Film Noir & “Double Indemnity”

Response to Question #2:

Film noir was developed by French film critics to describe 'dark', downbeat and black themes of many American crime and detective films released in France following World War II (I guess film class came in handy, huh?). Typically, a film noir story was commonly developed around a cynical, hard-hearted male character who encountered a beautiful, but promiscuous and seductive female. This female character would use her feminine ruses/trickery and sexuality to manipulate the guy into becoming the fall guy - often following a murder. Consequently, these general guidelines of a film noir production are explicitly present throughout the plot of the film “Double Indemnity”.

Phyllis is the main female character who ends up seducing the main character, Walter. Through her convincing manipulative skills and constant seduction techniques, she convinces him to help her kill her husband in hopes of obtaining some extra money by playing the insurance company. She manipulates him by telling him that she’s in love with him, but she never really is. Phyllis just uses Walter to get what she wants, and to run away with another man. The plot alone fits perfectly into the characteristics that suit a film noir film. Almost every scene revolves around the centralized theme of darkness and depression (whether that’s developed through the character traits listed above, or their actions that lead to a depressing mood – murder/death scenes).

The film is set to take place in Los Angeles, California which is a very interesting choice for a dark/depressing setting. Typically, Los Angeles is a very sunny and bright place to be, completely contrast of film noir characteristics; however, the crew made it work. To make the film a film noir production in such a contradictory location, the crew chose to shoot the entire film using low-key lighting. This means that the film was shot without the use of natural light at all, and was rather shot with very little, weak lighting techniques to add to the dark mood. This can be seen explicitly considering that the majority of the film was shot at night, with little to no light. In addition, it was interesting to note how the lighting got even darker and more dramatic in certain scenes (specifically when Walter murders Mr. Dietrichson). The director surely stayed true to his knowledge of what makes a true film noir movie.