Vertigo plot holes—and did Judy commit suicide at the end?
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We have to talk about them…there are just too many of them not to notice—call them plot holes, loose ends, script errors, whatever you like, but there are plenty of them in Vertigo (1958) starring James Stewart and Kim Novak.
Despite Vertigo being one of our favorite Hitchcock films, (perhaps his best!) It’s hard not to watch it and wonder about the loose ends that never get tied up. If you haven’t yet seen Vertigo, you’ll want to stop and watch it now before continuing.
How did Scottie get up from the rooftop in the beginning of the movie?
Johnny and Midge’s age difference
How did the real Madeline Die?
Did Kim Novak’s character Judy/Madeline commit suicide? Or did she just fall?
What happened to Gavin? Did the mastermind get away with his crime?
What happened to Midge? Did she and Scottie end up together?
Continue on to read more details along with our theories of what might’ve happened (don’t pretend like you don’t have your own theories!).
1st Vertigo plot hole: How did James Stewart’s character “Scottie” character get up from the rooftop in the beginning of the movie?
What happens
Vertigo’s opening scenes immediately captivates the audience as the the mysterious and haunting Vertigo Prelude and Rooftop music establishes the mystery and suspense as the camera springs to life in the midst of a dramatic rooftop chase scene between two policemen and a suspect.
Jimmy Stewart aka John 'Scottie' Ferguson comes on screen in hot pursuit and the audience leans forward to watch them jump and climb high above the ground. The suspect takes a daring jump from one building to another; the first policeman immediately follows, and then Scottie hesitates for a second and then also follows. Unable to catch his footing or grip on the rooftop tiles, he slips rapidly to the edge of the roof, until he is hanging suspended about 6 stories above the streets below clinging desperately to the gutter.
His fellow policeman comes back to try to lend a hand to Scottie to rescue him from his predicament, and loses his footing, falling to his death. This dramatic turn of events is what triggers Scottie’s vertigo, key to the plot of the movie.
James Stewart as Scottie begins to slip down the roof until he’s able to catch the gutter. The police officer that tries to help him up falls to his death, resulting in Scottie’s Vertigo
So, we see Scottie (James Stewart) hanging on for dear life suspended hundreds of feet in the air and then suddenly Hitchcock cuts scenes, and Scottie has somehow made it up from the rooftop and is now chatting with his friend Midge (played by Barbara Del Goddess) complaining about his Vertigo, his body “corset” (cast of sorts from his accident) and looking forward to throwing away ‘this miserable thing’ (referring to the the cane he is so adeptly swirling).
He’s chatting about what he’s going to do with his life now that he’s had to quit the police force, due to his fear of heights, this acrophobia, and how the acrophobia gives him vertigo and he gets dizzy. Honestly, the scene changes so abruptly from him hanging to him chatting in his friend’s apartment, you almost wonder for a moment, if the dramatic vertigo was just a dream.
“Acrophobia is an extreme or irrational fear or phobia of heights, especially when one is not particularly high up. It belongs to a category of specific phobias, called space and motion discomfort, that share both similar causes and options for treatment.”
The scene switches suddenly from this…
To this?
The question is--how in the world did he got off the ledge? Especially when we just saw the police man trying to help him up go over? Hitchcock--how could you leave us hanging like that?!
Let’s figure this out together, so, to set the scene, he’s hanging there fully suspended at arms length, with his strength slowing giving out.
Theory 1:
Jimmy Stewart did a pull up, heaved his entire body up over the sagging gutter and onto the clay roof tiles, where he was able to then scramble to a safe spot on the roof.
Given both his age (he was 50) and the close-up we see of his hands slipping and he’s basically only hanging from his fingers, we’re a bit skeptical of this theory.
Did Scottie do a finger pull-up at age 50?
Theory 2:
The suspect being chased, hears the one policeman fall to his death, has remorse as he realizes another policeman is about to fall to his death in his pursuit and comes back to get Scottie back to safety on top of the roof…we’re thinking he would’ve gotten a reduced sentence?
The fact that both he and James Stewart experienced this harrowing life and death experience together actually bonds the two of them together and they become lifelong friends. But we don’t see anything of this friend, so this theory is probably even less likely than the finger pull-up stunt.
Theory 3
Scottie has strong fingers and is able to hang there until help comes…maybe the police officer that rushed in and saw the body…what we’re wondering is, how many cops went over the edge before they could haul him up to safety? No wonder he got vertigo after that night!
What are your thoughts; which theory do you believe best explains for how Jimmy Stewart made it safely off the ledge? Let us know in the comments below!
2nd Vertigo plot hole: Johnny and Midge’s age difference
It’s implied that Johnny/Scottie and Midge are supposed to be around the same age. They mention briefly that were engaged during college, but, ahem, given that James Stewart aka Scott “Johnny” (as Midge calls him) looks his age at 50, whereas she looks closer to her thirties, we’re puzzling over how this makes sense. 🤔
Not sure what our theory is for this one, or if it’s just a casting mistake, but let’s see if we can make sense of it.
