Film Noir

A quote that I found in the first ten minutes of the film documentary that is also related to the movie Double Indemnity is a quote from director Errol Morris. He stated that film noirs have a noir idea that "characters don't know what is going on but something bad is going to happen." He defined these characters as fall guys who find themselves caught in a net sinker into deeper problems. In Double Indemnity Walter got fell into a situation where it lead to more problems and before we all knew it there was really no turning back for him.

In the documentary it clearly stated on how to spot a femme fatale. Actress Marie Windsor stated a femme fatale is a woman "that is getting the man into bed and then into trouble." These female actors usually have long hair, tight clothes, long nails that are considered to look like claws, and smoke symbolizes loose morals. Femme fatales use their sexuality to get what they want and use a male as their tool for their own advantage. Phyllis most definitely uses her charming personality to get what she wants from Walter. She is a typical femme fatale since she has the look and gives off that longing obsession that makes her more irrepressible to Walter. She portrays a very powerful, smart, and wealthy character which makes a perfect femme fatale.


The lightening and locations made a huge impact on making Double Indemnity a film noir. The camera angles create that film noir it can make things seem more dramatic. Examples are close-ups or low angle shots such as when they filmed the scene of Walter at Phyllis' house. Phyllis is upstairs while Walter is by the front door creating a low angle shot and then cut to a shot of a man showing visual dominance. The dramatic use of lightening makes things terrifying and mysterious so a person's imagination is forced to take over. The choice of music and sound create the mood of the scene and can draw more attention or passion into the film.

The use of color in neo-noir movies is slightly different than black and white cinematography in the original film noir since it doesn't add as much dark shadows or unusual and interesting lightening patterns. The aspects from Chinatown that are based upon film noir style is the whole concept of the movie. There is a male who gets caught in a love affair which leads to many more problems that he didn't expect to get himself into. The storyline is was makes it a film noir but also the sound/music and the femme fatale. The dramatic music and sounds create more action and keeps the audience interested during the whole film. The femme fatale created that love triangle to make the male character determined and fight until the very end.