Judy

Ironically, while the powerful Woman plays such a large role in Vertigo, the general audience, on primary viewing, ignores the female perspective. While so many of the shots are point of view for Scotty, there are only a handful which could be from the Madeleine/Judy character. The solidarity with which we see through Scotty’s eyes gives us a ground to root ourselves in, but shakes the audience up more when that identification is disrupted. The introduction of Judy’s point of view creates greater preparation for viewers to identify with her through the love scene music in the last quarter of the film.