3. H I T C H C O C K ' S VERTIGO.

T H E COLLAPSE OF A RESCUE F A N T A S Y

EMANUEL BERMAN, ISRAEL

'Just as, in the end, the detective is revealed to be the criminal, the
doctor-therapist, the would-be analyst, herself turns out to be but an
analysand. The Turn of the Screw in fact deconstructs all these tradi­
tional oppositions; the exorcist and the possessed, the doctor and the
patient, the sickness and the cure, the symptom and the proposed inter­
pretation of the symptom, here become interchangeable, or at the very
least, undecidable' (Felman, 1982, p. 176).
This paper offers a psychoanalytic exploration of Alfred H i t c h ­
cock's film, Vertigo (1958). I will start from my own view of the film,
continue with a review of the extensive literature debating i t and con­
clude w i t h a discussion of a few issues related to the way in which Ver­
tigo has been understood and of some fundamental dilemmas in the
psychoanalytic study of art.

A PERSONAL VIEW

John 'Scottie Ferguson, the protagonist of Vertigo, is a detective

haunted by his human frailty: his vertigo. The way in which this film
activates audience involvement is a crucial aspect of its power: as view­
ers, we become deeply identified w i t h Scottie's vulnerability.
We follow him in his heroic but miscarried quest to overcome i t .
Remembering—when we can—that Scottie and the other figures we
watch are actually fictional film characters, ;we are forced to realise that
30 EMANUEL BERMAN

what we are truly exploring is our own fears, fantasies and identifica­
tions as enthralled viewers.
In the opening scene of the film, trauma occurs: we encounter Scot­
tie's impotence (and our own) while his colleague—attempting to res­
cue him—falls from a roof-top to his death (fig. 1). From now on,
Scottie continuously strives to overcome the trauma, to regain mas­
tery, to undo his humiliation. He makes desperate efforts to rescue him­
self from the chaotic fearful regression constantly lurking behind the
brittle shell of his reality.

Fig. 1: Scottie's trauma

But consciously, maybe projectively, his quest shifts to the rescue of

another person: the enchanting woman we come to know as
Madeleine. When asked by Gavin Elster— his college friend, who tells
him she is his wife—to help her, he responds by saying: 'Take her to the
nearest psychiatrist, or psychologist, or neurologist, or psychoana
He is about to say psychoanalyst' but never completes the word. Yet
Scottie soon finds himself in the role of a psychoanalyst: searching for
Madeleine's lost memories, attempting to interpret her dreams, seek­
 VERTIGO 31

ing the integration of dissociated personality fragments, striving to

liberate Madeleine from the claws of her enigmatic obsession and free
her to live and to love.
I came to realise that Scottie's drama richly resonates with my own
experiences as a psychoanalyst. In my imagination he becomes an ana­
lyst grappling with his unavoidable deep emotional involvement and
unconscious identifications; with the impossibility both of maintaining
detached objectivity, and of guaranteeing one's role as a reparative
good object or selfobject; with the dangers of grandiosity, of omnis­
cience, of illusory control. In my personal viewing of the film—col­
oured, naturally, by my own psychic reality—it is a tale of'transference
love' but also of 'countertransference love', that crystallises around a
rescue fantasy (fig. 2). Rescuing Madeleine from drowning, Scottie
becomes—as many of us are, in our daydreams—Orpheus, struggling
to bring Eurydice back from Hades. He takes us along in his quest,
graphically depicted in the film as a dangerous spiral descent.

4 v

Fig. 2: The rescue concretised

 3 2 EMANUEL BERMAN

T h e first p a r t of t h e film s t r o n g l y e s t a b l i s h e s t h i s fantasy, a c c u r a t e l y

c o r r e s p o n d i n g t o i t s m o s t a n c i e n t m y t h i c a l p o r t r a y a l s . M a d e l e i n e is
Beauty, captivated and endangered by an obscure, unseen D r a g o n (fig.
3). W h e t h e r t h i s D r a g o n w i l l t u r n o u t t o b e p s y c h o l o g i c a l ( n e u r o t i c
fantasy or childhood experience), metaphysical (the spirit of
Madeleine's ancestor C a r l o t t a Valdes, w h o had been d i t c h e d , d e p r i v e d
o f h e r c h i l d a n d d r i v e n m a d ) o r c r i m i n a l (a p o s s i b i l i t y r a i s e d m u c h l a t e r
i n t h e f i l m ) , S c o t t i e is w i l l i n g t o fight i t : h e a s s u m e s t h e r o l e o f t h e
K n i g h t , d e t e r m i n e d t o f i n d t h e D r a g o n a n d b e h e a d i t . A t t h i s s t a g e , as
i n t h e c l a s s i c a l r e s c u e l e g e n d , t h e s e t h r e e k e y r o l e s are s h a r p l y d i f f e r e n ­
tiated, t h r o u g h s p l i t t i n g and disavowal, w h i c h mask any potential con­
cordant or complementary identifications between the figures. This
defensive m y t h - m a k i n g necessarily deprives the participants o f t h e i r
conflictual three-dimensionality: the valiant, masterful and
s e l f s a c r i f i c i n g K n i g h t is u t t e r l y d i f f e r e n t f r o m l o s t , c o n f u s e d a n d h e l p ­
less B e a u t y , a n d c o u l d h a v e n o t h i n g i n c o m m o n w i t h t h e m o r t a l e n e m y ,
the vicious D r a g o n .

F i g . 3: M a d e l e i n e : a n o b s c u r e o b j e c t o f d e s i r e
 VERTIGO

N a t u r a l l y , t h e K n i g h t falls i n l o v e w i t h B e a u t y ; t h e h e l p l e s s o b j e c t o f

rescue and the r o m a n t i c object o f desire merge, and this combination

has a n e n o r m o u s i m p a c t on the protagonist, a n d on the v i e w e r s i d e n t i ­

fied w i t h h i s v i s i o n . ( W e are, like Scottie, annoyed w i t h his friend

M i d g e ' s s c e p t i c i s m and s a r c a s m t o w a r d s his credulous fascination.)

S c o t t i e is a l s o g r a d u a l l y able t o w i n M a d e l e i n e ' s l o v e , i n s p i t e o f h e r

reserve and hesitation. After successfully rescuing her from her appar­

e n t s u i c i d e a t t e m p t i n t h e w a t e r s o f S a n F r a n c i s c o Bay, h e t e l l s h e r :

o n c e y o u ' v e s a v e d a p e r s o n ' s life, y o u a r e r e s p o n s i b l e for t h e m f o r e v e r ' ;

and then, w h i l e r e a s s u r i n g her 'no one possesses y o u ' he also says ' I ' v e

g o t y o u ' . C o m i n g to b e l i e v e h e h a s d i s t i n g u i s h e d r e a l i t y f r o m f a n t a s y i n

h e r story, a n d found t h e c l u e to the fearful r e c u r r e n t d r e a m she

d e s c r i b e s ('it w i l l f i n i s h y o u r d r e a m * ) , a s w e l l as to t h e w h o l e m y s t e r y ,

he is self-assu r e d l y a p p r o a c h i n g his u l t i m a t e victory.