Theory 1:
There was a brief mention of his being a lawyer before wanting to be a Chief of Police, so maybe he in law school and she was freshman at college?
Maybe the law school was next to the campus and they met somehow that way?
Theory 2:
We’re reading into this whole perceived age difference. She is actually also his age or only a couple years younger and just has some great skincare or has gotten a facelift.
3rd Vertigo plot hole: How did the real Madeline die? Was she already dead when they threw her off?
So, how did the real Madeline die? Was she already dead when Tom Helmore’s character Gavin threw her from the bell tower? Or did the fall kill her?
We do hear a quick reference in the very end of the movie when Scottie is figuring out what is going on, where he concludes that Gavin had already broken Madeline’s neck before throwing her from the bell tower.
But, how exactly was this done?
Theory 1
Did Gavin come up behind her and simply break her neck before taking her up the bell-tower? Then he would have to carry her up all those stairs by himself? Or did he somehow get the wife up into the tower and somehow do it here? Kind of grisly to think about. Thanks, Hitchcock!
Theory 2
It must’ve been only shortly before Scottie chase Madeline up the stairs, because the Police did assume that that the fall was what had killed her…but then again when there have been witnesses that “see” someone commit suicide, do the Police really investigate the time of death? It wasn’t like they had Sherlock Holmes on the case!
Also, on a similar note, was the real Madeline aware her husband was plotting her murder? Or did she she happily follow him up the Bell Tower not suspecting a thing?
4th Vertigo Plot hole: Did Kim Novak’s character Judy/Madeline commit suicide? Or did she accidently fall?
First, we have to say how startling and sad the ending was to Vertigo, with Kim Novak aka Judy aka Madeline falling to her death from the bell tower. She did such a great job of making the audience really identify with her and her struggles, and she truly seemed to be in love with Scottie…not to mention Scottie, who basically lost his love twice during the film.
So, now that we’re past that, let’s talk about her death. There seems to be rumors that she committed suicide?
Umm…we’re not exactly sure where this theory comes from?
Let’s go over the scene to review what happened. First of all, although extremely reluctant and scared to death, Judy does confess along the frightful climb up the bell tower about her part of the plot. Although honestly, she sounds like just a pawn in Gavin’s master plan.
Once they’re at the top of the tower, she’s crouched near the window, frightened and feeling overrun with guilt when a nun comes out of the shadows and frightens her so that she falls backward out of the window. Maybe she thought it was the real Madeline coming back which is why she got so startled?
What do you think? Do you think she accidentally fell out of the window or did she intentionally jump?
Why did she Judy to die at the end of Vertigo?
We believe Hitchcock made her die, in the same way as the real Madeline died as punishment for her part in Madeline’s death. A sort of ‘punishment for her sins,’ so to speak. It also provided a dramatic twist to the story, and might be one of the reasons it’s considered one of his best films today.
Alternative ending idea
We would’ve loved it if Hitchcock had somehow concluded Vertigo with a happy ending. Couldn’t Judy have turned on her cohort Gavin, who was the mastermind of the entire thing and who had actually committed the murder in exchange for reduced sentence?
What are your thoughts; did Madeline/Judy (Kim Novak) have to die at the end of he movie, or had she paid enough penance?
5th Vertigo Plot Hole: What happened to Gavin? Did the mastermind get away with his part of the crime?
Gavin, (played by Tom Helmore) the real mastermind behind the murder of his wife, the real Madeline…what happened to him?
The last we see of him is after Madeline’s death. At Scottie’s trial, Gavin mentions to him that he’s going to go travel for a while. After all, now that his wife is dead, he has plenty of money…but then we never hear from him again. And in the end of the movie, it’s Judy that has to pay with her life for the murder she helped him commit.
Um, hello? Not sure about you but we would’ve much rather have seen him go off the bell tower rather than Judy.
Alternative ending
Gavin is afraid Judy is going to spill the whole plot to Scottie and tries to throw her off the Bell Tower but somehow goes over himself.
The last we see of Gavin is after Madeline’s death…Don’t shake his hand, Scottie!
6th Vertigo Plot hole: What happened to Midge? Did she and Scottie end up together?
We see Midge in the beginning of film quite a bit, then we see here again after Johnny’s trial when he is in the hospital…but then, after the tragedy and Kim Novak dies, what happens? I think we’re supposed to assume they ended up together—-or are we?
Come—on Hitchcock, you can do better with your endings! It seems like there is too much invested in Midge’s character for her to be just dropped near the end and there to be no continuation or conclusion to her part in the story.
Midge, jealous when she sees Madeline aka Judy leaving Scottie’s apartment at night.
Other posts you might like:
Vertigo Midge - The Most Underrated Female Character in Vertigo?
Other Vertigo plot holes?
What did you think of these plot holes from Vertigo? Where there any other ones that you noticed?
Do you agree with our theories on the possible outcomes?
Let us know in the comments below!
