Vertigo

BFI Film Classics

by Charles Barr

The author documents the crucial role of screenwriters Alec Coppell and Samuel Taylor and, by a combination of textual and contextual analysis, explores the reasons why Vertigo has come to exert such a continuing fascination both on audiences and on a wide range of critics and theorists.

Genres: Film, Media Tie In, Nonfiction, Art, Criticism

88 pages, Paperback

First published April 26, 2002

About the author

A leading authority on British cinema, Charles Barr is Professor Emeritus of Film Studies at the University of East Anglia, where he taught from 1976 until his retirement in 2006.

Reviews

[Paul Bryant · Rating 3 out of 5]

WHY I DON'T LIKE VERTIGO (POSSIBLE SPOILERS!)

James Stewart : “Don’t jump!”
Kim Novak : Wheee…. splash!
James Stewart: “Here, wear these clothes”
Kim Novak : “Okay”
James Stewart: “Here, wear these clothes” (he’s obsessed)
Kim Novak : “Okay”
Kim Novak: “I had a dream”
James Stweart : “Great, let’s go there”
(They drive to the dream)
James Stewart : “No – not the bell tower…. don’t jump!”
Kim Novak : “I love you” (She does not jump)
Enter : a nun
Kim Novak : “Holy shit, a nun!” She trips.
Wheeeee….splat.

[Maziyar Yf · Rating 2 out of 5]

فیلم سرگیجه ساخته آلفرد هیچکاک محصول سال 1958، بدون شک یکی از برترین و پیچیده ترین فیلمهای تاریخ سینماست ، هیچکاک سرگیجه را شخصی ترین فیلم خود می داند و معمولا در بیشتر نظرسنجی ها بین پنج فیلم برتر تاریخ سینما قرار دارد .
شاید مهمترین ویژگی سرگیجه را بتوان حس تعلیق و یا همان داشتن حس سرگیجه تماشاگر دانست ، احساسی که بیننده با اسکاتی با بازی جیمز استیوارت شریک شده است ، حس غریب و مبهمی که هیچکاک در تمام فیلم نه تنها آنرا با استادی و مهارت حفظ کرده بلکه آنرا گسترش هم داده است .
اما درک سرگیجه برای تماشاگر عادی مانند من نه تنها سخت شاید غیر ممکن باشد ، در حقیقت شاید با بارها تماشای سرگیجه تنها بتوان اندکی از آنچه استاد سعی در بیان آن داشته را فهمید ، با یک بار دیدن وآن هم بیشتر به خاطر دیدن زیبارویی مانند کیم نواک کلام و پیام هیچکاک سربسته و درک نشده باقی خواهد ماند .
در این مرحله است که نیاز به کتاب یا منبعی برای رمز گشایی ازفیلم سرگیجه به صورت کامل حس می شود ، کتاب سرگیجه نوشته چارلز بار تلاش کرده به سوالات و ابهام های تماشاگران این فیلم پاسخ دهد ، اما شوربختانه آنچه نویسنده به آن پرداخته نه فیلم نامه یا داستان پیچیده سرگیجه بلکه مجموعه ای از تکنیک های سینمایی ایست که برخی از آن ها در این فیلم استفاده شده است .
در حقیقت نویسنده تلاش کرده است با بیان زاویه و یا نحوه زوم کردن دوریبن و یا فضا سازی حس پریشانی و یا تعلیق میان بازیگران را شرح دهد .
در پایان می توان گفت آنچه چارلز بار بیان کرده بیشتر جنبه تکنیکی و فنی فیلم بوده است تا فیلمنامه آن .

[Saeed Aj · Rating 5 out of 5]

تحلیل نما به نمای شاهکار ماندگار سینما/هیچکاک(اگر در دو دفعه تماشای فیلم ناخودآگاه به دلیلش پی نبردید توصیه میشه)
"آمده‌ام تا شبحی خاموش را نظاره کنم...
آری، سرانجام پا در قلمروهای پیشینت گذاشته‌ام؛
در میان سالیان، در میان چشم‌اندازهای مرده، تو را جسته‌ام"

"مشخص است که این دو بسیار مجذوب یکدیگر شده‌اند، اما در عین حال هر دوی آنها میان لایه‌های پیچیده‌ای از فریب و نیرنگ محبوس شده‌اند... "

[Grant Chlystun · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just rewatched Vertigo last week and found this at a bookstore! I’ve seen these BFI film classics before but not on a film I care to dive deep into. I’ll say my expectation were let down a little bit. I was hoping for more analysis, and while there was some, a good chunk of the book was about the writing credit battles that ensued before the film went into production. Still learned some new things about the film and will certainly be reading more of these!

