Iconic Author Rachel Kushner Says Hitchcock’s ‘Vertigo’ Is the Only Film That Captures the ‘Ghosts’ of San Francisco History

Alfred Hitchcock’s “Vertigo” is a meta ghost story, according to legendary author Rachel Kushner.

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The California writer, whose latest novel “Creation Lake” will be released in September, appeared on the Criterion Channel’s “Adventures in Moviegoing” series to share her favorite San Francisco-set films. Of course, “Vertigo” was on the top of her list, both due to her personal connections to the locations captured by Hitchcock onscreen and just how much the 1958 film still haunts the city itself 70 years later.

The beloved thriller stars James Stewart as a former police detective who becomes obsessed with a woman (Kim Novak) he is hired to investigate. (Read our list of Alfred Hitchcock’s best movies here.)

“I find ‘Vertigo’ to be an exquisite movie,” Kushner said. “There’s this sense of holographic ghosts hovering in San Francisco and come to think of it, the holograph is an imagery that is actually used in the film by Hitchcock.”

She added, citing an iconic sequence, “Still, when I go to the Legion of Honor [museum], I think of Hitchcock, which is so ironic because Hitchcock is thinking of the Legion of Honor. You can kind of imprint yourself into the place by making an eternal movie like that.”

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Among Kushner’s other San Francisco film selections are “The Conversation” and “Bullitt,” which she said is an “absolute and total San Francisco favorite.”

Kushner has written about the lore of California, with her novel “The Flamethrowers” being named one of the 100 best books of the 21st century by The New York Times. The “Adventures in Moviegoing” episode has Kushner discussing her love of cinema with Criterion Channel curator Aliza Ma. The full episode includes why Kushner believes Barbara Loden’s “Wanda” is one of the greatest films ever made about the United States, plus her adoration of Pier Paolo Pasolini’s “Teorema.” Other titles referenced include “L’enfance nue” directed by Maurice Pialat, “The Pig” from Jean Eustache and Jean-Michel Barjol, Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s “Mother Küsters Goes to Heaven,” and “The Man Who Fell to Earth” helmed by Nicolas Roeg.

The full “Adventures in Moviegoing” episode will debut September 1 on the Criterion Channel. Check out the exclusive clip below.