The Three-Act Structure

     Let us observe Hollywood's three-act structure, and how it applies to Alfred Hitchcock's suspenseful masterpiece, Vertigo.
     The first act of Vertigo is the introduction to the film's story; it establishes how our protagonist, played by Jimmy Stewart, explores and discovers the character of a mysterious married woman, played by Kim Novak. To start off the film, Stewart, a retired detective with a paralyzing fear of heights, is informed by his friend that the woman is behaving strangely, and that her behavior must somehow be secretly monitored to unearth a mysterious secret. This sense of mystery propels the story forward - the audience observes the woman's strange behavior, and, like Stewart, cannot discern what secret might explain her actions. The woman's behavior grows more and more blatantly mysterious, and meanwhile, various possible connections begin to arise between her identity and her actions. Eventually, the woman jumps into the bay as if to drown herself, causing Stewart to come to her rescue; this serves as the film's first plot point. It wraps up the segment of the film in which Stewart approaches her mysterious lifestyle, and propels the film forward into a newfound relationship between the two characters. The first act of this movie is somewhat slower and longer than many conventional first acts, ranging from forty to fifty minutes; this slowness builds upon the mystery and the tantalizing nature of Novak's strange lifestyle.
     The second act of Vertigo introduces unnerving complications to the two characters' relationship. Throughout this act, Stewart begins to discover Novak's uncanny identity crisis, meanwhile falling in love with the woman. Because the woman is married, and because the love is stifled beneath a sense of confusion and insanity, this peculiar romance serves as a complication to both characters. Neither Stewart or Novak are entirely comfortable in advancing the strange and secretive relationship, allowing a disconcerting tension for the audience. This tension builds up to the film's second plot point - the woman's madness eventually causes her to throw herself off the top of a bell tower, which Stewart, because of his fear of heights, is guiltily unable to prevent. Thus begins the movie's final act, in which Stewart must wage a mental war against his error and his guilt.
     The supposed suicide serves as a mental annihilation for Stewart, whose twisted affection and irreversible guilt stifle his ability to socially function. Therefore, throughout the final act of the film, Stewart takes the necessary actions to mentally fulfill and avenge himself, allowing for a mysterious kind of resolution, albeit tragic and twisted. Stewart tracks down a woman who is a stranger, claiming that the stranger bears a striking resemblance to his lost love. Although reluctant at first, the woman agrees to have dinner with him, seemingly satisfying a mental agitation in her admirer. As Stewart changes the woman more and more to increase her uncanny resemblance, the truth is eventually revealed - that this woman is, in fact, the person that he fell in love with, and that the woman who died was the victim of a planned murder. Thus, Stewart is compelled to revisit the scene of the death, recreating his opportunity to save her life. Although this woman, like the other, falls off of the bell tower to her death, Stewart silences the sense of mental incompleteness by allowing her to die;  he has come to a state of mental resolution, despite all the complications of anguish and insanity. Therefore, the scene of the woman's death serves as the film's climax. After so many questions and strange emotions of identity and love, the woman rests in peace, as well as Stewart's confusion and guilt.