Vertigo

I really enjoyed watching the 1944 film Vertigo by Alfred Hitchcock much more than Laura. I found it to be a great murder mystery with a twist I never saw coming. However, certain aspects of the movie was much like a reworking of the film Laura.
For example, Scottie was defined by two things: his acrophobia and his obsession with Madeline. Madeline's character had some depth but was merely an object in the movie to define the male protagonist, Scottie. Just like in the movie Laura, where she was only seen as an object of lust men obsessed over. Scottie did not love Madeline for her personality but her image. How could he love such a twisted woman? Part of me feels as though he loved her because he wanted to be the one to save her. He couldn't save his partner from falling off the roof top. This guilt consumes him in now wanting to be the one who saves Madeline from her possessed like state.
While I felt Madeline to be a bit dry, Midge was the complete opposite. Midge shocked me! I couldn't believe how she went from a motherly friend to a jealous one. I thought she would be the only stable character in the film. She had me floored the minute she pulled that psycho move of painting her face onto the body portrait of Carlotta. In the beginning of the film she was very upfront with Scottie about everything. Why she took the route of not doing this when wanting to tell him of her feelings is beyond me. I guess it is harder to tell than to show someone how you feel about certain things, especially love. I just feel like she pulled the typical move most my friends make. The minute Scottie was taken by another woman, it was a race to get him back.
In class discussion, I found it very interesting how one peer pointed out that it wasn't just her painting that freaked most of us out but the fact that she included her glasses. This was very much a true thing for me! In our society, glasses such as Midge's, are not found to be an object of glamour. The way she included them confuses me. Perhaps she cannot see herself without them. I really don't know.
Another aspect that bothered me was how Judy just let Scottie transform her into Madeline. I couldn't believe Scottie had become crazy enough to fixate Judy as Madeline. He really went overboard in his breakdown attempt to restore Madeline's image and their love by transforming Judy. I felt as though Judy allowed him to make these changes because of the guilt she felt. She wanted him to love her again no matter who she was or who she even looked like. They were both just two desperate people trying to regain the love they once had.
On a cinematic note, the trombone effect (so often done with the camera) was truly clever of Hitchcock. It really brought the viewers into Scottie's mental state of acrophobia and at times his overwhelming confusion, allowing us to feel a bit of what he was experiencing. In the last scene when Scottie was confronting Judy about her part in the murder plot, the lighting casted a shadow over half his face. I felt that this effect symbolized Scottie's two mental states, one being sane and the other insane. It was showing us Scottie coming back to reality after being away on his long mental breakdown.