2. FM4 – SECTION C
CLOSE STUDY
HITCHCOCK’S VERTIGO

3. Exam requirements
• Section C: Single Film – Critical Study (A01 and A02,
30 marks)
– One question to be answered from a choice of two
questions general to all films and
– a specific question set for each film prescribed.

4. Vertigo’s canonical status
• What is a canon?
• rules or principles established as valid and fundamental in a field or art
or philosophy
• Examples that are deemed by critics to meet those rules and principles
then take on canonical status
• What is a film canon?
• A limited group of films that serve as the measuring stick for the highest
quality in the genre of film.
• Chosen by critics and therefore elitist but, different groups of critics will
have different opinions
• Why has Vertigo achieved canonical status?
• Seen to exemplify the achievements of studio system Hollywood film
production
• Mastering of film form - camerawork, editing, special effects, score and
use of mise-en-scene
• Complexity of narrative, plot and themes

5. Key Issues
– Historical context
– Narrative structure
– Characters
– Key sequences
– Film form – especially cinematography (pure cinema) & mise-en-
scene
– Key debates we will consider in the unit:
• Spectatorship
• Critical Reception
• Film canon
• Representation of men and women
• Scottie as everyman
• Feminist & Psychoanalytical theory
• Marxist theory – the film and it’s stars as a cultural commodity but
deeper messages about class, gender and ethnicity
• Auteur Theory

6. What you need to do...
• Knowledge of some of the different critical responses provoked by
the chosen film
• an appreciation of the film’s status from a consensus view that it is:
– stylistically innovative
– a significant auteur work, or
– a major contribution to the way we think theoretically about film.
• Understanding of the issues underlying diverse critical reception:
– theme
– Style
– structure.
• An appreciation of how one or more critical approaches has enhanced
understanding and appreciation of the chosen film.