Alexandre O. Philippe, director of the new documentary Kim Novak’s Vertigo, revealed at the Sedona International Film Festival that he and Novak held a seance less than two weeks ago to try to contact Alfred Hitchcock, Novak’s director on the 1958 masterpiece Vertigo.
Kim Novak’s Vertigo features Novak, who turned 93 the day before Valentine’s Day, sharing her recollections of making Vertigo with Hitchcock and Jimmy Stewart. The filming is bluntly honest about her joys and frustrations, as well as all she’s survived: The first moments contain her discussing how her mother attempted to abort her, then smother her after she was born.
In a Q&A after the film Sunday, Phllippe — who makes documentaries about making movies — explained that he is currently working on another documentary that will focus on a crucial scene near the end of Vertigo. Phillippe previously investigated a few moments of a Hitchcock classic in his 2017 documentary 78/52, which focused on the shower scene in Hitchcock’s 1960 Psycho.
Philippe said he had recently visited Novak at her Californian home to share with her some new information that he had uncovered about the Vertigo scene at the center of his new doc.
“I’m working on this other film about Vertigo, which is a very intense film I’m working on. It’s about one shot at the end… and I’ve made some discoveries that I think — she was really kind of, you know, her mind was kind of blown. And she kept telling me, ‘Oh my gosh. If only we could talk to Hitchcock.’ We had all these questions to ask him. And then she said, ‘Why don’t we do a seance? And see if we can talk to him?””
“Perfect Sedona topic,” moderator Shaeri Richards quipped, referring to the Arizona red rock region’s history of spiritualism and healing.
Philippe continued: “So we did.”
Alexandre Philippe Believes He and Kim Novak Contacted Alfred Hitchcock About Vertigo
Phillipe said the seance took 10 days before Sunday’s Sedona International Film Festival Q&A — which would put the date at February 12, the day before Novak’s birthday.
“Did you hire a medium?” Richards asked.
“Oh yeah, oh yeah,” Philippe said. “I interviewed several, and there was one that was perfect. And I’m not gonna spoil it, but I kind of, I mean, I’m very agnostic about the whole thing — but I kind of think he showed up. I mean, yeah. He definitely had a cameo, I think. It was wild. It was absolutely wild.”
Background on Vertigo and Kim Novak’s Vertigo
Vertigo has long been in the conversation about the all-time greatest films. In 2012, the Sight and Sound critics poll named it the greatest film of all time, displacing Citizen Kane, which had held the top spot since the poll originated in 1952. In 2022, in a shocking upset, the Hitchcock film was replaced at the top of the list by Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles, or Jeanne Dielman, as it is more commonly known. The 1965 film was directed by Chantal Akerman when she was just 25.
Vertigo is the complex, captivating thriller based on the 1954 novel D’entre les morts (From Among the Dead) by Boileau-Narcejac, and was written by Alec Coppel and Samuel A. Taylor. It follows former San Francisco detective John “Scottie” Ferguson (James Stewart), who becomes infatuated with the mysterious Madeleine (Kim Novak), a woman he is enlisted to surveil. They seem to fall in love — but then she dies in a sudden mysterious fall.
Soon after, Ferguson meets Judy — who bears a striking resemblance to Madeline, given that both are played by Novak. We won’t spoil the rest in case you haven’t seen it.
Kim Novak’s Vertigo follows several past Philippe documentaries about Hollywood history, including Doc of the Dead and The People vs. George Lucas. It is currently enjoying a very successful festival run — Sunday’s packed Sedona International Film Festival screening earned a very warm reception — and Philippe said Sunday that TCM has the rights to the film, so it should make its way to general audiences soon.
Novak, meanwhile, is doing very well. She chose to leave the industry in 1966, occasionally reappearing on screen, and finally quit for good in 1991. She was married to Robert Malloy from 1976 until his death in 2020.
“She’s very, very happy,” Philippe shared. “She’s got her dogs, she has a caretaker who takes care of the grounds, and will show up every now and then. She has a lady who comes, I think, twice a week, just to help her out a little bit. She has her little gym, she exercises, she rides her horse. And she still hops in her electric car and goes to town pick up some groceries. She goes to Trader Joe’s.”
Main image: Kim Novak and Alfred Hitchock on the set of Vertigo. Paramount.