B u t h e r e w e a r e c o n f r o n t e d w i t h t h e f i l m ' s first c r u e l t u r n a b o u t : at

the c r u c i a l m o m e n t S c o t t i e is incapacitated by his a c r o p h o b i a a n d v e r ­

tigo, c a n n o t follow M a d e l e i n e up the bell tower's steep staircase, a n d

rather than fulfilling his and o u r fantasy w i s h by r e s c u i n g her (and

h i m s e l f ) h e is c o n f r o n t e d w i t h a s e c o n d t r a u m a t i c f a l l , M a d e l e i n e ' s fall

to h e r d e a t h — f i g . 4 b e l o w :
34 EMANUEL BERMAN

A t this h o r r i f y i n g m o m e n t the first element of splitting and d i s a ­

v o w a l i n t h e r e s c u e m y t h c r u m b l e s : w e p a i n f u l l y c o m e to r e a l i s e that

o u r K n i g h t is as h e l p l e s s , l o n e l y a n d d e s p e r a t e as h i s B e a u t y . T h i s is

soon u n d e r l i n e d by the g u i l t - e n h a n c i n g p r o n o u n c e m e n t o f the i n v e s t i ­

g a t i n g official, an u n r e l e n t i n g l y h a r s h s u p e r e g o r e p r e s e n t a t i v e , as w e l l

as b y S c o t t i e ' s n i g h t m a r e , in w h i c h he is n o w t h e o n e f a l l i n g i n t o t h e

o p e n g r a v e , he is h i m s e l f b e h e a d e d , it is he w h o is p l u n g i n g to t h e r o o f

below, t h e n i n t o a v o i d . W e f u l l y e x p e r i e n c e n o w b o t h the y e a r n i n g to

fall a n d t h e t e r r o r o f f a l l i n g , c o m b i n e d in v e r t i g o . Y e s , ' s o m e o n e o u t o f

the p a s t , s o m e o n e d e a d , c a n e n t e r a n d take p o s s e s s i o n o f a l i v i n g b e i n g ' .

H o s p i t a l i s e d for h i s a c u t e m e l a n c h o l i a a n d g u i l t , S c o t t i e a p p e a r s for

a w h i l e to be o v e r w h e l m e d b y h i s l o s s , to be m e n t a l l y d e a d , as h e

m o t i o n l e s s l y defies a l l r e s c u e a t t e m p t s , n o w d i r e c t e d t o w a r d s h i m b y

M i d g e a n d t h e d o c t o r s (fig. 5).

F i g . 5: S c o t t i e m o t i o n l e s s l y defies r e s c u e

E v e n t u a l l y d i s c h a r g e d , S c o t t i e l o o k s for M a d e l e i n e i n t h e s t r e e t s o f

San F r a n c i s c o , j u s t as C a r l o t t a , M a d e l e i n e ' s unfortunate ancestor,

r e p o r t e d l y l o o k e d for h e r l o s t d a u g h t e r ( a n d as H a n o l d l o o k e d for

G r a d i v a i n t h e s t r e e t s o f P o m p e i i ) . H e f i n a l l y a p p e a r s to d i s c o v e r h e r i n

t h e p e r s o n o f Judy, a l o n e l y y o u n g w o m a n w h o left h o m e after t h e d e a t h

 VERTIGO 55

o f h e r b e l o v e d f a t h e r (fig. 6). W h i l e o u r first g u e s s m a y be t h a t t h i s i s a

d e l u s i o n a l a t t e m p t to u n d o M a d e l e i n e ' s d e a t h , H i t c h c o c k a l l o w s u s for

the first t i m e — i n a bold d e p a r t u r e from the o r i g i n a l book and f r o m the

traditions o f the g e n r e — t o discover the t r u t h that still eludes o u r p r o ­

tagonist. T h e flashback scene clarifies reality, but also re-establishes

the r e s c u e m y t h by p e r s o n a l i s i n g the D r a g o n . I t w a s G a v i n E l s t e r w h o

k i l l e d h i s a c t u a l w i f e , e x p l o i t e d d r e s s e d - u p J u d y as a decoy, a n d m a n i p ­

u l a t e d S c o t t i e s o c r u e l l y i n o r d e r to u s e h i m as a w i t n e s s to M a d e l e i n e ' s

apparent suicide.

F i g . 6: J u d y f i r s t e n c o u n t e r s S c o t t i e

N o w w e realise h o w naive w a s Scottie's r o m a n t i c i s e d v i e w of the

situation a n d o f his role. T h e u n d e r s t a n d i n g that he h a d r e a c h e d had

b e e n s o p a r t i a l t h a t it b l i n d e d h i m to t h e d e e p e r t r u t h . T h e further

discoveries we make later on make this realisation even m o r e poignant

and tragic.

K n o w i n g n o w t h e a c t u a l h i s t o r y , w e a r e f i n a l l y a l l o w e d to be t h e

insightful analysts, the successful detectives. A w a r e o f J u d y ' s r e a l love

for S c o t t i e , a n d o f h e r m o v i n g a n g u i s h , b o t h e s t a b l i s h e d i n t h e s c e n e i n
36 EMANUEL BERMAN

w h i c h she writes h i m a confessional farewell letter but then destroys it

a n d d e c i d e s to stay, w e n o w a b a n d o n o u r f u l l i d e n t i f i c a t i o n w i t h S c o t t i e .

T h r o u g h the film's c o n c l u s i o n w e find ourselves identified w i t h both

Scottie a n d Judy, a n d therefore in constant conflict between their

points o f view, a n d i n full a w a r e n e s s o f the p a i n i n v o l v e d i n a deep r e l a ­

tionship between two individuals w i t h divergent subjectivities. H a v i n g

n o l o n g e r a K n i g h t to r e l y o n , w e o u r s e l v e s b e c o m e t h e f a n t a s i s e d

K n i g h t , w i s h i n g to r e s c u e b o t h o u r v u l n e r a b l e p r o t a g o n i s t s f r o m t h e

emotional aftermath of E l s t e r ' s vicious scheme.

