Vertigo (1958)

Alfred Hitchcock's 1958 American romantic story of obsession, manipulation and fear, stars James Stewart and Kim Novak. The narrative follows a detective forced to retire after his acrophobia (fear of heights) causes the death of another officer, and Madeline, the wife of his friend Gavin, when he is hired to follow her after her husband worries of her sanity. He becomes dangerously obsessed with her and saves her from a suicide attempt. Later on she climbs up a church tower, and due to his vertigo he is unable to save her from death. An enquiry finds that she did not intend to commit suicide, and indeed blames Scottie for her death.
Months later he meets Judy, a woman who closely resembles Madeline. We later learn through flashbacks that it was indeed her that we saw running up the stairs of the bell tower and her that he was following all along, and that when she got to the top, Gavin was there, holding the lifeless body of Madeline, with Judy and Madeline were wearing the same outfit. Judy screams and Gavin throws Madeline's body from the bell tower. Gavin knew of Scottie's vertigo and knew he wouldn't be able to make it to the top, but he would be a credible person to say that Madeline had taken her own life, unknowingly helping to cover up her murder.
Scottie begins to date Judy, but attempts to make her look more like Madeline. He then forces Judy to re-enact Madeline's death to give himself a second chance, but as they reach the top of the tower he conquers his vertigo, figuring the whole conspiracy out. Judy confesses her love for Scottie, and tells of how she has fallen in love with him. They kiss, but a sudden appearance of a nun startles Judy, who then trips, plummeting to her death from the church tower.

Certain scenes within the film show the full extent of Scotty's obsession and Mulvey's male gaze, with the most notable being when Scottie buys Judy clothes to make her look more like Madeline, the café/restaurant scene and the final scene when Judy falls from the church tower.

Title sequence

• Non-diegetic music, creating tension and emphasis.
• Fragmentation of a woman's lips (male gaze).
• The colour red connoting passion, lust and death.
• Spinning shapes, giving a sense of disorientation and a literal vertigo.

Film

• A woman drawing a picture of another woman in a corset (male gaze).
• Scottie and Midge look at/speak about her brassiere and it's "revolutionary uplift" (male gaze).
• Scottie shown from a low angle, giving him power and authority.
• Midge shown from a high angle, showing her as being vulnerable and weak.
• Madeline stands out wearing green, showing Scottie's sickness and jealousy to be with her (male gaze).
• Side profile of Madeline, with a shallow depth of field and a red background behind her, focusing all attention to her (male gaze).
• Reverse shot of Scottie as Madeline elegantly walks away (male gaze).
• POV shot from Scottie following Madeline (male gaze).
• Close-up shot of a bunch of flowers next to Madeline, looking at a painting in an art gallery with the subject of the painting resembling her very closely, suggesting that she sees the woman as an ideal self - she had earlier visited a gravestone of the name Carlotta Valdes, and the painting is named 'Carlotta'.
• Madeline's clothes are hanging up, with a slow pan from Scottie, to the clothes, then to her lying in bed (male gaze).
• Madeline is undressed in bed, with a high angle showing her as vulnerable.
• Madeline enters the room wearing a red dressing gown, connoting passion and lust, with the music increasing in tension (male gaze).
• Scottie buys Judy clothes to make her resemble Madeline, controlling her to be an object that he will desire.
• A store assistant is modelling clothes for Scottie and Judy, with the camera fragmenting her body, not showing her face, therefore her identity as a person (male gaze).
• Judy refuses to wear the clothes that he chooses, he grabs her arm, then she gives in to his whim, showing his control over her.

When applying theory to Vertigo, we can add Mulvey's male gaze, as Scottie has a set image of a woman in his head, and turns Judy into that image. The camera also fragments Madeline, objectifying her, so the audience has no option but to look at her as an object of desire and attraction.

We can also apply Freud's scopophilia theory, the love of watching. The audience takes pleasure in watching Madeline/Judy, looking at aspects such as her face and figure. Close-up shots and panning shots engage the audience because they are enjoying looking. During the opening sequence we are shown this instantly, with the colour red, and connotations of passion, love and danger.