Errol Morris describes the great
Noir films as “films about fall guys”. In the film Double Indemnity there are
two fall guys. The first and is Walter Neff who is the sucker that falls in
love and kills of the husband thinking he’s going to live happily ever after
but ends up taking the fall for the whole conspiracy in the end. The second is Nino
Zachetti who was set up to take the fall for the murder Walter committed.
A femme fatale is described as a
very smart, powerful, and extremely sexual woman. Janey Place describes a femme fatale as a
woman who “uses her sexuality to get what she’s after and what she’s after is
not the man, he’s another tool. What she is after is something for herself. Phyllis’s
character in Double Indemnity fits this quote perfectly; she lures Walter in by
entering in a towel and flirting with him and later kissing him and saying that
she loves him, when really it was all an act to get him to forge the accidental
death insurance and murder her husband. She convinces him that it is for both
of them when really it was just for her so that she could collect the money on
her own making her the typical femme fatale.
Double Indemnity uses many Noir
elements in their filming. The first scenes of the movie show Walter entering
his office and telling his story into a recorder which narrates the rest of the
movie in first person from his perspective. In the scene where Walter and Phyllis first
meet they shoot Phyllis from a low angle and Walter from a high angle putting
her in the place of power. The entire movie is dark and shadowy using the Noir
type of filming to portray the mystery of Phyllis scheme and the dark side of
the characters. The good characters such as Keys are in the light while the mischievous
characters such as Walter and Phyllis are in the shadows even when in the same
building. The film also uses dramatic music when the tempo picks up you know
something is going to happen it gets darker or creepier when the characters are
plotting what they want to do or talking in the store.
I hate Memento; I struggle to watch
this movie every time I watch it. Memento is an example of neo-noir films in
that even though it is a color movie it still uses the use of light and shadows
to portray mystery and the good characters from the manipulative ones. It also
contains a femme fatale while Natalie is not a typical femme fatale in my
opinion she is still using Leonard to get what she wants. We also hear Leonard’s
voice over throughout the entire film.
