"This is what the picture is about, how circumstances become more and more unbearable, but yet you must endure" -Abraham Polonsky
This is the quote that I feel truly sums up the film Double Indemnity. Walter Neff begins the film as a normal insurance salesman and begins his downward spiral once he meets the femme fatal Phyllis Dietrichson. Walter is smitten with Phyllis and in his lust to be with Phyllis they hatch a plan to create a phony accident insurance plan and murder her husband to collect the money. This is where Walters downward spiral begins and he starts to endure worse and worse situations. Walter and Phyllis feel like they got away clean after they murder Phyllis' husband, but things start to unravel quickly when the insurance company doesn't believe their alibi of her husband committing suicide. As the pressure begins to build Walter has to keep his composure, but finds himself in more challenging situations like when his boss comes over to his apartment unannouced and almost finds him with Phyllis. He is also almost outed when the man he saw on the train somewhat recognizes him in the insurance office. Throughout the film Walter is slowly seeing his world fall apart because of the plan he made with Phyllis. Finally, at the end of the film he confronts Phyllis about her double cross and finds out she really only wanted the money and never cared about him. She shoots him and then he hits rock bottom by killing her, which was his only way out of the situation at that point. Walter has to endure all this and the movie is really about his downward spiral from an insurance salesman to a murderer.
-Barbara Stanwyck as Phyllis Dietrichson in Double Indemnity
"She's very smart, very powerful, and extremely sexual. She uses her sexuality to get what she's after, which is not the man, he's just another tool. What she's after is for herself."
-Janey Place, Scholar
I believe this greatly sums up the description of the femme fatal that is Phyllis Dietrichson. She is introduced in a towel in the beginning of the movie, immediately catching Walter's attention by using her sexuality. She is flirty with him, and invites him back over several times while her husband is not home. We find out as the movie progresses that she wants Walter as an accomplice to help her take out an insurance plan on her husband and then kill him so they can run off with the money. This is all manipulation on Phyllis' part because at the end of the movie we find out she just wanted the money for herself the whole time. She was using Walter for her own ends, which fits in to my chosen description of a femme fatal. She is intelligent and dangerous, and will do what she has to get what she wants.
-Murder scene from inside the car in Double Indemnity
The shadows and the way all of the lighting is shot in Double Indemnity contributes to its noir feel. The scenes shot around Los Angeles on location at night look amazing and greatly contribute to the films verisimilitude. I feel the cinematography really sets itself apart and defines the style of classic "noir". The director and cinematographer's use of shadow is done extremely well and really helps define the tone of the movie. I feel like many of the most important scenes were taking place at night and giving everything a dark and foreboding feel, which fits the fact that Walter and Phyllis were committing crimes. The scene where Phyllis is going to drop her husband off at the train station and Walter is hiding in the backseat of the car sticks out. It's at night, Walter can't be seen hiding in the back, and the head lights of the other cars are shown prominently as they drive. As Phyllis honks the horn three times and Walter starts to kill him, the close up of Phyllis face darkens like there are no lights around and really brings a darkness to that shot.
-Close up of Barbara Stanwyck in car murder scene in Double Indemnity
In contrast to the black and white classic "noir" style, I feel the neo-noir films also represent noir in their own way. Martin Scorsese says that it's not about what they "show or don't show", but he wants to show something that "was real and was his experience".... He was "just going to show it". I really love his style of films and think they are greatly influenced by noir. Although his movies are in color, I can definitely see how many of Scorsese's films have a noir feel to them. Casino to me has all of the great elements of a noir film. It has a femme fatal, crime, and a main character that is getting in over his head. The shots of the neon lights of the Las Vegas strip coupled with filming at night and on location really set a noir feel. It's a an excellent Scorsese film and in my opinion a great example of modern neo-noir.
-Robert DeNiro in Casino
In conclusion, I am glad to have watched Double Indemnity and the documentary about film noir because I can see where the roots of some of my favorite movies came from. I look forward to learning more as we move forward in class.
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