I watched Vertigo again.
It went better this time, after I listened to William Friedkin's commentary on You Tube. It was helpful.
He says the film is about obsession.
(I would say fascination, as well as obsession....)
There's a point a little ways past the middle of the movie where a mystery is answered through a flashback in one character's memory - and the audience sees how an impression was left with the James Stewart character that is incorrect. (I think I totally missed that, the first time I tried watching this movie.)
Quite a tricky plot is executed; a key to its working is Scotty's (Stewart) limitation, where he cannot go up to a high place because of his fear of heights - acrophobia, of which vertigo ("unpleasant sensation of spinning") is a symptom.
The movie has beautiful scenery and colors. Early on, Scotty is supposed to observe the woman he is asked to keep tabs on - he sees her in a restaurant, wearing a bright, emerald-green dress.
Soon after that, in another scene, there's a car he's following that's the same color green....
Vertigo's background music is kind of similar to the film score of Body Heat. The Body Heat music was done by John Barry; Vertigo's by Bernard Herrmann.
After mastering these observations, I read some comments on You Tube under the Friedkin commentary - one guy had a whole other angle on Scotty, and made a good case for what the character might have been doing offscreen - !
Just when you think you have it figured out....
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William Friedkin was from Chicago. His parents were Jewish emigrants from Ukraine.
Besides The Exorcist, Friedkin directed
The French Connection
The Boys in the Band
To Live and Die in L.A.
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