5 Reasons For Loving Vertigo

These are not the only 5 reasons for loving Vertigo, or the main 5. These are just 5 good reasons I picked among several possible others. Instead of speaking about Hitchcock's masterful direction or Kim Novak and James Stewart's wonderful performances, I will focus on some more detailed aspects of the picture.

1. Bernard Herrmann's score

The music composed by Bernard Herrmann ties the movie together. It gives the movie the right mood in every moment, and conquers the audience since the opening titles. Someone said that, in the battle between Vertigo and Citizen Kane for the "best movie ever" title, the decisive factor is Bernard Herrmann. And I think this is a very interesting point.

2. Ernie's and Madeleine

This picture is painted with magnificent colours. And when we, and Scottie, get to meet Madeleine for the first time, she's at Ernie's, the restaurant in San Francisco (totally rebuilt in the studio). The camera takes us through the room, dominated by the red in its walls. And then we find Madeleine in a blue and green dress. Madeleine passes in front of our eyes, the camera freezes for a moment.

3. The museum and Carlotta

The sad Carlotta. The mad Carlotta. When Madeleine is playing Carlotta Valdes and visits Carlotta's painting at the museum, Scottie is on her tail. He hides and he watches how Madeleine gives so much attention to that particular painting and how similar she is to that woman she's looking at. And, in a wonderful shot, we watch Scottie watching Madeleine.

4. San Francisco bay

Scottie continues to follow every one of Madeleine's moves. She stops the car near the river, almost below the Golden Gate bridge. Scottie does the same. We are again in Scottie's position, and get this breathtaking view of Madeleine/Carlotta freezed, thinking, preparing her next step. The sky, the river and the bridge wonderfully captured in what is maybe the best shot in the movie.

5. The opening titles

The opening titles are very beautiful and set the tone for the entire movie. The music does that, as I already said, but the mysterious graphics, created by Saul Bass, used in this opening have also an important effect. And the close up of the eye, telling us from the beginning how important the look, an obsessive look, will be throughout the whole movie.

Not very well received in 1958, the movie was fully recovered and got back to the theaters in 1984. And it has been increasingly appreciated and considered as one of the greatest movies ever made.