[Lou Robinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Suzanne bought me a couple of the BFI film companions for Christmas, and this one was certainly more detailed than The Wizard of Oz in terms of analysing the actual film techniques used. Vertigo did move up last year into the number one spot for the "Best film of all time" in a critics poll.
I started to read the book, and then realised I wasn't actually sure I'd seen Vertigo all the way through, so before progressing past the introduction, I sat down to watch on Monday night (I luckily happen to have a Hitchcock box set). Great stuff...although not sure I'd go as far as saying it was the best film of all time. I actually prefer Rear Window if we're talking Hitchcock. But reading the companion certainly helped me to understand how revolutionary it was at the time and what an influence it must have had on the film industry.
Docked a couple of stars as it wasn't quite as entertaining a read as the Wizard of Oz companion book, it had very little insight into the actual making of the film, what it was like to be on set, how the actors felt about it. But got me watching Vertigo, and that was an evening well spent.

[Tristan Robin Blakeman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Vertigo has always been not only my favorite Hitchcock film, and my favorite film noir, but my absolute favorite film - period. I've seen it over 100 times. And I will still watch it. So, when I found out about this analysis by the renowned film critic Charles Barr, I knew it was no-brainer must-have.

This is a cold analytic study of the film, dissected scene by scene and compared with Hitchcock's first film, the 1924 British silent White Shadow, which has dramatic comparable lines. Barr also discusses at length the cinematography stylistic choices, the actors' poses and camera framing techniques, and the heavy uses of long silent stretches in the movie with lavish orchestral soundtrack. And he takes all of that and assesses how it makes for a stronger, more emotional and more sturdy film. He also shares some of the scenes which were filmed at the studio's behest and which were then discarded as inappropriate for the film Hitchcock envisioned.

I found all of it very interesting and I was ready to delve into the next chapter, when I realized that - I had finished the book. It's only 92 pages long. And a lot of that is taken up with film stills. So, that's my reason for the 2-star review. The little glimpse of insight was excellent. Though, I would suspect anybody not a major Vertigo aficionado would be bored to tears by it. This is very genre specific material. But, for those of us fans, it's a very well done study.

But, I don't think anybody should pay $15 for a 92 page book. Sorry. I felt ripped off.

[Detroit Hamell]

A concise, 100-page BFI classic analysis and background on Hitchcock’s “Vertigo”. (I don’t know how to italicize on here.)

The first two chapters specifically talk about the process of how the film came to be. I enjoyed hearing about Hitchcock’s decision to change Madeleine’s glance at James Stewart. I enjoyed reading about how Paramount wanted him to change the title but Hitchcock was like… nah. The analysis was cool too. I think it’s an interesting theory to say, “it was all a dream!” 🤯 Maybe. Maybe not. I will say that it’s undeniably a valid theory considering Stewart was hanging by his fingers and there’s no ACTUAL way he was able to get up from that, especially if he started having a borderline panic attack.

Anyway, phenomenal film and this was a cool companion piece. I don’t think it deserves a rating because it’s a companion piece! It was enjoyable, especially for me considering I love Hitchcock to death and I love hearing about the behind the scenes of his films.

[Andrew Wesley · Rating 5 out of 5]

‘Who is to blame? Most critics are hard on Scottie, for being, as Truffaut put it, a ‘maniac’.’ 😂😂

And is the whole film a pre-death fantasy before he plunges to his death… who knows?

Anyway, I’ll now have to watch it all again.

[Lachlan Berry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Barr does make genuinely interesting points about how the film inverts the idea of the male gaze, and provides a concise production history into the making of.

Always love it when a film critic shits on other film critics. Like any of this is an exact science.

