Alfred Hitchcocks`s relationship to the noir style is even more dificult than Woolrich´s "Shadow of a Doubt", "Notorious", "Strangers on a Train", even "The Wrong Man", a title which could describe a whole subset of noir films, all have elements which qualify them as noir but none are core examples of the noir movement. In terms of narrative, The "Paradine Case", "Psycho", even "Stage Fright" could be noir; but are they? Doubles and mirror images are stylistic keys to "Vertigo" (1958). The obsessed detective hero even refers to the dreams of his client's wife as "fragments of a mirror." Yet "Vertigo" is so reliant on the point of view of this character for its dramatic impact, that it lacks a sense of a noir underworld, of an undercurrent of fatality and menace that, as Al Roberts noted, "can put the finger on you or me for no reason at all."
Madeleine Elster (?)
In the process of transforming Judy (Kim Novak) into his lost love Madeleine, Scottie Ferguson (James Stewart) must bring her into his perception of reality. In this mirror shot, he looks at and through Judy trying to see the woman he wants within. The mirrored panels behind her do not reveal an alternate or more appealing perspective. It is because he is cognizant of the dichotomy between real and imagined that Ferguson is troubled. The image he seeks is beyond both the literal woman proximate to him and her reflection beyond. There is no added stylistic comment from lighting, angle, etc. because Ferguson's point of view is the overriding factor.
Or Judy Barton (?)
In: The Noir Style, (1999) by Alain Silver & James Ursini.
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