Comment

When Scottie sees Judy put on Madeliene’s necklace he realises all of a sudden that Madeleine’s death was staged and that the woman beside him is nothing but an actress in this mad situation where a murder is disguised as a suicide.

The flip lasts a millisecond but is clearly marked by the choices Hitchcock makes to shows it to us. There is a double take on the actor’s face, followed by a significant and noticeable zoom at the exact moment where he sees the necklace, then we are shown a flashback focusing on the necklace in the portrait of Carlotta in the museum, then we return to James Stewart’s face in close up. This final flip is accompanied by underlying dramatic music which starts on the close up of the necklace. This is a moment of personal revelation for Scottie, as the audience has known the truth of the situation since the middle of the film, but this is the moment when he himself finally realises what is going on. Both the audience and the character’s understanding of the situation come together at this moment, flipping the narrative and propelling the film towards both its end and Judy’s death.