[Nick Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

An essay about Alfred Hitchcock’s film Vertigo. Charles Barr is one of the film critics associated with the British film periodical Movie. In the 1960s, influenced by Cahiers du cinema, Movie was notable for introducing into English the idea that even Hollywood film directors could be 'auteurs' and that even Hollywood films could be complex works of art. Probably more important was that Movie attempted detailed textual readings of films. And this is what Barr does here. In the introduction Barr considers the film as a work about obsession (and makes some interesting comparisons between Hitchcock and Michael Powell); he then considers the construction of the film’s overall narrative, mentioning the way the film was built through the different script drafts (Barr notes the way Vertigo is both a work of Alfred Hitchcock and a work of collaboration) (but, unlike many of the books in this BFI series, Barr does not recount the production history of the film: he does, however, note that this has been done before by other writers); the remaining two chapters comprise of a textual reading. And it is exemplary film criticism, Barr moving from detailed analysis of scenes to broader discussion, e.g., about the influence of Ambrose Pierce’s stories upon the film, the James Stewart persona, etc. This is recommended for anyone interested in the film or for anyone who wishes to read an example of intelligent, concise and sympathetic film criticism.

[LuAnn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Since Barr does not go into the production of Vertigo, it's worth reading Dan Auiler’s “Vertigo: The Making of a Hitchcock Classic” if you want that background. While that is history, this is analysis.

I appreciate the take-by-take dissection of several scenes connecting Scottie's voyeurism and the voyeurism that film draws us into and the way Hitchcock manipulates the actors as Scottie also manipulates another character. Barr points out many other echoes in the film and resonances with other films. Vertigo gives so much to think about on many levels, a true "icebox " movie, as Hitchcock called it. (You'll have to read the book to know what he meant!)

[Saman]

در صورت تمایل، جهت مشخصات فیلمی که بر اساس این کتاب ساخته شده‌ است؛ می‌توانید از لینک زیر استفاده بفرمایید
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052357

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice little book on a great movie. Academic, but highly readable, well-researched, and reasonable, too. If only all film criticism were written like this.

[الف‌م‌ی‌ر · Rating 4 out of 5]

سرگیجه محصول ۱۹۵۸ بی‌شک سرگیجه آورترین و معلق‌ترین فیلمی است که تا کنون دیده‌ام. هیچ فیلمی مثل این نمی‌تواند مخاطب را تا پایان فیلم حتی بعد از چندبار دیدن تشنه نگه دارد و همچون اسکاتی (با بازی جیمز استوارت) به دنبال خود بکشاند. بعد از پایان فیلم بلافاصله این کتاب را از قفسه برداشتم و شروع کردم به خواندن. توضیحاتی که چارلز بار نوبسنده کتاب در صفحات ابتدایی می‌نویسد، نشان می‌دهد کتاب را از منابع متعدد و مختلفی مثل مطالعه همه نسخه‌های فیلمنامه، دست نوشته های هیچکاک و تیلور (فیلنامه نویس)، بازدید از لوکیشن های اصلی فیلم و کتاب های نقد معتبر نوشته است. و نوید این را می‌دهد که به هیچ وجه یک نقد شخصی یا تحلیلی سلیقه‌ای را ارائه نخواهد داد. با مقایسه فیلم های قبلی و بعدی هیچکاک و حتی مقایسه با آثار بعضی همکاران سابق هیچکاک نقاط مشترک زیادی از فیلم های دیگر در سرگیجه، باعث گره گشایی و رفع ابهامات ساختاری فیلم می‌شود. اما این یک نکته منفی هم دارد و فیلم هایی مثل روانی (۱۹۶۰) ، پنجره عقبی (۱۹۵۴) و دیگر فیلم هایی که درباره‌شان حرف می‌زند را گاهی اسپویل کرده است. پس توصیه می‌شود برای خواندن این کتاب ابتدا دیگر فیلم های معروف هیچکاک را ببینید. همچنین بررسی بسیار دقیق و خوبی از نماهای متفاوت فیلم به طور مصور و با کاغذ گلاسه انجام شده که به درک بصری ماجرا کمک به سزایی کرده است.

از مجموعه کتاب های BFI (انستیتو فیلم بریتانا)

فهرست مطالب:
تقدیر و تشکر
وسوسه
برساخت
گره‌گشایی
پی‌نوشت‌ها
کتابنامه

[S. Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the great things about the BFI series is that contributing authors each approach their works from different schools of criticism. While Charles Barr does go into the historical and collaborative efforts behind the film Vertigo - including debates on the contributions of the multiple writers involved - but the majority of Charles Barr's analysis focuses on textual deconstructionism, as he examines Hitchcock's film frame by frame, shot by shot, delving not only into what individual images or sequences communicate to the audience, but also how removing the tacked-on ending or the expository middle sequence that Hitchcock tried to remove alter the narrative and it's influence on the audience's emotional investment in the film. While Barr's methodical breakdown of screen time dedicated to silence or POV shots - complete with charts - might come off as needlessly ponderous, the book as a whole provides great insight into one of Hitchcock's most beloved and studied films. Yet another indispensable BFI Film Classics volume.

