In my mind, Vertigo certainly was a dizzying film. From the cop falling off the roof in the beginning, to Judy falling out of the window at the end, everything fell out of place from what I expected. I had a lot of difficulty trying to understand all of the characters and it contributed to the difficulty of understanding the movie as a whole.
The camera angles of the film played a huge role in how I saw things. I felt that they worked the main character's fear of heights into how they shot him. Any time John seemed to be unsure of himself, they would film him from a low angle making it seem like he is up high. It's almost as if his 'high' expectations are affecting his vertigo.
They also work the camera in with Madeline/Judy (not sure if it is ever actually Madeline we see). The first instance is in the restaurant when we first see her. The close up on her is almost too close up. Her head fills the entire screen and it seems like it's boxed in. From that point on, there is a similar effect but they zoom out more and more each time on the close up. I feel like they did this to show how much we understand her character and the more we learn about her, the less boxed in she is. However, once we think she's dead and we see the real Judy, the camera is boxed in on her head. Suddenly, we don't know who she is anymore so the effect using the camera comes back.
On a personal level, there were times when I just couldn't take the movie seriously. One such situation was when John was following "Madeline" around. It's so completely obvious that he's following her around that there would be no way she wouldn't notice. Obvious explanations would be that she was in her "possessed" trance or that Judy wanted him to be following her so she purposefully didn't notice. However, even with good explanations, it just seemed so fake to me that I couldn't believe the situation.
All in all, after all the confusion, I did enjoy the movie. It had it's moments where it got wierd and sometimes creepy (obsessive John), but it was those times that just grabbed at my attention. It was a worthwhile film to watch even with it being difficult to understand.
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I love your analysis on the use of camera angles. You really made me see the movie in a different light. It's true the less we know about Madeline/Judy her head does consume the camera frame. It's also true about John, in that he suffers from his high expectations, which is shown to us through the low shot camera angle. It frustrated me to in the beginning when John was following Madeline around. How could she not notice!! I think we all know that she was never in a possessed state because of her involvment in the murder set-up. She definitly had to know he was following her. He did a horrible job hiding himself.
ReplyDeleteI agree that this movie was confusing. More than once I found myself asking if it was Madeline or Judy. I also thought that as Scottie was following her around I was like is she really still not noticing him just standing there? There were some scenes where he was just feet from her and she is completely oblivious to the fact that he's there. I also like what your said about how the camera plays a role in the movie and you pointed out a few things that I didn't notice in the movie.
ReplyDeleteI agree, that close up shot of Madeline in the beginning is overwhelming. Its like, okay we know you are suppose to be beautiful now lets move on. There isn't anywhere in the shot for our eyes to escape to, we are stuck gazing and Madeline's glamour. It was interesting how you said that sometimes you couldn't take the movie seriously. For whatever reason, that John and Madeline make-out scene when the wave crashes behind them really made me laugh. It seemed so cheesy to me and I don't know if it is because of the fact that it seemed too set up, or because I didn't take their romance serious, unable to believe they could actually be in love, that made the scene stick out.
ReplyDeleteSome really good comments here, and some very nice observations of some of what the camera does to our own perceptions, especially this:
ReplyDelete>Suddenly, we don't know who she is anymore so the effect using the camera comes back.
I think you do understand this movie, because you're watching what happens with the images. It's as much about us as audience as the people in the story. I'd like to see you incorporate the reading. It might offer an analytical perspective for you.