Vertigo

A more disturbing image though has to be the number of eyes. Throughout Vertigo, the audience develops a shared position as the voyeur of Madeleine, and then of Judy. The close ups of Scotty’s eyes as he watches these women align the viewers with exactly what he is watching. The audience also hears discussions of looking/ watching, starting with the bra discourse in Midge’s apartment.

Here, Hitchcock primes the audience to watch, specifically women. This watching theme references Hitchcock’s own reflexivity, as it makes the audience acutely aware of observing Scotty, despite being aligned with him. We go to movies to watch the other characters, which is what is done here on screen, a fact that once exposed makes most people feel uncomfortable with their voyeurism. Scotty never catches the audience's eye (although Judy does) but Vertigo the movie stares back out at the spectator, returning our gaze as if in a mirror. The film has transformed itself into an image for the audience to look at and become obsessed with.