Double Indemnity

Double Indemnity is a pretty famous film, one I've heard the name of several times before, though I did not make an effort to see it or to determine what type of film it is. When I discovered it was film noir, I was pretty excited, I've always loved film noir, and was reminded of The Man Who Wasn't There, a Coen brothers film that was done strictly noir-style in 2001 (I've also come to the conclusion that this film was based on Camus's The Stranger). One of the most interesting things to me about film noir is how heavy-handed they can be; film noir, when done well, can really create a tangible atmosphere for the viewer, sometimes it's almost as if you can actually smell the cigarette smoke in the air. To me, film-making that elicits tactile responses have always been most interesting, and that's probably why I like film noir so much (well, that and the wonderful dialogue involved).

An interesting aside, Blade Runner was brought up in class- Blade Runner is one of my favorite films of all time, and I didn't realize EXACTLY why that was. Now I realize, after it having been mentioned in class, that that is because it combines two of my favorite genres, film noir and science fiction, and it does so impeccably. I can't think of anything that could have been added or taken away from Blade Runner that would perfect it any more. But, this isn't about Blade Runner- so on to Double Indemnity and my thoughts.

The most interesting part of the readings to me were with regards to the femme fatale character often included in film noir and her relationship to changing ideas involving the role of women in the American family. Admittedly, I've only seen a few true film noir films, but in those that I have see, the women always tend to be the cause of all the madness and problems in the film (this was most certainly the case in The Man Who Wasn't There). Furthermore, after reading No Place For A Woman: The Family In Film Noir, I've realized that the characteristics of film noir characters draw blatantly obvious comparisons to ideas of American family life. I was actually surprised I had taken these films at face value and not drawn appropriate conclusions while watching them.

Film Noir seems to me to have an almost consistently negative view of family life. The main male character is almost always a single male who has never been married and ends up in pursuit of a married or otherwise unachievable female character. Perhaps this can be said to be representative of the fragmented nature of American families in the 40s, the time when many of these films were made and set, due to World War II. While this is easy enough to comprehend, I'm not quite sure why the femme fatale characters are always so evil. The reading on this matter suggests that this is because they seek to manipulate others in order to escape the oppressive environments and marriages that they are subjected to, and while in the films this is most certainly true, I wonder how this relates to family life at the time these films were produced. Were women in the 40s feeling consistently abused and oppressed? Or were women starting to become more empowered, something that a partiarchal society could have seen as a threat, thus painting woman as evil in film?

Another this I found to be interesting about Double Indemnity is the bland, mechanical nature of the scenery and environments in which it takes place. Immediately at the start, the camera pans from above down to a series of desks in Walter's insurance office, all of which are arranged in a neat grid. I was reminded of pictures I had seen from the industrial revolution or from World War II of women (and men) working in large factories, systematically performing repititous tasks for their entire work day. I also noticed this in the grocery story, with the hyper-unrealistic organisation of the products and aisles in the store. Interesting that the grocery store, which is a place of seemingly non-compromising conformity and unrealistic organisation is where some of the most pivotal scenes take place.

In conclusion, Double Indemnity is most certainly my favorite film that we have watched thusfar in this class. The characters were believable, inspired a reasonable amount of sympathy and care on the part of the viewer, and the ridiculous dialogue and narration was too much for me not to watch.

Check out this trailer for The Man Who Wasn't There if you haven't seen it yet. It's a bit more artsy but you will see similarities with Double Indemnity. An interesting film for the Coen brothers, it shows a real versatility when compared with their other films.

http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi3169845529/