Love and Deception
Alfred Hitchcock can easily be titled as one of the best motion picture directors of all time. His movies are entertaining and suspenseful allowing the audience to become fully embraced and have sympathy toward the characters. Two wonderful films that I have chosen to analyze are “Notorious” and “Vertigo.” Although these films have entirely different plots, the two share many underlying themes, two of which stand out in my eyes; love and deception.
A recurring theme in each movie is love and romance. “Notorious” has three main characters which are Devlin (played by Carey Grant), Alicia (played by Ingrid Bergman), and Alex (played by Claude Rains). Devlin and Alicia fall in love along their journey in Rio de Janiero, she is head over heels in love with him; however Devlin is a very stubborn man and does not confess that he is in love with her until one of the last scenes in the film. Alicia is lying on her death bed after she has been poisoned by her husband and mother-in-law. Devlin pays a visit to her home after he has had no contact with her for several days. He goes upstairs to find her bedridden and deathly sick. He says to her, “I was getting out because I love you. I couldn’t bear seeing you and him together.” She is so moved and touched by this because she has waited so long to hear those words from him she says, “You love me. You love me” very passionately. This is a relief to the audience as Alicia desperately wants to hear him say those three little words, and he finally does.
The movie “Vertigo” is a little trickier, but the love theme remains very strong throughout this story. There are three main characters in this film which are John “Scottie” Ferguson (played by James Stewart) and Madeleine Elster and Judy Barton (played by Kim Novak). Scottie is a retired detective hired to follow Madeleine because her husband believes that she is possessed by her great-grandmother Carlotta Valdes (we find out a twist to this story later on in the film). After saving Madeline’s life from almost drowning in the San Francisco bay Scottie falls in love with her and her with him. He feels that he must take her under his care and protect her, as if it is his duty. The first time that reveals their love toward one another is when they are at Cypress Point by the ocean; this scene is very romantic. The two are embraced by one another when Scottie says, “I’m here, I got you” and Madeline says, “I’m so afraid.” It is then that they share their very first romantic kiss with the ocean crashing in the background. The audience is able to feel their love at his moment.
The other underlying theme that these two films share is deception/trust. In “Notorious” Alicia deceives her husband Alex by going undercover as a spy. When he realizes this, he