Vertigo

After a rooftop chase that causes the death of his partner, Scottie quits his job as a policeman. He is diagnosed with a phobia of vertigo, which is an intense feeling of dizziness mostly caused by looking down at heights. He asks Midge, his ex-fiancée and best friend, how to cure himself but only another shock could cure him. Then, his old friend from college, Gavin, asks him to follow his wife, Madeline Elster, because he thinks that she is in danger. Scottie follows Madeline all day, to a flower shop, to the grave of Carlotta Valdes, and an art museum. At the museum, Madeline is staring at a portrait of Carlotta Valdes and then drives to a hotel checking in under the name of Carlotta. Gavin explains that he believes that Carlotta is possessing Madeleine, who is her great grandmother. Because Carlotta committed suicide at age 26 and Madeline is the same age, Gavin is worried for his wife. When Madeline falls into dangerous water, an attempt at suicide, Scottie rescues her and brings her home. Scottie slowly becomes attracted to Madeline and falls in love with her, determined to help Carlotta out of her. The next day, Madeline and Scottie spend the day together wandering around San Francisco. They visit the aging redwoods in a forest and Carlotta takes over her body. She says that in between specific rings of the wood, she had been born and had died. They visit the ocean where Madeline attempts to kill herself again, but Scottie blocks her way and kisses her. In order to find a place that Madeline has been seeing in relation to Carlotta, they drive to a church. Madeline runs up into the bell tower with Scottie chasing her. However, because of his vertigo, Scottie slows down and cannot stop her. She falls to her death. After her death, Scottie becomes depressed and frequently visits places they went. One evening, he spots a woman that has an uncanny facial similarity to Madeline. He follows her to her door, and she explains that she is Judy Barton, from Kansas. Scottie is unhealthily attracted to her because she looks like Madeline and they decide to date. In a flashback, it is revealed that Judy was impersonating Madeline from the start. Gavin created a murder plot because he wanted to kill his wife. Carlotta was never possessing Judy/Madeline, she was acting. When Judy ran up to the bell tower, Gavin pushed his real wife, Madeline, down to her death. However, Judy had also fallen in love with Scottie while she was pretending to be Madeline. Scottie doesn’t know this, and he becomes obsessed with making Judy look like Madeline by changing her clothes and hair. Judy agrees, believing that this way, they can be happy together. Before a date, Scottie sees Judy put on the necklace that Madeline had worn. He figures out the truth and takes Judy to the church to confront her. Scottie forces her up the tower and Judy confesses everything, begging him to forgive her. While they share a hug, a nun steps into the light and frightens Judy. She plummets out the bell tower and dies the same way as Madeline. Scottie sees the woman he loved die “again”.

James Stewart as John ‘Scottie’ Ferguson

Scottie Ferguson is a former police officer who quit his job because of his experience of vertigo standing at a tall building. When he gets called by his friend for a favor, he agrees to follow his friend’s wife. Scottie is friends with Midge, his former fiancée. He falls in love with Madeleine Elster but doesn’t know that she is actually Judy Barton. They wander around San Francisco together and she also falls in love with him. San Francisco is extremely familiar to him because he knows exactly where Judy is describing. He is ashamed of his fear of heights and slowly falls into madness when he has a nightmare about Carlotta Valdez. When he falls in love with Judy Barton, he makes her look like Madeleine Elster because she reminds him of her. Finally, because she wore Carlotta’s necklace, he figures out that Judy is Madeleine. He becomes controlling and he forces her to walk up the tower, while getting over his fear of heights. Scottie wants to know about the murder but then Judy falls to her death. Scottie sees the woman he loves die “again”.

Kim Novak as Madeleine Elster/Judy Barton

Judy Barton was paid by Madeleine’s husband, who is Scottie’s friend, to pretend to be his wife. In return, she got money and they both played a part in killing the real Madeleine Elster. Normally, she has a simple life where she hangs out with friends and works during the day. Judy ends up falling in love with Scottie and wants to tell him the truth about the entire situation. She resists when Scottie makes her look like Madeleine by buying her clothes and making her dye her hair blonde, letting him change her into Madeleine. She dresses up for a date and accidentally wears Carlotta’s necklace, leading Scottie to realize that she was Madeleine all along. She falls to her death when a nun frightens her.