T h e process is tantalising. Scottie, dominated by a tenacious P y g ­

m a l i o n f a n t a s y , o b s e s s i v e l y a n d f e t i s h i s t i c a l l y a t t e m p t s n o w to m o u l d

J u d y i n t o M a d e l e i n e , i n s p i t e o f h e r r e l u c t a n c e a n d fear. F e a r o f b e i n g

f o u n d o u t , f e a r o f b e i n g e x p l o i t e d o n c e m o r e , b u t a l s o fear o f l o s i n g h e r

i d e n t i t y , o f b e i n g f o r c e d to m a i n t a i n p e r m a n e n t l y t h e e l e v a t e d f a n t a s y

p e r s o n a o f M a d e l e i n e ? E v e n t u a l l y , h e r love for Scottie g a i n s the u p p e r

h a n d , a n d s h e a b a n d o n s h e r s t r u g g l e to k e e p b o t h o f t h e m i n a V e a l '

w o r l d , i n w h i c h s h e w o u l d be free to be h e r s e l f . S h e s u c c u m b s , a n d

a g r e e s to r e c r e a t e M a d e l e i n e fully, to d i s a p p e a r ' u n d e r t h e s h a d o w of

( h i s ) o b j e c t ' i n o r d e r to r e a c h h e r o b j e c t . H e r r e a p p e a r a n c e t r a n s f o r m e d

into M a d e l e i n e is a b r e a t h t a k i n g m o m e n t o f r o m a n t i c f a n t a s y fulfil­

m e n t ; S c o t t i e feels h e h a s s u c c e e d e d i n d e f y i n g d e a t h , i n b r i n g i n g

E u r y d i c e b a c k f r o m H a d e s ; J u d y h o p e s f i n a l l y to r e g a i n h i s l a s t i n g l o v e .

Y e t , the i l l u s o r y brittle fictitiousness of this m o m e n t m a k e s it uncanny,

s c a r y a n d o m i n o u s (fig. 7 o n f a c i n g p a g e ) .

Shortly afterwards comes Orpheus's forbidden look, w h i c h w i l l

s e n d E u r y d i c e b a c k to h e l l J u d y a b s e n t m i n d e d l y w e a r s C a r l o t t a ' s a n d

M a d e l e i n e ' s n e c k l a c e — o u t o f an u n c o n s c i o u s u r g e to confess h e r g u i l t

a n d a t o n e for i t ? B e c a u s e l i v i n g a n d l o v i n g d e c e p t i v e l y i s u n b e a r a b l e ?
 VERTIGO

Or because of her longing for the persona of Madeleine, which fulfilled

her own potential? (fig. 8).

Fig. 8: T h e Orphean forbidden look

MS EMANUEL BERMAN

S c o t t i e , i n a s p l i t s e c o n d , g u e s s e s t h e t r u t h . A n d now, i n the h e a r t ­

b r e a k i n g f i n a l s c e n e , the l a s t M a g i n o t - l i n e o f s p l i t t i n g a n d d i s a v o w a l

a l s o falls, a n d w i t h it t h e m y t h i c a l r e s c u e f a n t a s y c o m p l e t e l y c o l l a p s e s .

S c o t t i e c o m e s to see t h e s i m i l a r i t y b e t w e e n h i m a n d G a v i n E l s t e r , t h e

e x a c t p a r a l l e l b e t w e e n t h e t w o s t a g e s o f c r e a t i n g a n d r e c r e a t i n g (as

f i l m d i r e c t o r s d o ) the f e t i s h i s t i c r o m a n t i c o b j e c t , t h e make-believe

phantom figure of Madeleine: 'He made you over j u s t like I made you

over*. T h e w o m a n w h o w a s h i s o b j e c t o f c o m p a s s i o n a n d p a s s i o n t u r n s

o u t to h a v e b e e n the c r e a t i o n o f a n o t h e r m a n ( w e a r e r e m i n d e d o f N a t h ­

aniel a n d O l y m p i a in ' T h e S a n d m a n ' ) . H e n o w finds h i m s e l f d r a g g i n g

Judy up the bell-tower's staircase w i t h enraged, ruthless cruelty,

almost c h o k i n g her.

H e m a y be o v e r c o m i n g h i s v e r t i g o , b u t he is l o s i n g h i s h u m a n i t y a n d

t h e m e a n i n g o f h i s life. H i s i d e n t i f i c a t i o n w i t h the d i s t r e s s e d w o m a n

has been transformed into sadistic and vengeful domination. I n his d e s ­

p e r a t e a t t e m p t to find t h e t r u t h a n d free h i m s e l f f r o m a d e c e p t i o n by a

v i l l a i n , he h a s s u n k i n t o a d e c e p t i v e d e l u s i o n o f h i s o w n , a n d g r a d u a l l y

t u r n s i n t o the v i l l a i n . J o h n the S a v i o u r t u r n s out, after a l l , to be J a c k t h e

R i p p e r . T h e K n i g h t h a s b e c o m e t h e D r a g o n (fig. 9 b e l o w ) .
 VERTIGO 39

By ultimately destroying the illusory Madeleine, Scottie is also terri­

fying the real Judy, his flesh-and-blood beloved and loving Beauty Their
final hug arouses faint hopes of reparation, but the sudden appearance
of a nun at the bell-tower makes Judy stumble and fall to her death. As
we hear the bell, we are reminded of John Donne s lines: 'Now, this Bell
tolling softly for another, saies to me, Thou must die ... No man is an
Hand, in tire of it selfe ... And therefore never send to know for whom
the bell tolls; it tolls for thee' (Devotions, 1624, xvi-xvii).

A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

Perhaps the greatest weakness in the psychoanalytic studies of liter­

ature is that they rarely acknowledge that several interpretations may
all plausibly reveal something about a work of art (Werman, 1 9 7 9 , p.
475).

Vertigo is one of the most intensely debated films in the history of

cinema (White, 1 9 9 1 ) . Although the vast literature analysing it is not
usually written by practising analysts, most of it deals with psychoan­
alytic issues, being part of a unique trend in contemporary academic
film scholarship, strongly influenced by Freud and Lacan, as well as by
Marx, Althusser and particularly feminist thought (Kaplan, 1 9 9 0 , p. 9 ) .
A central figure within this tradition is Laura Mulvey, who opened
the debate in her 1 9 7 5 paper, 'Visual pleasure and narrative cinema'.
She interprets Scottie's pursuit of Madeleine as an erotic obsession
based on castration anxiety, stating: 'Scottie's voyeurism is blatant: he
falls in love with a woman he follows and spies on without speaking to.
Its sadistic side is equally blatant... Once he actually confronts her, his
erotic drive is to break her down and force her to tell by persistent
 K) EMANUEL BERMAN

c r o s s - q u e s t i o n i n g . T h e n , i n t h e s e c o n d p a r t o f the film, he r e - e n a c t s h i s

obsessive involvement . . . H e r e c o n s t r u c t s J u d y as M a d e l e i n e , forces

h e r to c o n f o r m i n e v e r y d e t a i l to the a c t u a l p h y s i c a l a p p e a r a n c e o f h i s

fetish ... in the r e p e t i t i o n h e d o e s b r e a k h e r d o w n a n d s u c c e e d s in

e x p o s i n g h e r g u i l t . H i s c u r i o s i t y w i n s t h r o u g h a n d s h e is p u n i s h e d '

( M u l v e y , 1 9 7 5 , p. 6 6 ) .

