Vertigo (4K)
Hitchcock’s masterpiece dives into the psyche of a traumatized policeman who develops a complex infatuation with the woman he’s investigating. Starring James Stewart and Kim Novak.
After an incident in the field, detective John ‘Scotty’ Ferguson suffers from a crippling fear of hights, forcing him to retire. With time on his hands, he rushes to the aid of an old acquaintance. His wife Madeleine has been acting strangely, and Scotty will shadow her. Scotty soon becomes obsessed with the woman he’s been hired to trail. Hitchcock plays an ingenious game with appearances and reality; is what audiences see Scotty’s observations or his imagination?
The film received mixed reviews upon its release in 1958, but is now seen as one of Hitchcock’s defining films, particularly due to the cinematography, the sensual use of colour, and the music. Bernard Hermann’s score is famous for the way it represents the leading man’s confused state of mind. In its once-a-decade poll, the film magazine Sight and Sound announced VERTIGO as the best film of all time in 2012.