MovieChat Forums > Vertigo (1958) Discussion > Other plotholes

Other plotholes

posted 10 years ago by CharlesTheBold
8 replies | jump to latest

I'm one of those that are fascinated by the artistry of the movie, but can still see plotholes. I have several that haven't been mentioned yet.

(1) What was the real Madeleine doing while Scottie was trailing the fake one? Wasn't there too much danger of her seeing Judy dressed as her, or Scottie seeing both women and realizing the impersonation scheme?

(2) HOw is Elstir sure that Scotty would take Madeleine to the mission? In the movie, the fake Madeleine describes the place as a dream, and Scotty recognizes the description and decides to take her there. If Scotty hadn't recognized it, the whole scheme would have fallen through.

(3) Was the real Madeleine still alive when Elstir took her up to the belfry? If not, how could he take a body in and up without somebody seeing him and getting suspicious? If she was alive, didn't Elstir have the risk that Madeleine might scream at a time Judy was still with Scotty, again ruining the entire plan?

(4) Even if Elstir wanted to dump Judy in the long run, wouldn't it have made more sense for him to get her out of San Francisco, lest Scottie met her ( as he does)?

[–] DerKommissar_2525 10 years ago

-The real Madeleine didn't come to town often.
-Elster knew Scottie, and Scottie is a former detective. Keep feeding him clues (like they did, she came over to his place and started blabbering about the dream again) and he'll eventually figure out where it is.
-That place wasn't exactly crawling with people everywhere... / or he killed or knocked her out before she could scream.
-Maybe he assumed she'd be sensible and leave SF on her own.

[–] movieghoul 10 years ago

1. Judy's flashback monologue clearly states that Madeleine was a recluse living in the country.

2. Good question, but presumably a lifelong resident of SF would be familiar with the mission.

3. Another good quesitonl. Madeleine was definitely dead; it would have been risky to try to get her to go to the top of the tower - what if she refused? But then again a lot of Elster's "perfect" murder plot defies logic.

4. I don't think Elster was too worried about Scottie meeting Judy because it would be hard to prove anything - also, he probably didn't realize just how bad Scottie's obsession would get.

[–] macfilm 10 years ago

Well, I think one of the biggest plotholes in the movie was there never being a picture of Elster's wife being available....in the newspapers, during the presumable police investigation, or at the inquest.

Surely the publicity over the death of Elster's wife would have included a picture of the REAL wife, and not Kim Novak's Madeleine character.

And even if there were no pictures in the paper, wouldn't the inquest have pictures of her available? Wouldn't the police....and Scotty was a former police officer....have a picture of the real wife, and wouldn't Scotty have seen it? And wouldn't Scotty then know that it was not Kim Novak who fell off the tower?

[–] RoyalAllure 10 years ago

People are always trying to pick the plot apart but there are NO plotholes.

You, a salty water ocean wave.
Knock, me down and kiss my face.

[–] screwballl 10 years ago

You just have low standards.

[–] Erniesam 9 years ago

I don't see the points the OP mentioned as plotholes to be honest. Elstir's wife lived out of town, Scotty knew the surroundings of SF and Madeleine told him the dream at least twice. Elstir knew Judy couldn't talk, because she is an accomplish. And Elstir took his wife on a trip to this monastery. Why wouldn't his wife go up the tower with him? And if she would not he could have killed her in that church in a dark corner somewhere.

Still, as one poster has mentioned here: there would have been pictures of Elstir's wife in the papers or at least in the police report. The only danger for Elstir is that Scotty would see the pictures, cause he's the only one who thinks Judy is Madeleine. It is possible that Scotty did not see the report, since he's so devastated by it (while people around him think it is because of guilt, while in reality it is because of a broken heart and spirit).

[–] siltom1962 8 years ago

There are plot-holes in all of Hitchcock's movies. He didn't care a fig about logic, and especially in this one. It's a poetic meditation on the nature of obsession.

[–] billybizar 8 years ago

You are so wrong. There are no plotholes whatsoever. You just don't understand this kind of movies.