Vertigo – Alfred Hitchcock, 1958

Seamstress (lingerie designer) and artist Midge Wood is among his few close friends. The two had a brief romantic relationship in the past. One day, the ex-cop is contacted by an old friend from his youth, Gavin Elster, who wants to commission him for a job as a detective. Gavin is concerned about the strange behavior of his wife Madeleine, and asks Scottie to keep an eye on her, following her discreetly. The woman frequently disappears around town, when she returns she does not remember where she has been, she is listless, melancholy and absent, sometimes falling into trance-like states. Gavin is convinced that Madeleine is being parasitized by an evil spectral force. The detective, more rational and pragmatic, does not believe in such “fables” and thinks rather that he should see a psychiatrist.

At first Scottie is reluctant to undertake the task, reluctantly agreeing and only to do his friend a favor. But soon the job begins to obsess him. He begins to follow the beautiful Madeleine by car all over San Francisco. She buys flowers, goes to a cemetery and lays them at the grave of a certain Carlota Valdes. Then she goes to a museum, sits before the oil portrait of a lady and stares at the painting for hours. Scottie finds out that the woman in the painting is named… Carlota Valdés.

He later follows her to a hotel. The lady at the reception informs the policeman that the young woman is a regular customer of the establishment, usually coming two or three times a week. When the officer asks for the name under which she is registered, the answer does not surprise him too much: “Carlota Valdés”.

With the help of his friend Midge and a French bookseller she knows, the detective discovers that this Carlota was a Spanish woman who lived in San Francisco in the previous century and who went mad and ended up committing suicide in her youth.

After further inquiries, and after speaking with Gavin, it also comes to light that Carlota was a great-grandmother of Madeleine. Everything indicates that little by little the spirit of Carlota is taking possession of her great-granddaughter. Scottie thinks it must be a case of suggestion, that Madeleine is under the influence of the stories told in the family. But Gavin assures her that his wife has never heard of her great-grandmother; the link between the two is instinctive, it is in the blood and at the same time it comes from the “Beyond”.

On another day, after leaving the museum, Scottie follows Madeleine into San Francisco Bay. There he watches in terror as the woman dives into the water. But the detective dives in after her and manages to rescue her. He takes her home, and when Madeleine comes to, she remembers nothing. She also doesn’t remember being in the museum, and in fact claims never to have been inside.

Gavin calls on the phone and Scottie succinctly fills him in on what just happened. “Madeleine is now 26 years old. Carlota committed suicide at 26…” says Gavin in anguish. As the two talk, Madeleine leaves Scottie’s house without saying goodbye.

But she returns the next day to thank him. Scottie and Madeleine go together to a redwood grove outside of town, and a mutual attraction begins to grow between them. She confesses to him that she often has visions of death. She seems to sense that she is fated to die soon, and is plagued by virulent suicidal impulses. He vows to protect her and to always be by her side. The two fall in love and end up kissing passionately.

Meanwhile, Midge is slightly jealous of Scottie’s long absences. To try to get his attention again, she paints an oil portrait of herself as Charlotte. But this has the opposite effect, for when the detective sees the painting he leaves in disgust.

Early the next morning, Madeleine comes to Scottie’s house after having a nightmare. Describing the building where she was during the dream, the detective recognizes it: it is an old Spanish convent (the “Mission San Juan Bautista”) on the outskirts of San Francisco. The two head there. Scottie seeks to employ rational therapeutic methods to cure her, confronting her directly with her fears.

Once there, however, she insists on entering the church alone. By the time Scottie understands why, it is too late: Madeleine climbs the tall bell tower with the intention of throwing herself off. To save her, the detective’s vertigo will once again be a tough obstacle…