If you thought you had moved past the times your parents would sit you down to watch a funny puppet show (which ended up scarring you, naturally), I am dragging you back into the abyss. And that is through Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo.
Vertigo tells the story of Scottie Ferguson (James Stewart), a former police officer forced into early retirement due to his debilitating acrophobia (fear of heights). He is approached by Gavin Elster (Tom Helmore) who hires him to follow his wife, Madeleine (Kim Novak), claiming she is behaving strangely and may be possessed by the spirit of a dead woman. What begins as a seemingly straightforward investigation soon unravels into a series of sinister events.
Hitchcock uses elements of the film noir genre in his movie: the contrast between bright and dim lighting, a cynical protagonist, the ghostly possession. Yet, these elements are not solely used to fit in the bounds of the genre. They also open the way for genre-defying interpretations, whether feminist or Freudian. The frame of analysis I am choosing today is the one of puppet theater.
There are recurring themes in puppet theater: manipulation (through the strings that control the dolls), artifice (as the dolls are made to seem like real characters with genuine stories), and claustrophobia (with a tight stage framing that creates a sense of entrapment). These themes loom large in Vertigo, where the entire city of San Francisco is turned into a stage where women are puppets and Scottie and Galvin pull the strings.
The film’s framing and set design create a world where agency is limited. The film’s most iconic scenes of Scottie in the car, tracing Madeleine’s footsteps throughout San Francisco in the car create a sense of entrapment, framing him with the car roof just above his head and the vehicle’s sides pressing in. The tight close-ups are claustrophobic, like the boxed-in effect of a puppet theater’s stage. This motif is also visible in the flower shop scene of the movie. As Scottie follows Madeleine, he moves through a dark alley and looks into the shop’s interior. Although it is an open space, his limited perspective from the doorway restricts his view. The scene’s contrast, vibrant colors framed by the dark entryway, reinforces the impression that Scottie’s perspective is restricted, as if he is looking through a peephole into an artificial world—like looking at a puppet show. Even the setting of San Francisco itself serves as a stage, its geography creating the illusion of a large city that despite its openness, paradoxically confines Scottie. The hills and rooftops aren’t just scenery. They’re like walls closing in, constantly reminding Scottie of his vertigo and boxing him into a trap he can’t escape.
Now that the setting is established, the action comes in. Vertigo’s master puppeteer is Gavin, who orchestrates an elaborate scheme that uses Scottie and Judy as pawns. His goal is to make Scottie believe he unwillingly killed Madeleine, to cover up the actual murder. In disguising Judy’s identity, paying her to impersonate Madeleine, , Gavin himself directs his own drama, complete with costumes, and a fabricated backstory. He is the one pulling the strings. Ernie’s restaurant, with its deep red interiors, even reminds us of a theater set.. Hitchcock’s clever framing keeps Gavin in the shadows during the climactic bell tower scene, emphasizing his role as master manipulator.
Scottie later becomes a puppeteer too, as he obsessively tries to recreate Madeleine through Judy. After Madeleine’s apparent death, Scottie attempts to transforms Judy into the woman he lost, forcing her to adopt Madeleine’s identity in an attempt to reclaim control over his life. Scottie’s manipulation of Judy goes beyond simple obsession: he picks her clothes and dictates her appearance. When she confronts him for how strange it is (because it is), he pulls one of these “why don’t you do it for me?” lines. This displays the very way in which women are treated in this movie: as disposable objects, moved around by men who think they know best. Gavin uses Judy as a prop in his scheme, casting her aside once she’s played her part. Scottie obsessively tries to recreate Madeleine. Even the name “Judy” might be a nod to the famous Punch and Judy puppet shows. The only woman in the film who stays out of this nightmare is Midge (Barbara Bel Geddes), an awesome badass who designs bras and lives in an eclectic apartment, who sees the control game for what it is and stays out of it, but at the cost of being alone.
Hitchcock’s use of puppeteering conventions is central to his exploration of the tension between power and freedom. He draws upon puppeteering to highlight how people often seek control over others when they feel powerless in other aspects of their lives. Both Scottie and Gavin, when confronted with forces beyond their control—Gavin over his personal life and Scottie over his acrophobia— turn to manipulation as a way of asserting dominance elsewhere. Through these dynamics, Hitchcock shows that when people face aspects of life that make them feel powerless, they may seek to dominate others as a compensatory mechanism. In Vertigo, this urge for control ultimately proves destructive, breaking the humanity of both the puppet and the puppeteer.