Vertigo (1958)

Kim Novak: Madeleine Elster, Judy Barton

Photos 

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Quotes 

• Scottie : Don't you think its kind of a waste for the two of us...

  Madeleine : To wander separately? But, only one is a wanderer; two together are always going somewhere.

• Madeleine : [pointing to the margin of a cross-section of a Sequoia who had lived for over a thousand years]  Here I was born, and there I died. It was only a moment for you; you took no notice.

• Scottie : I hope we will, too.

  Madeleine : What?

  Scottie : Meet again sometime.

  Madeleine : We have.

• Judy : If I let you change me, will that do it? If I do what you tell me, will you love me?

  Scottie : Yes. Yes.

  Judy : All right. All right then, I'll do it. I don't care anymore about me.

• Judy : Couldn't you like me, just me the way I am? When we first started out, it was so good; w-we had fun. And... and then you started in on the clothes. Well, I'll wear the darn clothes if you want me to, if, if you'll just, just like me.

  Scottie : The color of your hair...

  Judy : Oh, no!

  Scottie : Judy, please, it can't matter to you.

• Scottie : I love you, Madeleine.

  Madeleine : I love you, too. It's too late.

  Scottie : No, no, we're together.

  Madeleine : It's too late. There's something I must do...

  Scottie : [kisses her passionately]  No, there is nothing you must do. There is nothing you must do. No one possesses you. You're safe with me.

  Madeleine : [frantically]  No, it's too late

  [Madeleine breaks free and runs across the courtyard. Scottie trails behind her, eventually catching up to her. He holds her tightly] 

  Madeleine : Look, it's not fair. It's too late. It wasn't supposed to happen this way. It *shouldn't* have happened...

  Scottie : But it had to happen. We're in love. That's all that counts!

  Madeleine : [struggling]  Look. Let me go! Please let me go!

  Scottie : Listen to me. Listen to me.

  Madeleine : [calmly]  You believe I love you?

  Scottie : Yes.

  Madeleine : And if you lose me, then you'll know I, I loved you. And I wanted to go on loving you.

  Scottie : I won't lose you.

  Madeleine : Let me go into the church - alone.

  Scottie : Why?

  [they kiss for the last time. Scottie releases his grip and Madeleine walks away towards the bell tower] 

• Judy : SPOILER

  [Writing a letter] 

  Judy : Dearest Scottie... and so you found me. This is the moment that I dreaded and hoped for - wondering what I would say and do if ever I saw you again. I wanted so to see you again just once. Now I'll go and you can give up your search.

  [pause] 

  Judy : I want you to have peace of mind. You've nothing to blame yourself for. You were the victim. I was the tool and you were the victim of Gavin Elster's plan to murder his wife. He chose me to play the part because I looked like her; he dressed me up like her. He was quite safe because she lived in the country and rarely came to town. He chose you to be the witness to a suicide. The Carlotta story was part real, part invented to make you testify that Madeleine wanted to kill herself. He knew of your illness; he knew you'd never get up the stairs to the tower. He planned it so well; he made no mistakes.

  [pause] 

  Judy : I made the mistake. I fell in love. That wasn't part of the plan. I'm still in love with you, and I want you so to love me. If I had the nerve, I'd stay and lie, hoping that I could make you love me again, as I am for myself... and so forget the other and forget the past. But I don't know whether I have the nerve to try...

  [She pauses for a long time, then stands and tears up the letter] 

• Madeleine : Oh Scottie. I'm not mad. I'm not mad. I don't want to die. There's someone within me and she says I must die. Oh Scottie, don't let me go.

  Scottie : I'm here. I've got you.

  Madeleine : I'm so afraid.

  [Scottie and Madeleine kiss] 

  Madeleine : Don't leave me. Stay with me.

  Scottie : All the time.

• Madeleine : There is something I must do, there is something I must do.

  Scottie : There is nothing you must do. There is nothing you must do.

• Madeleine : [to Scottie]  Why? 'Cause I remind you of her? It's not very complimentary.

• Scottie : I'm responsible for you now. You know, the Chinese say that once you have saved a person's life, you're responsible for it forever. And so I'm committed. And I have to know.

  Madeleine : So little do I know. It is as though I were walking down a long corridor that - that once was mirrored, and fragments of that mirror still hang there. And when I come to the end of the corridor, there's nothing but darkness. And I know that when I walk into the darkness, that I'll die.

• Judy : There. I'm ready. But, first, muss me a little.

  [kisses Scottie] 

  Judy : Oh, Scottie. I do have you now, don't I?

• Scottie : Can I ask you a couple of questions?

  Judy : What for? Who are you?

  Scottie : My name's John Ferguson.

  Judy : Is this some kind of Gallup poll?

• Scottie : You remind me of somebody.

  Judy : I heard that one before, too. I remind you of someone you used to be madly in love with, but she ditched you for another guy, and you've been carrying the torch ever since, and you saw me and something clicked. Huh?

  Scottie : You're not far wrong.

  Judy : Well, it's not going to work.

• Judy : Do you live here in the hotel?

  Scottie : No, I happened to see you when you came in, so, I thought I'd...

  Judy : Yeah, I thought so. A pick-up! Well, you've got a nerve. Follow me right into the hotel and up to my room! Now, you beat it! Go on and beat it!

• Judy : I'm just a girl. I work at Magnin's.

• Judy : I warn you, I can yell awfully loud.

  Scottie : You won't have to.

  Judy : Well, you don't look very much like Jack the Ripper.

• Judy : I have to go to work. I've got a job.

  Scottie : Don't go to your job.

  Judy : And what'll I live on? My oil wells in Texas?

  Scottie : Let me take care of you, Judy.

  Judy : Thanks very much, but, no thanks.

  Scottie : No, Judy, you don't understand.

  Judy : Well, I understand, all right. I've been understanding since I was seventeen. And the next step is?

• Judy : Gee, you have got it bad, haven't cha? Do I really look like her?

• Scottie : I need you.

  Judy : Why?

  Scottie : I need you to be Madeleine for awhile.

• Scottie : Come here.

  Judy : Oh, no. You'll muss me.

  Scottie : Well, that's what I had in mind. Come here.

  Judy : Too late. I got my face on.

• 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...

• Judy : You want to check my thumbprints?

• Judy : Dinner and what else?

  Scottie : Just dinner.

  Judy : Cause I remind you of her?

  Scottie : Because I'd like to have dinner with you.

  Judy : Well, I've been on blind dates before. A matter of fact, to be honest, I've been picked up before. Okay.

• Scottie : We could just see a lot of each other.

  Judy : Why? Because I remind you of her? Not very complementary. And nothing else?

  Scottie : No.

  Judy : Not very complementary, either.

• Judy : You satisfied? And whether you're satisfied or not, you can just beat it!

• Judy : Scottie, why are we here?

  Scottie : I told you. I have to go back into the past once more. Just, once more. For the last time.