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Vertigo (1958)

By Pam Glazier · July 5, 2011

Screenplay Genre: Crime / Mystery / Romance

Movie Time: 128 minutes

1. INCITING INCIDENT

John “Scottie” Ferguson (James Stewart), a San Francisco detective who suffers from Vertigo, is hired by his old friend Gavin Elster (Tom Helmore) to shadow his wife Madeleine Elster (Kim Novak) who has been acting as if she’s possessed. Later that evening, when John surreptitiously first lays eyes on Madeleine Elster, it is clear that he is strongly affected by her. (00:17:15)

2. LOCK IN (End of Act One)

John becomes thoroughly obsessed with Mrs. Madeleine Elster after shadowing her, and decides to find out the details behind the mysterious places she goes. A local historian fills John in on the story of ‘sad Carlotta,’ a young dancing girl whose powerful sugar daddy took their child for his own and abandoned her. This caused her to go mad and kill herself. John now has a working history for his mark, Mrs. Elster—to him, she is Carlotta. (00:33:54)

3. FIRST CULMINATION (Midpoint)

After John saves Madeleine from drowning after she throws herself into the bay, they kiss, and it’s clear he’ll do anything to keep her safe, but she is terrified that she is going to slip into a dream state and kill herself just as Carlotta did. And when she runs to the top of a church tower, John valiantly tries to follow, but his Vertigo slows him down with terror. Before he can make it to the top, the woman he loves plummets to her death. (01:13:48)

4. MAIN CULMINATION (End of Act Two)

After being released from a mental ward, John sees a woman, Judy Barton (Kim Novak), who looks very similar to Madeleine. He follows her and asks her to dinner because she reminds him of someone. She agrees. It is then revealed to the audience that Judy actually is the same Madeleine. When she made it to the top of the tower, Mr. Elster was there with his actual wife, who he then proceeded to throw from the tower. The Madeleine that John had fallen in love with was simply a plant to get him to “witness” the “suicide” that Mr. Elster had so ingeniously master-minded.  (01:33:35)

5. THIRD ACT TWIST

John tries to transform Judy back into Madeleine—clothes, hair, makeup. Judy is reluctant, but willing. One night, however, John notices Judy wearing the same necklace that the “suicide” Madeleine wore, and he takes Judy back to the scene of the crime. And just as John realizes that he has lost his Carlotta because she never really existed, a dark figure appears from the shadows. Terrified, Judy backs away off the ledge, plummeting to her death. The dark figure was a nun, who had come up to see what the commotion was all about. John, cured of his vertigo, peers over the edge. (02:02:15)