While harshly accusatory towards Scottie, M u l v e y j u d g e s Judy

s e v e r e l y as w e l l : ' H e r e x h i b i t i o n i s m , h e r m a s o c h i s m , m a k e h e r a n i d e a l

p a s s i v e c o u n t e r p a r t to S c o t t i e ' s a c t i v e s a d i s t i c v o y e u r i s m ' (fig. 10).

F i g . 10: V o y e u r i s m o r i d e n t i f i c a t i o n ?

A v e r y different v i e w o f the f i l m ' s d y n a m i c s w a s s o o n offered by the

interrelated w o r k s of Spoto ( 1 9 7 6 , 1983) and W o o d ( 1 9 7 7 , 1989).

S p o t o v i e w s the f i l m as d e a l i n g w i t h the a t t r a c t i o n t o w a r d s d e a t h , as

w e l l as w i t h ' p s y c h i c v e r t i g o — t h e d e s i r e to let go, to fall, to float

t h r o u g h s p a c e , c o m b i n e d w i t h the fear o f f a l l i n g ' ( S p o t o , 1 9 7 6 , p. 3 0 8 ;

compare Quinodoz, 1990). H e e x a m i n e s Scottie's predicament em p a ­

thetically: his i n c r e a s i n g lack of freedom, his identification w i t h his ide­

a l i s e d l o v e o b j e c t , h i s p a n i c a n d s u b s e q u e n t b r e a k d o w n after he fails to
 VERTIGO 41

rescue her from (what he is led to perceive as) her fall, and his evolving
resemblance of Elster as he attempts to recreate Madeleine.. Spoto
states: Tragically, no one is capable here of reaching the fulfillment of
a human involvement—neither Scottie, nor Midge, nor Gavin Elster
nor Judy (p. 3 0 3 ) . He suggests that the film exposes 'the ways of false
love ... exploitative narcissism on the one hand, and neurotic self-anni­
hilation on the other' (p. 3 2 9 ) . His concluding statement is:
The film conveys ... the struggle between the constant yearning for
the ideal, and the necessity of living in a world that is far from ideal,
whose people are frail and imperfect. It is a film of uncanny maturity
and insight, and if its characters are flawed, that is, after all, only a
measure of their patent humanity, and of the film's unsentimental yet
profound compassion ( 1 9 7 6 , p. 3 3 7 ) .
Wood ( 1 9 7 7 ) shows how the original story of Pierre Boileau and
Thomas Narcejac, D'Entre les Morts, with its easy pessimism that is
as much a sentimental self-indulgence as its opposite' and characters
that are either helpless devitalised dupes ... or the ingeniously malig­
nant intriguers who trap them' (p. 7 7 ) , is transformed by Hitchcock
into a tragic portrayal of the immense value of human relationships
and their inherent incapacity of perfect realisation' (p. 7 8 ) . He analyses
the newly added figure of Midge, 'devoid of mystery or reserve',
though one senses ... a discrepancy between what she is and what she
might be' (p. 7 9 ) , and its contrast to the figure of Madeleine, 'so much
more erotic because of its combination of grace, mysteriousness and
vulnerability', who 'becomes our dream as well as Scottie's' (p. 8 2 ) .
Wood ( 1 9 7 7 ) traces the way in which, in the second half of the film, our
consciousness becomes split between the points of view of Scottie and
of Judy, and the pain aroused by Scottie's inability to see the Veal' Judy
 EMANUEL BERMAN

d u e to h i s c l i n g i n g to ' t h e g h o s t o f M a d e l e i n e t h a t l u r k s w i t h i n h e r (p.

9 3 ) . E v e n t u a l l y , W o o d s u g g e s t s , ' S c o t t i e ' s v e r t i g o is c u r e d . . . by f i n a l l y

l e a r n i n g t h e w h o l e t r u t h ' (p. 9 4 ) , 'yet h i s c u r e h a s d e s t r o y e d at a b l o w

b o t h t h e r e a l i t y a n d t h e i l l u s i o n o f J u d y / M a d e l e i n e , h a s m a d e the i l l u ­

sion of Madeleine's death real ... T r i u m p h and tragedy are i n d i s t i n ­

g u i s h i b l y f u s e d ' (p. 9 5 ) .

R e t u r n i n g to Vertigo w i t h added perspective, W o o d (1989) analyses

t h e o p e n i n g o f t h e f i l m ( t h e c h a s e a n d t h e p o l i c e m a n ' s fall) as 'the m o s t

e x t r e m e a n d a b r u p t i n s t a n c e o f e n f o r c e d a u d i e n c e i d e n t i f i c a t i o n in a l l

o f H i t c h c o c k ' (p. 3 8 0 ) , i n v o l v i n g t h e d e m i s e o f the f a t h e r / s u p e r e g o ,

d u r i n g i t s failed a t t e m p t to c o n t r o l t h e c r i m i n a l / i d , w i t h t h e g u i l t y

s o n / e g o left h a n g i n g (fig. 11). E l s t e r is t h e n e w f a t h e r ' o u t s i d e t h e l a w ' ,

t h e D e v i l , t e m p t i n g S c o t t i e b y o f f e r i n g h i m h i s o w n w i f e as w a n d e r i n g

Scottie's feminine m i r r o r image.

