A Brief Summary Of The Film Vertigo

The film Vertigo begins with the main character, detective Scottie Ferguson, pursuing a criminal across the rooftops of San Francisco city. During the chase, Scottie missteps and grabs the gutter, leaving him hanging from a high-rise building. In an attempt to save Scottie, his partner falls off and dies, leaving Scottie with a look of terror on his face. The movie then cuts to a scene with Scottie and his ex-fiancée, Midge, deliberating what his future will be like with his newly developed fear of heights, or acrophobia, causing him to quit the police force. While Scottie’s future life is still undecided, he is contacted by an old colleague, Gavin Elster, to follow his wife Madeline. Elster asks Scottie to do this because he believes that Madeleine is possessed by the spirit of her great-grandmother, Carlotta Valdes, who committed suicide at age twenty-six; Madeleine’s current age. After some deliberation, Scottie accepts the task and begins to follow Madeleine around San Francisco. He first follows her to the McKittrick Hotel, where he discovers Madeleine spends her free time under her great-grandmother’s name, Carlotta Valdes. Scottie and Midge later discover from a bookstore owner that this hotel is Carlotta’s former home.
The next day, Scottie continues to follow Madeleine, this time to the San Francisco Bay, in a secluded spot under the Golden Gate Bridge.
While Scottie watches Madeleine, she throws herself into the Bay. Scottie immediately dives in after her, dragging her back to shore. Finding Madeleine to be unconscious, Scottie drives her back to his apartment where he takes care of her until she wakes up. Upon waking up, Madeleine claims that she remembers nothing that transpired at the San Francisco Bay. After dismissing Madeleine’s suicide attempt as a simple slip, they continue talking, slowly developing a love for each other. While this is happening, the phone rings, pulling Scottie from the room, and allowing Madeleine to run
away. The day after, Scottie catches Madeleine leaving a note at his apartment and asks her to spend the day with him. They drive to the sequoia forest at Big Basin, where Madeleine talks about her possession and the strange dreams it brings her. She depicts a place in her dreams, which Scottie recognizes as the mission at San Juan Bautista. In an attempt to put the possession talk to rest, he takes Madeleine to the mission. After arriving, Madeleine immediately recognizes it all, professes her love to Scottie, and runs up the bell tower. Scottie attempts to follow her, but falls victim to his acrophobia and falls short of the top. He looks out the window just in time to see Madeleine’s body falling from the rooftop to her death, causing Scottie to take off. The next scene we see is Gavin Elster being cleared of any responsibility in his wife’s death. Scottie, on the other hand, is being reprimanded for allowing his phobia to cause the death of an innocent person. The pressure from this guilt pushes Scotties into a comatose like state, causing him to be admitted into a sanatorium. Upon his release, Scottie continues to wander the streets of San Francisco, seeing Madeleine in the people he meets and the things he sees. On one of these days, Scottie runs into a woman named Judy Barton, who he claims looks identical to Madeleine, but with a different hair color. Despite Judy’s attempts to ward off Scottie and tell him that she is not who he is looking for, he invites her to dinner that evening. After much hesitation she accepts and tells him to pick her up later. As soon as he leaves, Judy begins to pack her suitcase and compose a letter to Scottie. In this letter, Judy reveals that she was hired by Gavin Elster to play the role of Madeleine in a conspiracy to murder his wife. She continues to divulge the scheme, saying that as soon as she reached the top of the bell tower, Elster was waiting with his wife’s dead body, which he threw off of the building instead of Judy. She ends her letter admitting her love for Scottie, but tears it up, and instead goes to dinner with Scottie. At dinner, Scottie makes it obvious that he only wants to spend time with Judy because she looks like Madeleine. He begins to become obsessed with her appearance, having her dye her hair blonde and buying her the same clothing that Madeleine wore. Judy gives in after some resistance, realizing she would rather be loved as someone else than not at all. After essentially turning her into Madeleine, they go out to dinner again. As Judy is getting dressed she puts on Carlotta’s necklace, the same one she wore the day she died as Madeleine. As soon as Scottie sees the necklace, he realizes her true identity and decides to take her to San Juan Bautista instead of dinner. In a frenzy, Scottie drags Judy up the bell tower, confronting her about all of the secrets and lies. She admits to the deception, but tells him her love was never fabricated and asks him for forgiveness. Upon reaching the top, they embrace, only to be interrupted by the ghostly shadow of nun. Judy, shocked by the sight, falls from the rooftop and dies. Scottie is left alone on the rooftop, cured of his acrophobia, but with a broken heart.

Movie Ending While I enjoyed Vertigo in its entirety, I think the ending was abrupt and could have been developed more. I have numerous ideas for a new ending, all with their own, unique outcomes. The first idea begins at the scene where Judy is writing a letter Scottie, explaining who she really is and what really happened in the bell tower at San Juan Bautista. I would have liked to see Judy leave that letter and walk out with her suitcase. When finding the letter later that evening, Scottie would go into a panic, confused about what he had just read. Despite all of the deception, his love for Judy would prevail and he would go wandering around San Francisco, searching in all of the spots they had been to together before. Scottie would stumble upon Judy at the San Francisco Bay, the first place they technically met, even though she was unconscious at the time. The sunset bouncing off the water would create a beautiful, romantic scene. Judy would be by the water, picking petals off of flowers, watching them float away with tears in her eyes. As Scottie walks closer to Judy, we would hear her muttering, ”He loves me, he loves Madeleine,” alternating as she pulls more petals off of the flowers. “Judy, Madeleine, whatever name you go by, I love you for you,” Scottie would say as he embraces Judy from behind. I think this would be a very happy ending to have for Vertigo, however this new scene could also end in a tragedy like the original ending. Instead of a sunset the scene would begin in a storm. Upon hearing Scottie’s voice, Madeleine would be startled and fall into the Bay again. Judy could either be washed away by herself, or Scottie could jump in after her and they could drown together, giving more closure to the audience. The second idea for a new ending begins at the end of the movie. Scottie is staring down at the dead body of Judy; meanwhile the viewer can hear sirens from police cars as the scene switches to Gavin Elster’s residence. A radio broadcast plays behind Gavin Elster being arrested, “This just in, Gavin Elster convicted of manslaughter. It was previously believed his wife, Madeleine, died of an accident. However, new evidence has brought to life a plot to make her murder look like an accident.” We would see a short trial with Scottie testifying against Gavin Elster. The jury would give the verdict, “ We find the defendant, Gavin Elster, guilty of premeditated manslaughter.” We would see a short scene of Gavin Elster in his jail cell, despair in his eyes, dirt covering his body. The movie would end with Scottie receiving his badge, and being reinstated as a police officer. The third and final idea begins at the bell tower where Judy fell to her death and the movie ends. Scottie, devastated, would wander back to his apartment where he would find Midge. She would make both of them a drink and comfort Scottie like she has done many times before. They would sit in silence, an unspoken communication flowing between them. At some point in time Scottie would realize that Midge had always been there for him no matter what. Despite what happened the last time they were engaged, he would ask her to try again. Scottie would say, ”Midge, you’ve always been there for me. I know we failed once before, but I want to be with you again.” Midge would be confused at first, but eventually nod in acceptance, realizing that she still cared for him. Scottie would then pull out a ring with a gem that shined in the lights of the apartment. Scottie and Midge would kiss and the movie would cut to the credits.