Film Noir is Reality

    The American public had lost its innocence and it wanted more adult stories about the way people actually behaved and noir films are the movies that address that- Eddie Muller this quote right here says it all why film noir exist and why double indemnity is a film noir staple. Anyone who has ever been confused about anything that has to do with film noir should boil their questions in this quote. This quote applies to the movie because of the dark nature that is carried in this film. Keep in mind this movie was made in 1944 which were more innocent times.  To see a wife plot and scheme against her husband was truly dark. Hence the name of the genre Film Noir in French noir means black. "it is the noir idea we don't know what's going but we do know something bad is out there controlling events"-Errol Morris director.

 “Life is a dangerous game especially with a new breed of women whose working all the angles building her own set of rules”-Errol Morris. This quote defiantly describes Phyllis character thus making her a femme fatale.  Phyllis is a typical femme fatale because she uses her power to get what she wants. In this case convincing the insurance agent Walter Neff. That is a characteristic of a femme fatale dragging down people into bad situations for her own personal gain. The key parts are there the convinced accomplice Neff and the personal gain insurance money.

  

   Lighting and location are very important in order to set the vibe in noir films. For example when Phyllis drives Mr. Dietrichson to the train station. In the scene where the car is driving down the street and then turns into an empty street. The lighting is somewhat darker than the rest of film. There is very little leaving the viewer to assume that the events are happening at night. The dark lighting helps to show how dark the actions that about to be committed are. Secondly the location in which the car drives into set the vibe as well. From being in a very busy street Phyllis takes a turn into a darker empty street. This helps the feel of evil and darkness that is the murder of Mr. Dietrichson. The documentary states that film noir deals with the darkest of human nature that being murder.

    One of film noirs main characteristics without doubt was its black and white color. The way the movies feel gets scary with use of heavy blacks.  Now in this time we have neo noir films and they are in color. They without doubt lose a bit of the magic film noir brings to the table. This forcing neo noir films to be a bit more over the top. By this I mean more graphic or darker. One aspect of Memento that is based on film noir is the main characters situation. Just like in film noir the main character is in a bad situation that gets deeper and darker. The way Leonard Shelby is trying to piece together and solve the events before his amnesia is noir. Second example is the open sequence of Memento is a true homage to film noir. The way it comes slowly and of course in black and white.  The last and final example is the ending of the film. It doesn’t end on a bright happy note. It ends dark and even more blood soaked than it started. Leonard Shelby Murders Teddy in his car similar to the plot that the documentary mentioned.