my critique of Double Indemnity
Double Indemnity is considered one of the best film noirs of its time. It also holds the 29th spot on AFI’s greatest 100 movies list. It is by no means an overrated film; to say that would be quite unwise in my opinion. Its greatest can be seen in the scenes in which Walter and Phyllis first meet each other, when they converse at the grocery store after the murder, and towards the end of the film when Walter murders Phyllis.
The first event of Walter’s flashback is the meeting between Walter Neff and Phyllis Dietrichson. The outside is pretty much grey, normal tones whereas Walter’s car is a very sharp contrast to outdoors; the car, a dark black, suggests that he is not completely in sync with the world and his cynicism. Walter goes inside the home and then sees Phyllis. The viewer sees Phyllis through a back shot of Walter. It is rather dark in the room however most of the light in the room is focused on Phyllis. Ironically enough Phyllis is dressed in a white towel; white typically communicates innocence but from the premise of the plot line we know that is the last thing she is. Also the fact that she is in a towel adds to her femme fatale persona. Through the rest of their meeting Walter makes comments that show he is attracted to her; Phyllis’s femme fatale charm enraptures him from the beginning. During that conversation on the stairs, the camera angles points up at Phyllis. This can be taken as an idea of who holds and who will hold the power of the situation or that Phyllis is taking over Walter. The living room is completely different than the room before. Walter describes the room as stuffy from last night’s cigars but it can also be described as claustrophobic; the entire room is engulfed in bars from the shadows. This is a very typical attribute of film noir as it can suggest mental imprisonment. When Phyllis comes down the steps, Walter mentions her anklet. As an anklet is a physical charm, this is one of the pieces of Phyllis’s femme fatale that causes Walter to weaken under her spell. Eventually the viewer sees Phyllis’s outfit and it is, once again, white with lots of ruffles and detail. I think I should mention that Phyllis’s hair (well actually Stanwyck’s hair) is a wig. There are varying opinions about the wig but personally I find it very fitting of her character as it adds to her phoniness and falseness whereas if she did not have it, she character would not be as complete. With that, the dress gives us a great idea of her character: phoniness, false, yet seductive. As she fixes up her face so it’s “on straight” we see both characters through a mirror, another common characteristic of film noir. This suggests the disorientation of Phyllis’s character and what is to come. The two go to the seats and talk for a bit but once Phyllis gets up, creeping into the topic of life insurance, there is a cast of Phyllis’s shadow on the fireplace. It is as if the white dress, with all its ruffles, is the façade but the shadow, what looks like her double, is her true self. She paces back and forth, thinking, and states that Walter is a smart insurance man; perhaps she realizes this is the man she can use to help with her idea. Walter falls into her trap, quite entranced by her anklet, and completely unaware of her intentions (one quite opposite of his). She makes it quite clear when she asks him to leave and states he is going over the speed limit. As he leaves, the cast of Walter’s shadow can be seen on the wall and disappears as he shuts the door. This scene holds many key characteristics of film noir, especially of the femme fatale, and helps prove why this film is a masterpiece.
The scene of Walter and Phyllis meeting in the grocery store after the murder is very important to the film. Even when Phyllis enters the grocery store, she continues to wear her sunglasses. They are entirely dark so you cannot see her eyes, suggesting that she does not want Walter to see the truth. Phyllis is a fake and the use of sunglasses show that she wants Walter to keep with the plan and not to back out. The music is important to the scene as it heightens the revelations to the characters and stuns them back into the reality that they are in a grocery store and need to be careful when they’re in public. At one point they are on opposite sides of the aisle; the separation between the two parallels their separation from each other and shows that they are not the same as they were before. Then the camera gives the viewer a close-up shot of Phyllis. Again the glasses play an important part as usually when one wants someone to tell the truth, you want that person to look you in the eyes. While Phyllis is doing this, Walter does not know if she is being 100% truthful because he cannot see her eyes to know whether or not she is telling the truth. She says Walter planned the whole thing but the viewer knows this is not the case, especially if the viewer agrees with the previous interpretation of the meeting scene. But then she lowers her sunglasses. One would except to have a pleading look, mirroring the behavior and gestures she gave Walter from a few minutes earlier, however they are completely opposite. Barbara Stanwyck could convey so many emotions with her eyes alone, and in this shot her eyes say a lot about her thoughts. She holds the power and control of the two, complimented with the cool, collected, and simplistic fact that no one is pulling out and that they are going to continue with what they started. With that lowering of her glasses, it is as if she is even furthering her power of the femme fatale, forcing him to look into her eyes and see the power she holds over him, and she does it marvelously. And that gulp and the look in Walter’s eyes definitely characterize his “weak man” role. This scene, again, shows the power of the femme fatale and shows what the music can do to intensify the scene.
The last scene that I truly believe defines Double Indemnity as a gem of film noir is the murder of Phyllis. Throughout the film Phyllis has been wearing dark colors but when we see Phyllis this time, she is wearing a white outfit. She turns out all the lights in her home, leaving only the natural light from the moon to shine into her home. The darkness, along with the tense music, foreshadows danger is ahead and when she pulls out the gun, the viewer expects that someone will be shot. Then she lights her cigarette; she looks as if she is smirking at the arrival of Walter, little does he know of what is to come. When Walter comes in the home, the music changes to a romantic tune. That, combined with Phyllis’s pose, is a re-creation of their first meeting however this time Walter isn’t going to fall for her tricks. In fact Walter is taking the power from Phyllis and running with it. Walter gets up and walks to Phyllis’s chair. The viewer sees this at a medium shot with a light casting down on Phyllis’s face while Walter is above her. Walter continues to confront her until he asks if he can shut the window to shut out the music. With that, Phyllis flicks her cigarette onto the ground aware that her original plan will not work. When Walter completely shuts out the light, which is when Phyllis shoots him. She gets his arm and when he walks toward her, the bars from the blinds engulf Phyllis; now she is trapped. When he tells her to shoot, she lowers the gun down. The next we see of Phyllis is a close-up of her face. To me, her face is completely different than what the viewer has seen throughout the film or even in the previous five minutes. Her face is more relaxed and her eyes show true concern for Walter. She tells him what we the audience have suspected of Phyllis the whole time and as she tells him, her voice acquires a new rhythm that was unknown to the view before hand. It seems that it is the reversal of the femme fatale spell, where Walter is the male fatale and she is the weak woman. However for the audience, they must wonder: are they under her spell as well? People differ on whether they believe Phyllis was telling this truth; either way Walter doesn’t believe her and shoots her. Personally I believe that she is being 100% truthful. I think this scene takes the film noir even further and helps make it its own.
The murder of Phyllis, Walter and Phyllis’s meeting at the grocery store, and their first meeting contribute to what makes Double Indemnity a great example of classic film noir. While it is an A-production (most film noirs were B-productions) I believe that is an essential for the study of film noir. It justifiably worthy of all the reception it has received over the years and deserves nothing less.