Foil

Character Role Analysis

Madeleine Elster and Midge

The contrast between these two gals could hardly be starker. One's always dressed to the nines and seems to float above the people who surround her. (That's Madeleine, in case you couldn't guess.) The other is down-to-earth, talkative, human, and high-spirited. If Scottie had found a way to love Midge, it would have saved him a whole lot of trouble and tragedy. But love's not rational; for all the film's enigmas, that's one message that Vertigo makes crystal-clear.