[Jeff Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

My umpteenth BFI book and I don't think I will tire of them.

As it stands, with the 2022 poll about to be released, 'Vertigo' is the current Number 1 in the Sight and Sound poll of greatest ever films. Would it make my top ten? No, it's not even my favourite Hitchcock film...but then again Citizen Kane isn't my favourite Welles either...

It is though, an exceptional piece of filmmaking, and one worth the deep cinematic / academic study that this book offers. Looking into the origins, influences and collaborations that made the film, and analysing the editing and techniques used by Hitchcock to add to the power of the film, whilst following his own drive towards his vision of cinema, with silent cinema deeply embedded into the foundation.

Excellent.

[Frank Marzano · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the 2012 "Sight and Sound" poll (judged by film critics and film directors), VERTIGO finally overtook CITIZEN KANE as the "greatest film of all time". Consequently, the time is ripe for an academic analysis of Hitchcock's masterpiece.

Barr's book is very well-written. He gives us the story of how VERTIGO was created, from the first draft of the script to the final cut of the film. He then follows with a shot-for-shot analysis. Though an academic text, it's also very readable.

[GwenViolet · Rating 3 out of 5]

the stuff on Vertigo's sort of copyright limbo and the mystique that it developed via that (the fact that the most available print was 16mm and black and white is super interesting, and does explain a lot of the early-ish critical work on it).

Would be lying if I said anything other than the first bit on Hitchock's influences on the film was new to me, but I think it'd be a great guide to start someone off with (though not comprehensive, nor is it trying/claiming that).

[zack · Rating 5 out of 5]

A short read that allowed me to think deeper about my favorite film—something I thought was impossible. The final page of this made me rethink the entire film as did the inclusion of the explanation scene (which I thought I had formed a final opinion on before). Excellent gift for the ultimate Vertigo fanboy.

[Art · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've seen Vertigo enough times (and read a few Hitchcock books), so it was easy to follow Barr's discussion of the film. His acknowledgement and discussion of sources was excellent. I never considered that the film might all be a death dream, as in Ambrose Bierce's An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, but it is worth pondering (for an instant). The film itself is endlessly fascinating and Barr does a nice job of suspending us in that enjoyable moment of interpretation. An easy read and now I'll have to watch the film again.

[Karl O' · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I did pick up some interesting tidbits the book had no flow or personal attachment from the author. Technical to the point of referencing index numbers from lists on prior pages. Far too much referencing of other films I only knew vaguely were lost in relevance for me.

[Charlie Kruse · Rating 4 out of 5]

great!

[GJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perfect movie, decent book

[Logan Noble · Rating 4 out of 5]

A brief but fascinating exploration of one of Hitchcock’s best.

[Helin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bu serinin baskısına bayılıyorum! Buna rağmen şu ana kadar okuduklarım arasında en beğenmediğim oldu Vertigo. Özellikle çok fazla yorum katmadan kare kare filmi anlatmaya başladığı orta kısımda biraz sıkıldım. Memnuniyetsizliğim belki filmi çok sevdiğim için beklentimin yüksek olmasından belki de zaten hali hazırda hakkında çok fazla şey okuduğum için de olabilir. Vertigo'nun ilham kaynaklarını öğrenmek ve bazı ilginç prodüksiyon/kurgu detayları için okunabilir. Vertigo ya da Hitchcock ile ilgili ilk defa bir şeyler okuyacak kimseler için yararlı/ilgi çekici olacaktır.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first saw the movie Vertigo as a child and it remains one of my favorite Hitchcock movies. This tale of romantic/sexual obsession, of psychological manipulation and deception has an abrupt tragic ending unlike others of Hitch's movies of the same time period, i.e., North by Northwest, Rear Window or The Birds. Professor Charles Barr presents a detailed analysis of the making of Vertigo and the film techniques that create the mesmerizing quality of the movie.

[Joel Manuel · Rating 5 out of 5]

A quick read that will teach even hardcore Vertigo fans a thing or two.

[Teresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick and simple read that covers the major themes in the film Vertigo.

Includes still-text analysis in each section.