Vertigo ~ Houdini's Magic Movie Ticket
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Thursday, November 22, 2007

Vertigo

I haven't seen this whole film, but from what I can tell it's great. It kept me guessing all the way, and maintained the mystery that is sometimes lost with old movies.

During one scene, James Stewart is tailing a blonde woman in his car. He follows her pretty closely. I was surprised that she never caught on, or mentioned how she was aware he had been following her. Maybe it came up at the end.

The blonde woman is either being possessed by the spirit of her dead look-alike grandmother, or has a split personality (or maybe there's another option or two presented later). She finds herself walking down a hall toward a dark area, but that takes place all in her mind. In reality, she's taking actions and going places, and sometimes making attempts at dying. That's strange, since while apparently channeling the mystery personality she had remarked how she didn't enjoy dying.

What struck me was how the "grandmother" version of her didn't look at the bright side of things. "Oh, I lived and died and this huge tree hardly noticed." Why not, "I'm back! Yes! In my granddaughter's body I can live the life I was meant to live!" But even without the ambition, she was still mega-mysterious.

I enjoyed Stewart's role in this, too. He's a great actor. It's nice not having to worry about picking up on affectations that seem unnatural.

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