F i g . 1 1 : T h e p o l i c e m a n ' s fall

W o o d p o r t r a y s t h e ' o r i g i n a l d e s i r e ' for m o t h e r ' s b r e a s t as an i l l u ­

s i o n , as t h e m y s t i f y i n g r o o t o f s e x u a l i t y w h i c h m u s t r e m a i n m y s t i f i e d ;
 VERTIGO 43

'"Madeleine" dies (both times) at the moments when she threatens to

become a real person' (p. 3 8 5 ) .
Wexman's ( 1 9 8 6 ) perspective is Marxist. She criticises Mulvey's
psychoanalytic ideas, seeing them as representing 'an idealist position,
which ... can obscure the workings of more culturally specific codes
within the cinematic text' (p. 3 6 ) . She discusses the commercialised
eroticism of the American film industry, and the way its demands led to
controlling Kim Novak's image and to harrassing the actress during
production. She unearths 'buried references to issues of class and race'
(p. 3 8 ) in this film: 'Madeleine's upper-class image entails its opposite:
the lower-class Judy' (p. 3 7 ) ; Elster's nostalgia for the days men had
'freedom and power' glorifies exploitative chauvinism and imperialism,
whose victims are personified in the Spanish Carlotta Valdes. Wexman
concludes that 'Hitchcock has masked the ideological workings of rac­
ism and xenophobia beneath a discourse of sexuality which is itself
idealized as romantic love' (p. 4 0 ) .
In another challenge to Mulvey, Keane (l 9 8 6 ) contests the view that
the camera in Vertigo allies itself exclusively with a male point of view.
While Mulvey views voyeurism as purely active and sadistic, Keane
suggests —with the help of Freud's work on scopophilia—that Scottie
also suffers in his voyeuristic position, is acted upon, is in a way a pas­
sive character.
The Orphic allusions of Vertigo are elaborated by Brown ( 1 9 8 6 ) , who
notices that in the original novel the hero, Roger Flavieres, repeatedly
calls the heroine 'my little Eurydice'. The Orphic story is doubled here,
and in both rounds Scottie loses his beloved by looking' at her, by pursu­
ing her secret too zealously. Through an analysis of the sequence of
scenes, Brown demonstrates how the battles in the film are waged on two
44 EMANUEL BERMAN

vastly different grounds, that of the tragic hero and that of the artist­
hero. As a tragic hero, Scottie is guilty of a form of hubris that leads him
to reject ordinary, life-affirming love to seek an ideal love that is con­
nected from the outset with 'someone dead'. Put another way, Scottie
rejects existential reality in order to live within mythic nonreality (p. 34).
In Brown's analysis, Scottie is also 'the third in a line of men ... who
were able to exercise the power of life and death through the sacrifice
of three women—Carlotta, Madeleine Elster, and Judy Barton' (p. 3 7 ) .
They are all Apollonian combatants struggling with the female-domi­
nated forces of the Dionysian. In this vein, and in the context of the
film's Christian symbolism, Brown interprets the final scene as Scot­
tie's mythic victory over death through the sacrifice of Judy
Burgin ( 1 9 8 6 ) , discussing the film viewer s experience (see Berman,
1 9 9 8 ) , relates Scottie s urges to the oedipal rescue fantasy towards
'fallen women' analysed by Freud: A man rescuing a woman from
water in a dream means that he makes her ... his own mother' (Freud,
1910, p. 174).

Goodkin ( 1 9 8 7 ) relates the story of Vertigo to central themes in

Proust, including the centrality of a 'Madeleine' (the cake, in Proust's
case) as an embodiment of a central experience of reliving the past;
both works portray controlling and freezing the passage of time by
turning life into art In both, he suggests, the world of men is singu­
larly unkind to the protagonists, who crave maternal support (fig. 12
opposite).
Palombo ( 1 9 8 7 ) , on the other hand, interprets Scottie's fainting in
Midge's apartment as revealing his raging fear of his dependence on
Midge and her mothering ... Mother's bosom has been revealed as
both the parapet to which Ferguson clings for dear life ... and as the
 VERTIGO 45

abyss into which he must fall when the crack-up comes' (p. 4 9 ) . He
describes Scottie's quest to decipher Madeleine's dream as parallel to a
similar search in Hitchcock's earlier Spellbound, but this time the
results are demoralising to the viewer; while frustrating our wish for a
straightforward solution, they allow—Palombo suggests — ' a much
deeper investigation of the dream substrate of waking life' (p. 5 2 ) . Scot­
tie's subsequent nightmare 'shows how closely Madeleine's dream fits
Ferguson's inner emotional state' (p. 5 3 ) , and first expresses the possi­
bility that he is Elster's victim.

Fig. 12: Scottie faints in Midge's arms

Palombo notices how the viewer's identification with Scottie is dis­

turbed by the flashback scene; from that point on we watch his struggle
'from the viewpoint of a parent, perhaps, but no longer from that of
another self (p. 5 5 ) . Contrary to many of his other films, here 'Hitch­
cock declined the role of benevolent overseer, leaving Ferguson and
Judy to fight the demoralizing effects of Elster's plot with their own
limited emotional resources' (p. 6 1 ) .
While Palombo discusses Scottie as dream interpreter, Rothman
( 1 9 8 7 ) appears to be the first to speak o f his role as investigator, but also
46 EMANUEL BERMAN

as therapist' (p. 66). His project in the first part of the film 'becomes a
calling... on which he stakes his entire being. By explaining everything,
he ... will save and win this damsel in distress'. In analysing the second
part Rothman emphasises that no matter how violently Scottie treats
Judy ... his goal is to liberate this woman's self, not suppress it. Further­
more, he is acting out of love for this woman ... [Vho] wishes for Scottie
to bring Madeleine back' (pp. 71-2). Rothman does not believe Hitchcock
indicts Scottie s project: what gives rise to Scottie's monstrousness is his
heroic refusal to let his love be lost and his equally heroic willingness to
plunge into the unknown. His failure is a tragedy' (p. 72).
Rothman's view of Judy as unfinished, uncreated' (1987, p. 71) and
therefore longing to be allowed to develop into 'Madeleine', is echoed in
Poznar s interpretation: 'Scottie knows Judy can become Madeleine,
that what is most beautiful in her can only be realised if she has the
courage to accept the potential Madeleine in her' (1989, p. 59). Poznar's
admiration of Scottie and Madeleine makes him judge some figures—
and some scholars—severely: '[TMidge] is as imperceptive and unfeel­
ing as Elster .,. And no less imperceptive and brutal are the comments
of the coroner who utters the kind of judgment on Scottie found in some
critics who are as convinced as the coroner that Scottie is the victim of
an abnormal and dangerous weakness' (p. 60). 'To renounce the
Madeleine in us is to renounce our deepest self, Poznan states (p. 61).
Hollinger (1987) points out that the film works through a female
oedipal drama, and the desire it portrays for unity with a powerful
maternal presence (Carlotta) subverts its masculine premises. She
views Scottie as striving to break off his relationship with the maternal.
Modleski (1988) returns to the question of the film's supposed male
viewpoint, and suggests that 'the male spectator is as much "decon­
 VERTIGO 17

structed" as constructed' by Hitchcock, due to his fascination with

femininity which throws masculine identity into question and crisis' (p.
87). Scottie's 'desire to merge with a woman who in some sense doesn't
exist ... points to self-annihilation' (p. 94). At the same time, his 'very
effort to cure her, which is an effort to get her to mirror man and his
desire, to see [ h i s ^ reason, destroys woman's otherness' (p. 95). In his
nightmare, 'Scottie actually lives out Madeleine's hallucination ... and
he dies Madeleine's death. His attempts at a cure having failed, he h i m ­
self is plunged into the "feminine" world of psychic disintegration,
madness, and death' (p. 95). Modleski concludes that the film solicits 'a
masculine bisexual identification because of the way the male character
oscillates between ... a hypnotic and masochistic fascination with the
woman's desire and a sadistic attempt to gain control over her (p.
99)—fig. 13 below: Scottie's nightmare:

