Double Indemnity Movie Essay

Question One:

In Double Indemnity, the lead character, Insurance salesman Walter Neff finds himself in fatal love affair with femme fatale, Phyllis Dietrichson. Dietrichson’s relationship with Neff developed with the goal to kill her current husband, however once the goal is achieved the relationship between the two drastically crumples as both are tasked with hiding the truth from Neff’s Insurance agency. One of the crumbling factors in their fatal relationship is Dietrichson’s step daughter, Lola, whom confronts and confides in Neff for help after she suspects that Dietrichson killed her father and also her Mother. For Neff this becomes a conflicting factor for him as his relationship with Lola provides him with guilt and also suspicion of Dietrichson and her true motives. In comparison, the Maltese Falcon features a similar relationship between the “hard
boiled detective” Sam Spade and femme fatale Brigid O’Shaughnessy, however one of key differences is Spades other relationship with secretary Effie in which she becomes an important foil to Spades demeanor.
From the Schickel reading Film Noir is represented strongly in Double Indeminity through its dialogue and imagery that ulitatemly “transform” a banal narrative that begins the story, which is where the relationships between Neff and other characters comes in (2). In understanding the importance of relationships in plot of film Noir, what role does the characters such as Lola and Effie have in developing the arc of the hard-boiled detective troupe? Are they essentially the ingenious of film noir or do they embody an early model of an active female heroine? With Lola taking an active role in attempting to cirmilize Dietrichson and Effie also taking a role in helping Spade hide and retrieve the Falcon, both characters move beyond the niche of love interests and take a active part in becoming supporting and fundemntal characters to the both movies plots. In looking at film today, what resemblance does characters such as Effie and Lola have in female leading, rather than supporting, characters today?

Question Two:

The concluding moment between Dietrichson and Neff in which they confront each other in the room where they first met exhumes high tension and emotion as the expectation of death becomes a likely truth- but the question of who dies looms over the audience.
In association to Schickel’s reading of Double Indemnity this scene contrasted from Wilder and Chandler’s earlier work, as the movie featured subtle dialogue that laces together “persuasively realistic violent death” but instead of concluding the movie with this scene the leading character, Neff proceeds to confess all of his crimes before collapsing outside his work office (63). In fully understanding the shoot out between the two iconic characters its interesting how in the reading by Schickel’s that budget cuts shaped a different understanding of this classic film noir scene as the director, Wilder, states it made Neff a “victim not a murderer” (63). In not having a dramatic big budget shoot out Neff’s character remains a consistant one that seeks to redeem himself by concluding his scene with Dietrichson and indirectly confronting his friend
Keeves.
In choosing to not conclude the Double Indemnity with the fatal shooting of both characters, how does this associate with the classic choices of film noir? In support of this what does this then ultimately say about fatalism for leading characters such as Neff.