Trevor O'Brien (bohemeidentite)

There is so much to say, but perhaps my favorite thing about the film is that is upsets a whole spectrum of viewers' sensibilities. The left-wingers call it "a paranoid right-wing fantasy" and the right-wingers have said that it was "masochistic masturbation for liberals." My father said that the film destroyed his faith in humanity, and my mother turned it off during the rape scene. My ex girlfriend said I was "sick and in need of help" for loving it. There are so many nuanced moments in the film that do not translate as well through the source material. The film managed to taint the song "Singin' in the Rain" in the same way that Beethoven's music is tainted for Alex. The vibrant colors are a psychotic backdrop against the dark palette of the human psyche. McDowell portrays a sinister character with sinister subtlety in a ne'er subtle film. Probably the most unanimously despised/revered film in the history of film criticism. Its genius is timeless, its timelessness is genius.

They can imitate it, but every other psych-drama crumbles in the shadow of Vertigo's greatness. In fact, every suspense film made before this 1958 masterpiece feels like a college student thesis climbing a slope to meet it.