Brill (1988) focuses on 'the failure of Scottie to discover himself in

love', in contrast to Hitchcock's romantic films in which quests lead 'to
the creation (or recovery) through love of the protagonists' personal
and social identities' (p. 207). 'No greater horror can occur in a H i t c h ­
48 EMANUEL BERMAN

cock m o v i e t h a n the failure o r exploitation o f the i n s t i n c t to love a n d

heal, on w h i c h the recovery of innocence ultimately depends (p. 2 1 1 ) .

H e points to the a n t i - r e d e m p t i v e m e a n i n g o f the C h r i s t i a n i m a g e s i n the

film, a n d to its i r o n i c 'tendency t o w a r d self-deconstruction ... the i n c o r ­

p o r a t i o n i n e v e r y p r o p o s i t i o n o f i t s c o n t r a r y (p. 2 1 4 ) . ' T h e d e s i r e t o

p o s s e s s o n e ' s l o v e r i s c l o s e l y b o u n d . . . t o a p a s s i o n for k n o w i n g , for

f o r m u l a t i n g a n d f i x i n g r e a l i t y . . . [[but]] S c o t t i e a n d J u d y n e e d love, n o t

knowledge'(p. 218).

W h i t e ( 1 9 9 1 ) s u m m a r i s e s m a n y a u t h o r s w h o v i e w Vertigo as d e a l i n g

w i t h the i m p o s s i b l e p o s i t i o n into w h i c h t h e w o m a n is p l a c e d , w i t h h e r

u n k n o w n n e s s a n d h e r eerie k n o w l e d g e ; as a r o u s i n g s y m p a t h y for h e r

p l i g h t . 'Judy, l i k e S c o t t i e , m a y be l o o k i n g for a r e p l a c e m e n t for a l o s t l o v e d

one, i n t h i s case h e r father (p. 9 1 5 ) ; S c o t t i e r i s k s d e a t h , b u t i t i s t h e

w o m a n , 'his m o r e v u l n e r a b l e other, t h e p a r t o f h i m t h a t i s u m b i l i c a l l y tied

to t h e m o t h e r , w h o dies' (p. 9 1 9 ) . W h i t e , h o w e v e r , c a l l s for a n a l l e g o r i c a l

r e a d i n g o f t h e f i l m , e m p h a s i s i n g 'the n o n - s e l f , the d i v i d e d self, w h a t d e

M a n , after B a u d e l a i r e , c a l l s t h e i r o n i c s e l f (p. 9 3 1 ) . C h a l l e n g i n g c e r t a i n

f e m i n i s t i d e a l i s a t i o n s , s h e p o i n t s o u t t h a t 'the d e s i r e t o m e r g e w i t h t h e

m o t h e r i s . . . e x t r a o r d i n a r i l y t h r e a t e n i n g to t h e d a u g h t e r , too' (p. 9 2 6 ) .

C o h e n ( 1 9 9 5 ) d e s c r i b e s Vertigo as t r a n s i t i o n a l i n H i t c h c o c k ' s a b a n ­

d o n m e n t o f the legacy o f V i c t o r i a n culture, and particularly o f the V i c ­

torian notions of character and of gender complementarity, moving

t o w a r d s h i s l a t e r ' c h a r a c t e r e f f a c i n g ' films. C o h e n c o m p a r e s t h e C a r ­

l o t t a s t o r y to n o v e l s o f G e o r g e E l i o t o r T h o m a s H a r d y a n d d e s c r i b e s

the film's reversals (constant 'spiraling back upon i t s e l f ) as 'a d e c o n ­

structive i n s i g h t . . . into the w a y nineteenth-century male novelists c a n

be s a i d to h a v e c o n s t r u c t e d f e m a l e s u b j e c t i v i t y a n d t h e n p a s s e d i t o n to

f i l m - m a k e r s l i k e H i t c h c o c k as t h e r e a l t h i n g ' (p. 1 3 9 ) .
 VERTIGO 49

After realising Madeleine was constructed' we want Scottie to love

the 'real' Judy, which in many ways is no less a construction. Cohen
expresses 'a postmodern recognition ... that experience is, by defini­
tion, constructed and hence delusionary' (p. 141).
Gabbard's (1998) analysis of the film emphasises the defensive side in
the objectification of women, often involved in men's sexuality. He
underlines 'the need for omnipotent, and even sadistic, control of the
love object to deal with the terror of object loss at the core of male
desire'. Contempt, he suggests, lies underneath the surface of Scottie's
symbiotic needs and idealisation of women. Gabbard relates this theme
to Hitchcock's own 'lifelong struggles with dependency, women and
sadism', documented by several biographical episodes.
Quinodoz (personal communication, 1996) applies to the film her
object-relations interpretation of clinical vertigo (Quinodoz, 1990),
seen as a warning system preventing the patient from being over­
whelmed by his or her split-off infantile part. In the first part of the film,
she suggests, the spectator—like Scottie—is overwhelmed by contra­
dictory information: 'What is real? Are the events happening to
Madeleine real? Magic? Madness? Are they fantasies? Lies? A plot?' In
the last scene, Scottie overcomes his vertigo when he is sure of being in
a realistic world, while Judy—who was throughout the film reality-ori­
ented, and free of vertigo—is overwhelmed by the magic world, and by
sudden (and lethal) vertigo, when she sees the nun.

