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…
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
1
Introduction and
Background - Setup
The 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.
2
The Madeleine Elster
Narrative – Conflict
The 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…
3
The Judy Barton
Narrative –
Resolution
Background of Judy
Scottie and Judy meet
Scottie makeover Judy to look like
Madeleine
Judy 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?
Francois Truffaut called Vertigo, “a filmed dream”
Certainly, there are several dreamlike elements that inform the film’s structure
and tone
“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.
1. Equilibrium
2. A disruption of this Equilibrium
by an event
3. A realization that a disruption
has occurred
4. An attempt to repair the damage
of the equilibrium
5. Restoration of equilibrium –
which may result in a new
equilibrium.
Is what is happening real or just an
illusion?