Film Noir
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| Film Noir Encyclopedia |
Film Noir is a term used by French critiques in the 1940's to describe films that were dark and twisted in nature compared to the more positive and uplifting films during that time. In the documentary, "Film Noir," Errol Morris said the following about which type of Noir Films he enjoys watching and why, "The great Noir Films are films about fall guys. A person who finds himself caught in a net. The more he struggles, the deeper and deeper he becomes entwined in nightmare." This "fall guy" principle is deeply rooted from start to finish in the movie "Double Indemnity." Walter Neff becomes that "fall guy" the moment he starts flirting with his insurance client's wife, Phyllis. She ends up flipping Walter's world upside down by having him kill her husband. The nightmare became so harsh for Walter, that in the end he ended up taking the life of Phyllis, which was the person that started this trouble in the first place.
Femme Fatale
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| Phyllis in "Double Indemnity" |
Femme Fatale is the term used to describe a women who uses her attractiveness to lure guys into doing dangerous things that otherwise they wouldn't necessarily do on their own. In "Double Indemnity," Phyllis portrays the description of Femme Fatale very accurately. In the documentary, "Film Noir," Janey Place says that, "In Film Noir is the combination of things in a female that you don't see in film, especially in American film very often. She's very smart, she's very powerful, and she's extremely sexual." Phyllis know that Walter was attracted to her and used that to her advantage to get him to do her mischievous deeds. She was very smart in with calculating every move to guide Walter to kill her husband because of the power that she had over him. Phyllis was very sexual not only with Walter but even going as far as seeing her daughter in law's boyfriend.
Lighting the Darkenss
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| Walter and Phyllis killing her husband |
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| Walter laying down Phyllis after shooting her. |
In "Double Indemnity," lighting was a big part of playing out the plot and for this movie to be characterized as Film Noir. In the beginning of the film, there was a lot more lighting and the exposure was much higher than towards the climax of the film. Even when Walter approached Phyllis with the thought of her wanting to take out the insurance policy on her husband so that she could end up killing him, the director started to cast some shadows from the Phyllis and the objects around them to illustrate the dilemma that they were going to be facing throughout the next several scenes of the movie. Towards the end of "Double Indemnity," Walter says "Goodbye Baby" to Phyllis as he shoots her while they were in the very dark room. This shows that the final dark deed had been completed.
I believe that the black and white characteristics of Film Noir adds so much to that dark persona of these types of films. Light or the lack there of, really plays an important role in showcasing the the scenes which shows the characters facing hard times or getting themselves in trouble, as demonstrated in "Double Indemnity." Neo-noir, which takes a more modern twist to Film Noir by adding color to these films, cannot compare with the original Film Noir movies when trying to deliver a that darker message to the audience.
