"Vertigo" is the kind of movie that lends itself to any interpretation you want to throw at it. Its multi-layered narrative has all kinds of things to say about love, madness, and obsession — particularly of the male variety. But what makes the film especially noteworthy in comparison to Hitch's other work, is how he so boldly confronts what one reviewer called his own "thematic and personal sexual fixations."
Hitchcock is known for obsessing over every aspect of his films. But he saved his most pedantic fixation for his actresses, who he seemed to revel in controlling. In the case of "The Birds" star Tippi Hedren, the director made the poor woman's life miserable. And his onscreen treatment of women wasn't much better. The heroines of Hitchcock movies are often little more than representations of the director's own myopic view of females. They're at once conniving and helpless — caught in the...
Hitchcock is known for obsessing over every aspect of his films. But he saved his most pedantic fixation for his actresses, who he seemed to revel in controlling. In the case of "The Birds" star Tippi Hedren, the director made the poor woman's life miserable. And his onscreen treatment of women wasn't much better. The heroines of Hitchcock movies are often little more than representations of the director's own myopic view of females. They're at once conniving and helpless — caught in the...
- 12/11/2022
- by Joe Roberts
- Slash Film
This post contains spoilers for "Vertigo."
Alfred Hitchcock liked to make things weird, and not just on-screen. He made things beyond weird for Tippi Hedren in "The Birds" and generally made a lot of actors uncomfortable, to say the least. He also managed to make some excellent films, with as sinister an aura as the man himself seemingly possessed. And believe it or not, part of his filmmaking prowess came from an ability to maintain an almost childlike approach.
There's something important about having a child-like perspective on art. Stan Brakhage wrote about it in his 1963 cinematic manifesto "Metaphors On Vision," in which he talks about an "eye unruled by the man-made laws of perspective." It sounds a bit pompous but the basic idea is anything but. Approaching something without any pre-conceived notions of what that thing should be can lead to real artistic achievement. In the case of Hitchcock,...
Alfred Hitchcock liked to make things weird, and not just on-screen. He made things beyond weird for Tippi Hedren in "The Birds" and generally made a lot of actors uncomfortable, to say the least. He also managed to make some excellent films, with as sinister an aura as the man himself seemingly possessed. And believe it or not, part of his filmmaking prowess came from an ability to maintain an almost childlike approach.
There's something important about having a child-like perspective on art. Stan Brakhage wrote about it in his 1963 cinematic manifesto "Metaphors On Vision," in which he talks about an "eye unruled by the man-made laws of perspective." It sounds a bit pompous but the basic idea is anything but. Approaching something without any pre-conceived notions of what that thing should be can lead to real artistic achievement. In the case of Hitchcock,...
- 12/11/2022
- by Joe Roberts
- Slash Film
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