A N OVERVIEW

Our reading of The Turn of the Screw would thus attempt not so
much to capture the mystery's solution, but to follow, rather, the signif­
50 EMANUEL BERMAN

icant path of its flight; not so much to solve or answer the enigmatic
question of the text, but to investigate its structure; not so much to
name and make explicit the ambiguity of the text, but to understand
the necessity and the rhetorical functioning of the textual ambiguity
(Felman, 1982, p. 119).
Comparing the divergent interpretations offered of Vertigo is
intriguing (see Werman, 1979). We may notice contradictions related
to changes in Zeitgeist. Mulvey's militant feminism, in which males are
mostly exploiters, contrasts with the subtler feminism of Modleski or
White, in which men and women alike are damaged by rigid role-mod­
els. Similarly, earlier interpretations taking the plot at facevalue, differ
from Cohen's post-modernist scepticism, highlighting the film's
deconstruction of its own narrative. Other contrasts can be traced to
the way theory is utilised: Mulvey mobilises Freud's work on perver­
sions for her ideological purposes, missing its subtleties, while Keane
reads Freud much more carefully, enriching our understanding of the
film's nuances. On an additional level, many variations in the way Ver­
tigo is seen can be related to (counter)transference reactions of the
writers to the film, to its protagonists, and to its creator.
My use of the atypical term (counter)transference conveys my view
that the deeper experiences of analyst and analysand are not inherently
different, in spite of their distinct roles and goals in the analytic
encounter; distinguishing transference from countertransference may
be superficial. This view originates in a long tradition within psycho­
analysis, starting with Ferenczi (Berman, 1996) and culminating in the
recent contributions of Ogden, Mitchell and many other authors, who
conceptualise the analytic situation as inherently relational or inter­
subjective (Berman, 1997). This development accounts for the grow­
 VERTIGO 51

ing realisation within clinical psychoanalysis that the patient's

transference often involves genuine attempts to interpret the analyst's
personality (Aron, 1 9 9 1 ; Gill, 1 9 8 2 ) , while the analyst's interpretive
work is often coloured—and potentially inspired —by countertrans­
ference (Racker, 1968;Renik, 1 9 9 3 ) .
This new frame of reference has given valuable inspiration to the
psychoanalytic exploration of literature and art (Berman, 1 9 9 1 ,
1 9 9 3 a ) . The reader's, viewer's and listener s experience, whether they
are laymen or professional critics and scholars, can also be conceived as
combining an attempt to uncover and spell out the work's meanings
with unavoidably personal emotional reactions and identifications. The
return of subjectivity (and then inter subjectivity) into psychoanalysis
coincides with recent trends in literary and art scholarship, such as
readerresponse criticism and deconstruction, both moving away from
assuming objective' meanings as fixed properties of works of art.
The question of Vertigds real' meaning becomes pointless, if we
assume that the film acquires a unique meaning for each viewer, influ­
enced by her or his inner world. In other words, we are now talking
neither of a hidden true content that can be objectively deciphered (an
assumption inherent in classical versions of 'applied analysis'), nor of
interpretation as merely a projection' of the viewer, but rather of a new
individual significance emerging in the unique transitional space opened
up by the viewer's encounter with the emotional universe of the film.

While in literature we may speak of an inter subjective exchange

between author and reader, mediated by the text and by the transi­
tional space created by reading, in arts such as theatre and film the
process is more complex. 'Written drama, on its way to the viewer,
meets several readers—director, actors, designers, musicians—each
52 EMANUEL BERMAN

of whom develops out of his or her inner world an interpretive

understanding of the play' (Berman, 1 9 9 1 , p. 8 ) . In a parallel way, we
could explore the way Hitchcock reacted to the original story and
transformed it (Spoto, 1 9 8 3 ; Wood, 1 9 7 7 ) , or attempt to study the
impact on the film of his complex interaction with actors James
Stewart and Kim Novak, hoping to transcend the one-sided (coun­
ter)transferential focus of Wexman (and Gabbard) on Novak as
Hitchcock's victim.
My choice to write in this context of (counter)transference also
hints at an inherent conflict between two potential reactions, neither
of which should be taken for granted. The reader's or spectator's
response may be experienced mostly as an analyst's countertrans­
ference, when figures, work of art or artist are primarily viewed as
enigmatic, as needing to be explained, and at the extreme end as
being pathological. Alternately, the reader's or spectator's emotional
set may be closer to an analysand's transference, when the work, its
protagonists or its creator are primarily experienced as valuable and
a source of insight. These different starting points usually lead
towards opposing views—see fig. 1 4 below: Midge and the mock
portrait.
 VERTIGO 53

(Counter)transference is only rarely spelled out by critics (Cohen

describes her 'wave of irritation that that necklace gave it all away';
1995, pp. 140-41), but it is omnipresent. Its role can be detected, for
example, in the divergent ways in which Midge is portrayed by various
authors. When Midge paints her own face into Carlotta Valdez's por­
trait, this is seen as a brave demystificatory act by Modleski ( 1 9 8 8 , p.
9 0 ) and as 'a travesty, a degradation ... a profound blasphemy by Poz­
nar ( 1 9 8 9 , p. 6 1 ) , who deeply identifies with Scottie s romantic vision.
Gabbard ( 1 9 9 8 ) emphasises Midge's maternal qualities, the soothing
tone of her voice, while Cohen speaks of her as 'a male imitation ... who
presents herself as Scot tie's buddy and whose rule of life seems to be to
keep a stiff upper lip' ( 1 9 9 5 , p, 1 3 9 ) . Hollinger ( 1 9 8 7 ) describes Midge
as a spectator figure, with whom the female spectator identifies uneas­
ily, while White ( 1 9 9 1 , p. 9 2 6 ) emphasises her actual ignorance of Scot­
tie's situation.

(Counter)transference also colours the way Scottie and Judy/

Madeleine are portrayed by the critics, in ways too numerous to be
listed. In her brilliant meta-analysis of the critical readings of The
T u r n of the Screw, Felman ( 1 9 8 2 ) demonstrates how the debate
around the story recreates many of its basic emotional themes. Simi­
larly, the rescue fantasy, a central motive in Vertigo, is recreated when
various scholars strive to rescue Judy from Scottie, rescue both from
Elster (who appears to be forgotten in analyses emphasising Scottie's
pathology) or from constrictive gender roles, rescue Judy from
'Madeleine' or vice versa, rescue Scottie from the coroner's wrath and
from other scholars, or rescue Kim Novak from Hitchcock. (The lat­
ter instance is particularly revealing, as one wonders: what will
Beauty/Novak do when rescued from Beast/Hitchcock—go back
54 EMANUEL BERMAN

