![]() So much of what he falls for is a tale he’s being told. Scottie knows very little about who Madeleine is, and yet he becomes mesmerized by her from the smallest details…the way she wears her hair, her mysterious daily rituals. “Vertigo,” as a story, offers a unique perspective on the nature of Love. Death and Time…and against these, the story seems to say, stands only Love. Distantly, hauntedly, she delivers an apostrophe to a section of felled tree, touching the rings that mark the centuries of its life: “Here I was born…and there I died…it was only a moment for you…you took no notice.” Moments later, she and Scottie kiss against the backdrop of the ocean, the crashing force of the waves reminding us of a timelessness beyond the redwoods. Along these lines, my mind is always drawn to the scene among the redwoods, those symbols of immortal time, where Madeleine (Kim Novak) tells Scottie (Jimmy Stewart) about her past life. The film captured my imagination with its romance and profundity. It was right before my first trip to California, at 17, that I saw Alfred Hitchcock’s “Vertigo” for the first time. My sister became a screenwriter, while I became a story analyst for Netflix. Ultimately, she inspired us to pursue storytelling careers in Hollywood. She would take my sister and me to plays and art house movies in places like New York and London she would read to us, as children, the classics and encourage us to break down the characters and themes. “Not for a very long time,” I decided, meant effectively, “Never.”įrom these early days on, it was my mother, a National-Magazine-Award-winning writer, who taught me my love of story. The inexplicable horror my young mind felt at imagining the prospect! She was quick to allay my concerns: “Not for a very long time, of course.” I wrestled with the thought for a minute or two, and, overwhelmed, I gradually had to set it aside. I don’t remember what led into it, but the topic of death came up and she gently mentioned, “You know, one day I’m going to die, right?” I remember being awed by the unfathomable magnitude of mid-town, buildings taller than the tallest trees, alongside an observation my mother made. One of my earliest memories is of my mother taking me into Manhattan from Brooklyn one gloomy morning, on a subway train crossing the East River. Kim Novak (in two roles) and Jimmy Stewart in “Vertigo.” PHOTO: PHOTOFEST ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |