 Central to all of Alfred Hitchcock's films are relationships, some romantic, some friendly, some rivalries, or what is perhaps his favorite, one-sided voyeuristic relationships. However, when looking back at his extensive work of all of his films, I feel like relationships play the biggest role in Vertigo. A big reason why is that there are only a few characters in the movie, and throughout the film they all interact with one another, and it's these interactions that push the story forward and eventually lead to character development. Today I want to focus on these relationships, track the evolution of them throughout the course of the film, and see what they can reveal to us about the nature of our characters. The first relationship established is Scotty and the unnamed policeman who died at the beginning. Although this is a minor aspect of the film, it does have a dramatic impact on Scotty. From the moment that the officer dies, Scotty is traumatized from the event, in part because of the height, but also more importantly, because he is responsible for the death of a good man. This is the first example of the past having an impact on the present, a major theme of the movie which we'll be taking a closer look into shortly. But before looking into that, let's examine the relationship between Scotty and Gavin. This is a relationship of manipulation and betrayal, and it helps tell us a lot about Scotty. The only reason the two meet is for Gavin to try and get something from Scotty. During this scene, Gavin romantically remembers the old San Francisco, a time with Gavin tries to control Scotty. It's his attempts to try and recapture that power and freedom. This relationship also tells us a lot about Scotty. He's a good person, he's happy to do a favor for a friend. This relationship is central to the film's narrative, one thing that becomes very clear when looking at the different relationships of the movie is how they move the story forward. Gavin begins to weave together a fanciful story to Scotty. Watch her coming out of the apartment. Someone I didn't know. She even walked a different way. This story is then continued as Scotty starts to follow Madeline around. Scotty is entrenched in the story, wrapped up in deceit and mystery focusing on red herrings all the while being manipulated, just like we as the audience are. Another important relationship is out of Scotty and Midge. Midge acts as an anchor, tying Scotty down to reality, or at the very least, telling the audience how crazy this idea of ghosts and possession really is. She still cares for and loves Scotty, even though he doesn't pay her the attention that she deserves. No matter how bad he thinks his life is, there is always someone who really does care for him. Despite that, he shows her no love. She is independent, free-thinking, and acts as a companion to Scotty. In his book, Colt Crime Movies, film scholar Danny Perry writes, This is Hitchcock's way of saying that given a choice, weak men will choose the helpless over the independent, the mysterious over the honest, the sexy over the plain, the icy over the accessible, and the fantasy woman over the real ones. Scotty isn't drawn to Midge because she's real. All of her flaws are there to be seen, but Madeline is flawless, or at least the one that Scotty sees. She is a woman with seemingly no flaws, well, other than the fact that she isn't real. Scotty and Madeline's relationship begins from afar. I should probably note when I'm discussing Madeline, I'm actually talking about Judy playing Madeline, not the real woman. Anyway, as I was saying, when Madeline is first brought into Scotty's life, it is from afar. Gavin hires Scotty to follow her, so when he sees her, he can't actually interact with her. One of the most important moments of the movie is when Scotty first sees her. There's a lot that can be said about the scene and how well it is constructed. One element that I want to point out is the set design. Scotty first sees her through a doorframe, showing us that he isn't seeing the full picture. We also later see her surrounded by mirrors and hallways, making it hard to distinguish which version of her is real and showing her an amaze of deception. However, in terms of narrative, this scene's biggest reveal is Scotty's sudden and uncontrollable lust for her. Pay attention to how the red background intensifies, showing off love but also danger. He continues to follow and watch her from a distance. Throughout these scenes, Hitchcock employs a number of tracking shots, placing the audience in Scotty's shoes and making his obsession ours. However, his obsession is still intangible. It doesn't become real until the scene at Fort Point. When Madeline tries to commit suicide, Scotty rescues her, making him a part of her life. This scene has always stuck out to me. I think the scale and the epic size of the Golden Gate Bridge elevates the importance of the scene on a narrative level. From this point forward, Scotty's obsession becomes a reality. As Afra mentioned, she is the perfect construction, but ultimately just that, a construction. He begins to treat her almost like a work of art, much like the Carlotta painting. Again, the idea of the dead having an impact on the living can be found here as well. However, Scotty thinks this love comes to a quick end after Madeline's death at Mission San Juan Batista. Of course, the Madeline that he knew, Judy was still alive. Instead, Gavin killed his wife and used Scotty as a witness. This, for a good reason, brings Scotty to an all-time low. That is until his relationship with Judy begins and that low reaches new depths. By chance, he runs into Judy and tries to rekindle the relationship that meant so much to him. However, he quickly finds that the real Judy isn't anything like the pretend Madeline. In tries, he might tumble Judy into Madeline. He is unsuccessful. What is so interesting about Judy is her desire for Scotty. When pretending to be Madeline, she developed a love for Scotty, and just like she was pretending to be someone else, he was doing the same, trying to become perfect for her. The two of them fell in love with their perceptions of the other person and tried to rekindle that love with the real person, but came back with nothing. They both fell in love with something fake, and only after coming face to face with the real thing, did they realize that the fake was no good after all. You played the wife very well, Judy. Made you over, didn't you? Made you over, just like I made you over. Only better. Hey everyone, I hope you enjoyed. It's tough calling Vertigo Hitchcock's best film just because there are so many great ones, but if I had to pick his absolute best, I'd probably go with Vertigo. It has so many interesting ideas about humanity, identity, love, and art. I realized that we're at the end of the year and I was yet to discuss any of Hitchcock's work, so I quickly had to fix that problem. Anyway, if you enjoyed this video, be sure to drop a like and hit that subscribe button. In case you missed it, I put a link to my last video that looked at 12 Angry Men. Be sure to check that video out if you haven't seen it yet, and I will see you next week. Thanks for watching.