SSC Film Studies

Vertigo – opening sequence

The first face we see is a women’s, however, the first name we see is ‘James Stewart’ this reinforces the male superiority and dominance that they have over female characters. Madeleine, the female face is constantly shot throughout the opening sequence in extreme close ups, she is shown as a series of body parts and not a full person. This is significant as we are introduced to her as a collection of individual body parts; denying her of any identity, a key theme that is shown throughout the whole of the film. The camera pans to focus on her lips; the fact that she doesn’t speak or have a voice also suggests that she doesn’t have an identity. The switching of Madeleine’s eye tells the spectator that she is uncomfortable with this close scrutiny and with the invasion of her personal space and identity. However, this scene shows how close exanimation of the characters physical appearance is a major theme in the film. This scene forces the spectator to gaze at Madeleine’s face preparing us to view her as a object, as women are only something that should be gazed at.  The change in colour creates a shift in the mood; red has conations with danger, passion, love, lust, and blood and death things that Madeleine embodies positioning her to be a danger to the male characters within the film. In this shot the theme of unstable identity and the integral working of the mind are shown with the mix of colour change, action and vertigo graphics. The use of the spirals in the opening sequence reinforce how Scotties becomes tangled in a never-ending obsession with Madeleine, as they connote vertigo and falling with Madeleine and her plan. The use of spirals was designed as a visual metaphor for the complex layers of a person’s identity.

 In the second part of the opening sequence, the location of San Francisco is set. The spectator is immediately introduced to the character Scottie as strong, male hero portraying the typical male protagonist. The fact that Scotties as a police officer is meant to represent a hero and fails at that; his pride is removed among with his masculinity being challenged as he caused the death of another police officer whom he was meant to save. He straightaway then develops a psychological ‘trauma’ of vertigo. This weakness that Scotties has is therefore the sole reason in way he is manipulated by the character ‘Gavin’ leading him to become effectively more feminised as he now portrays a female characters role.