``Twelve Monkeys'' Genes of Hitchcock's ``Vertigo'' embedded in Gilliam's time travel

Behind the scenes, I became more and more ``Vertigo'' unconsciously.

Another masterpiece that is indispensable when discussing "Twelve Monkeys" is " Vertigo " (1958) directed by Alfred Hitchcock. If you have already seen "Twelve Monkeys", you will remember the part in the movie where the hero and heroine enter a theater where a Hitchcock film is being shown all night. This is the scene that takes place in the "Sequoia Forest" from "Vertigo".

In this scene, James Stewart and Kim Novak contemplate the shortness and transience of human life as they gaze at the rings of a tree stump. In fact, a similar scene of a giant sequoia tree was depicted in La Jetée, which was made four years The Day After, and this is no coincidence, but it seems that director Chris Marker was quoting Vertigo(*2). In other words, in this series of events, Twelve Monkeys is in a position of being a kind of grandson quote, but what is extremely distinctive about this film is that the scene itself is shown on the screen in a more direct way than in La Jetée.

“Twelve Monkeys” © Photofest / Getty Images

Even more interestingly, from this point on, Twelve Monkeys becomes more and more like Vertigo, as if expanding the level of intoxication and delusion. The scene where the heroine appears wearing a blonde wig is the culmination of Vertigo-like moments. In fact, the camerawork and editing rhythm here also unconsciously leaned towards something that was reminiscent of Vertigo, and Gilliam and his team were shocked when they realized this later.

Here is a direct quote from him to explain how he felt at the time.

"Without us even realizing it, Vertigo was remaking itself? We were sitting in the editing room, stunned. It was creepy." (*3)

*2 “Terry Gilliam/The filmmaker talks about himself” by Ian Christie, translated by Akiko Hiroki, Film Art Co., Ltd. (December 1999) p.309

*3 “Terry Gilliam/The filmmaker talks about himself” by Ian Christie, translated by Akiko Hiroki, Film Art Co., Ltd. (December 1999) p.311