Vertigo is a 1958 psychological thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring James Stewart and Kim Novak and costars Barbara Bel Geddes. The film, which was written by Alec Coppel and Samuel A. Taylor, based on a novel by Boileau-Narcejac, tells the story of a retired detective who falls in love with a younger mysterious woman whom he is hired to follow, later to discover that she is not who she claimed to be. Although it received mixed reviews on its first release, the film has since gained in esteem and is frequently ranked among the best films ever made.

“Hitchcock's film is about obsession, which means that it's about circling back to the same moment, again and again ... And the music is also built around spirals and circles, fulfilment and despair. Herrmann [the composer] really understood what Hitchcock was going for — he wanted to penetrate to the heart of obsession.”
-Martin Scorcese