Vertigo ending explained

What happens

Scottie drags Judy back up the mission tower and forces her to confess that she posed as Madeleine in a murder plot. This time he reaches the top. A shadowy figure startles her, and she falls to her death.

The last image

Scottie stands alone on the ledge of the bell tower, staring down at the body below.

What it says

Scottie's cure comes too late, and he gets his old life back only by losing everything. The film ends where it began, on a high place, to show how obsession traps him in repetition.