into playing Miss Deepfreeze in commercials, as Novak did shortly

before creating, in collaboration with Hitchcock, this role of a life­
time?)
My own basic interpretation, outlined earlier on, was initially for­
mulated and presented after viewing the film and reading only Spoto
( 1 9 7 6 ) and Wood ( 1 9 7 7 ) . It undoubtedly expresses my own (coun­
ter)transference, as evidenced by my lifelong preoccupation with the
impact of rescue fantasies (e.g. Berman, 1 9 8 8 , 1 9 9 3 b ) and their role in
our work.
While Freud first spoke of rescue fantasies in 1 9 1 0 , it was Ferenczi
who described a parallel phenomenon in analysis, when 'the doctor has
unconsciously made himself his patient's patron or knight' (Ferenczi,
1 9 1 9 , p. 1 8 8 ) . Only half a century later the term rescue fantasy was
directly applied to analysts, by Greenacre ( 1 9 6 6 , p. 7 6 0 ) . Contrary to
Freud's oedipal focus (an underlying wish to rescue mother from
father), my own interpretation of the rescue fantasy, spelled out in the
first section of the paper, emphasises the object of rescue as a projected
version of the rescuer's own disavowed vulnerability, and the danger
from which rescue is needed—as a split-off version of the rescuer's
aggression. The resultant interaction I describe can be compared to a
mutual transference-countertransference enactment, of the kind that
can be used therapeutically if brought to consciousness and under­
stood (Renik, 1993), but may also be destructive when it remains
unconscious, when its significance is denied or rationalised away.
Reading the rest of the literature on Vertigo more recently gave me a
sense of validation, enabled me to refine several formulations, and made
me aware of problematic aspects of others. One of the latter was my
initial confidence that real Judy' resents the role of 'Madeleine', and
 VERTIGO 55

agrees to assume it anew only as a way to find Scottie's love. My con­

templation of the paradoxical nature of 'seeming' and 'being' for the
protagonists of Graham Greene (Berman, 1 9 9 5 ) , helped me realise that
for Hitchcock in this film, as for Greene in The Comedians, the nature of
the subject is enigmatic and far from firm certainty. I found Cohen's
comment about the viewer's yearning to find an authentic self ( 1 9 9 5 , p.
139) a good description of my initial experience.
Cohen's ( 1 9 9 5 ) analysis of the major difference between the firm
'Victorian' identity of L . B. Jeffries in Rear Window and the shaky iden­
tity of Scottie (both played by Stewart) points to the risk in equating
the two figures—and the two films—due to similarities of content
(voyeurism, rescue, disability) —see fig. 15 below: Scottie in the final
scene.

Such contents can be easily tied to Hitchcock's own pathology, as

suggested by Almansi ( 1 9 9 2 ) , in the tradition of psychoanalytic
pathography, which is characterised by an unacknowledged global
(counter)transference: artist and figures are seen as sick patients.
While Gabbard's ( 1 9 9 8 ) emphasis on object loss (a view congruent
56 EMANUEL BERMAN

with my own) radically differs from Mulvey's ( 1 9 7 5 ) emphasis on cas­

tration anxiety, they are both influenced by this pathographic tradi­
tion. Spitz comments: Tathography ... assumes that creative activity
does not represent for the artist a real "working through" of basic con­
flict ... This view severely limits the pathographer's capacity to deal
with aspects of creating that are relatively conflict-free ... [and] fails
to deal with those aspects of the artist's intention that arise in response
to the reality of the developing work itself ( 1 9 8 5 , pp. 5 1 - 2 ) .
In addition, I would argue, pathography alienates us from works of
art studied, allows a defensive distancing in which work and artist alike
are not us'. (Hitchcock or his envoy Scottie have voyeuristic needs; we
don't.) Therefore, it blinds us to the ways we could—as psychoana­
lysts—truly learn from art, rather than offer it our preconceived
understanding. Of course, creative and unconventional art has a better
potential to 'become our analyst' father than 'our disturbed patient'.
(When using these codes we should not forget how often we 'learn
from the patient', so that roles are reversed in the clinical situation as
well.) The comparison of Spellbound and Vertigo is useful here.
Spellbound ( 1 9 4 5 ) , while excellently crafted, is a deeply conven­
tional film. We cannot learn much from it, because it learned too
dutifully from us—namely, it offers a simplified version of an ana­
lytic cure through effective dream interpretation, all 'by the book'
(those books popular in the U S in the nineteen forties, in which
psychoanalysis was glorified as a cure-all). T h e destructive poten­
tial of the therapeutic encounter is split off into the demonic (male)
figure of 'the mad doctor', which leaves the idealised version of the
(female) analyst-rescuer-lover pure, effective (with the help of an
omniscient father-figure) and victorious. It's great entertainment,
 VERTIGO .>7
r

but a far cry from the complex emotional realities of actual analytic
practice.
Vertigo (1958) is in some ways its negative. It represents Hitch­
cock's artistic maturation, a freedom to cast doubt upon conventional
wisdoms, including the power of psychoanalytic interpretation as a
method of establishing objective reality, as well as a vehicle of rescue.
Like its predecessor, interpretation plays a major role, but—as I por­
trayed in the first part of this paper—a role that is illusory. In decon­
structing our rescue myth, Hitchcock gets closer to the subtle
emotional paradoxes and dilemmas that haunt all helping profes­
sions. 'Hitchcock's apparent loss of faith in the psychological power
of the truth revealed in dreams' actually allows him 'a much deeper
investigation of the dream substrate of waking life' (Palombo, 1987,
p. 52)—see fig. 16 below: Hitchcock in Vertigo.

Interpretation, of course, was not invented by Freud. In an

intriguing study comparing change processes in psychoanalysis and
in drama, Simon offers the following definition: 'Tragedy is that art
form which, by means of representation of significant human actions
58 EMANUEL BERMAN

... progressively analyzes and, by means of continuous interpretation

of those actions, painfully lays bare their range of meanings and
implications ... The inexorable and irreversible aspects of the trag­
edy are the correlates of the process of continuous misinterpretation'
(1985, p. 399). :
Simon gives several examples in which inexact and unempathetic
interpretations (e.g. by the chorus in Antigone, by the Fool in King Lear)
push the protagonists towards disaster. Indeed, Midge's interpretation
of Scottie's love for Madeleine can be seen as exactly this kind of inex­
act unempathetic interpretation, which alienates Scottie from Midge
and makes him utterly lonely; while Scottie's illusory omniscient inter­
pretation of Madeleine's dream plays a role in the process culminating
in Judy's death.
Related questions are raised by Jacobson (1989) in his re-evaluation
of Freud's and Jones's views of Hamlet While casting doubt on the
search for the play's hidden a priori meaning', Jacobson points out the
preoccupation of the play with the problems and pitfalls inherent in the
mutual interpretations offered by its protagonists to each other: A l l
the men and women in it do their best to understand the actions of
those with whom they are involved, as they have to. But what they
most effectively reveal to us in their attempts is—themselves ... It is
because we know our understanding to be so partial that we are bound
to attend as closely as we can to whatever is before us; and in so doing
to attend also to the terms in which we try to comprehend it ... This
... is true not only for the characters in the play, but also for each of its
readers ...'(1989,pp. 270-1).
So, while we will never reach a definitive interpretation of Vertigo's
meaning, this fascinating film can help us interpret ourselves, and
 VERTIGO 59

develop a finer understanding of our relations as psychoanalysts with

art, with our clinical work, and with ourselves.

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