included in this blog was taken and adapted from :

(1) http://www.newuniversity.org/showArticle.php?id=5413
(2) http://www.sparknotes.com/film/vertigo/themes.html
(3) http://www.sparknotes.com/film/vertigo/themes.html
(4) http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/V%C3%A9rtigo_%28pel%C3%ADcula_de_1958%29
(5) http://www.sparknotes.com/film/vertigo/themes.html
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/V%C3%A9rtigo_%28pel%C3%ADcula_de