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Masterpiece
by Jason (movies profile)
Jan 26, 2007
6
of
7 people found this review helpful
I call this film a masterpiece and have ever since I was eleven years old and didn't know much about Alfred Hitchcock. At that time, the world had only taken baby steps in recognizing the greatness of this film. It is a small, independent film made with a big studio budget, headline actors and a director with an assured style that was never more lyrical. The score by Herrmann is masterful, pulling the emotions up and down with each ebb and flow of the story. Novak and Stewart are revelations: Stewart sheds his nice guy persona to show a man who is emotionally disturbed, and Novak infuses a walking dream with the kind of humanity that a more experienced actress might have filtered out. Novak is blatantly real on screen and the portrait she paints of Madeleine/Carlotta is the most interesting and heart breaking in all of Hitchcock's films. This isn't a film where you dissect the plot; the noir roots are unimportant. This film is about style, about overamplified characters, Wagnerian music all merging to create a real piece of "art." There will always be two schools of viewers on "Vertigo": those who moan and gripe over the far-fetched plot, and those who see this film like a beautiful painting whose layers of meanings are only revealed upon repeat viewings and proper reflection. This is the best kind of film the studio system ever had to offer. If you are a thinking person, don't just watch this movie--absorb it. |
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