Vertigo: Narrative Structure

The narrative structure of many films can be divided into the three-act structure: setup, conflict, resolution.Vertigo seems to follow this structure…

Narrative Structure Step-by-Step

1. Introduction And Background (14 mins)2. The Madeleine Elster Narrative (65 mins) - 1st encounter (23 mins) - 2nd encounter (14 mins) - 3rd encounter (16 mins) - 4th encounter (10 mins)3. The Judy Barton Narrative (49 mins) - The Background (10 mins) - Scottie meets Judy (13 mins) - The Makeover (15 mins) - The Final Fall (11 mins)

Three Act Structure

1Introduction and Background - SetupThe event that led to Scottie’s disabling fear of heights is covered. We are also introduced to Scottie’s loyal companion, Midge Wood. Scottie is then hired to follow the wife of an old college friend of his, Gavin Elster.

2The Madeleine Elster Narrative – ConflictThe 1st Encounter - Scottie tracks Madeleine as she visits sites around San Francisco associated with her great-grandmother, Carlotta Valdez. The 2nd Encounter - Madeleine attempts suicide by jumping into San Francisco Bay, Scottie leaps in after her to pull her out. He takes her to his place and they become friends.The 3rd Encounter - Scottie wants to help Madeleine recover her sanity, and the two of them discuss her psychological affliction. In the process they become more intimate, and eventually they embrace passionately. Scottie has surrendered and plunged into the irrationality of love and passion.The 4th Encounter - Madeleine tells Scottie of her nightmare, he recognises that she is dreaming of a historic monument. Scottie insists on taking her there. When they arrive, Madeleine rushes up the steep bell tower steps, with Scottie unable to pursue her quickly because of his acrophobia. Halfway up the steps, he sees her fall to her death.

And finally…

3The Judy Barton Narrative –Resolution

Background of JudyScottie and Judy meetScottie makeover Judy to look like MadeleineJudy falls to her death, mirroring Madeleine’s death.

• The narrative form in Vertigo is mostly linear - The scenes run in chronological order with a brief flashback

But, like the spiral motif that runs through the film, there is another structure based around repetition and being haunted by the past that gives the film sense of dizzying circularity

The film ends as it begins, with the same question: how does Scottie get down?

This links to the cyclical pattern of the past haunting the present that informs the whole film

The film is also structured around repetition with variation that gradually reveals the truth

Narrative structure repeats itself matching up with past/present

• Elster returns from Scottie’s past• Midge is haunted by her past with Scottie• Carlotta ‘returns’ from the past• Madeleine returns from Scottie’s past• Judy’s past catches up with her• Scottie takes Judy up the tower to resolve the story, “then I’ll be free of the

past.”

Resolution?

• At the end of the film, Scotty gets to the top of the tower. Does this mean he has conquered his Vertigo?

• Or has he just gone round in a circle?

The oneiric Narrative

Francois Truffaut called Vertigo, “a filmed dream”

Certainly, there are several dreamlike elements that inform the film’s structure and tone

Tzvetan Todorov and Narratives

1. Equilibrium2. A disruption of this Equilibrium

by an event3. A realization that a disruption

has occurred4. An attempt to repair the damage

of the equilibrium5. Restoration of equilibrium –

which may result in a new equilibrium.

“a story belongs to the genre of the fantastic if the story manages to raise doubt in both characters and the reader, or in the mind of the reader alone”.

The reader had to be challenged to doubt the true nature of the events.

Is what is happening real or just an illusion?