Ecstasy: Necrophilia and the Overcoming of Male Crisis

Erna 2021-10-18 19:50:32

French director Chris Mark once made a wonderful discussion on Hitchcock's masterpiece "Victorius": the hero's fear of heights not only has a spatial dimension, but is also a kind of vertigo in time. The male protagonist standing on the tower of time is dragged down by the shadow of the past, and he can liberate himself only after he solves the demon.

This analysis of Mark means that he sees the romantic elements in the film. Characters' avatars, reality and mirror images, and sense of sin are all common motives in romantic literature. If we carefully observe the time structure of the film, we will see the romanticism in it: the time axis breaks at a certain sudden point, and the shadows of the past linger in the present.

Surrounding the male protagonist, the "three" female characters of the film form a perfect correspondence in the first and second half of the film. Scotty is attracted by Madeleine because she is very similar to Carlotta in the past; Scotty pursues Judy because she looks the same as the dead Madeleine. No wonder the word "necrophilia" can be seen everywhere in the analysis of this film, Scottie seems to always fall in love with a dead woman.

"Freedom and power", Mark's analysis pointed out what the two male protagonists in the film are seeking together. In the good old days, men had so much freedom and so much power. This power naturally overrides women, and this freedom also refers to the shaping of women by men. And now? Scottie, who suffered a male crisis at a high place, can only obtain this kind of power and freedom in his own imagination. After all, only a dead woman can be imagined before she can break out of the frame of the male gaze and transform from a cold corpse into a beautiful woman, before shedding the green mystery coat and putting on a fiery red sleep robe.

(The theme of male crisis is not an over-interpretation, but is inherent in the structure of the film. The address of the male is marked by a spire, and when Madeleine died, the camera of the film did not deliberately raise the actor first. In front of the obelisk, shake to the left to let him face Madeleine’s unfathomable tomb.)

In the end, the past in the film has become a subjective kingdom, and the subject can freely fabricate a past out of thin air to deceive or self-deceive. The two male characters are in a competitive relationship: who has the ultimate creative power over this woman? In the end, only when the illusion fades and the subject has to use a cautious look to see that the past is nothing but constructed by himself, all traumas and crises can be resolved. A woman who is an illusion must fall so that a man will not fall into the abyss of the past.

Sartre has said: The other is hell. From this point of view, the ultimate other in "Victorius" is the past time. Because it no longer exists in the past, it is completely heterogeneous to the subject. Scott's eyes on women are also on his own past. While using male gaze to try to approve women as others, he is also trying to use his subjective power to freely shape the past. It is in the subject's gaze, in the process of the subject assimilating the other, that the dizziness of time occurs. Please pay attention to the beginning of the movie. The pale picture of a dead body suddenly turns blood red as the eyes are opened. At this moment, a spiral line slowly rises from the pupils, inviting us audiences to look at this blonde girl with our eyes. , While falling freely with the actor.

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Extended Reading
  • Rowan 2021-10-20 19:01:06

    Infinite possibilities in the last 8 minutes

  • Liana 2022-03-23 09:01:09

    95/100, the text has reached its peak. From the beginning, it has been relying on the line of sight to formulate the conditions for advancing the story. The sense of suspense has been lingering, and the image energy has continued to flow. The ultimate theme of the film is "desire". In a complete murder plan, "love" becomes a destructive factor. A large number of subjective shots in the first half show the desire to "snoop" and complete the reversal of perspective after the death event. The first appearance of the Bell Tower play Dolly Zoom is a monument in film history. The lens exudes rich colors, the swirling vertigo sensory experience, the magnificent part of the dream, and the accurate soundtrack. The absurd ending was unexpected and extremely impactful. Completely conquered by Hitchcock! //2019.10.30 The author's film class revisited. There is no doubt that one of the greatest movies in the history of film, the top ten private film history.

Vertigo quotes

  • Scottie: I'm not telling you what I think! I'm telling you what *he* thinks!

  • Scottie: What are you thinking?

    Madeleine: Of all the people who have been born and have died while the trees went on living.

    Scottie: Their true name is Sequoia Sempervirens: always green, ever- living.

    Madeleine: I don't like them.

    Scottie: Why?

    Madeleine: Knowing I have to die...