Double Indemnity

Film noir literally means "black film." As you are watching the film, keep track of all the elements in the picture that seem dark or depresssing. Think about the character, setting, and storyline.

In the 1944 film Double Indemnity directed by Billy Wilder, elements of French noir give this film a classic theme. The plot is about an insurance representative, Walter Neff, goes to see one of his clients who is overdue on renewing his automobile insurance. Once he is at his client’s house, he meets the man's wife, Phyllis Dietrichson, whom he starts to fall for. She mentions how she wants to look into accident insurance, in case her husband has an “accident” while working on the oil rig. Neff thinks she wants to stage her husband’s death as an “accident” to receive money from his insurance policy.

This film is shot entirely in black and white with low-key lighting, a classic element of film noir. The sharp light and dark shadows that arise from specifically placed lights give the film a mysterious feeling. Another classic element of film noir that is shown in Double Indemnity is when Neff returns to Mrs. Dietrichson’s house at the end of the film. She is sitting in her chair and the venetian blinds on the window cast specific shadows onto the wall behind her. The characters also smoke throughout the entire film, which is a reoccurring element in French noir movies. Double Indemnity is also a crime/murder mystery/private eye film, one element that all of the films that are classified French Noirs are centered around. This film also has a voice over throughout and is shown in flashbacks, an element that adds to the private-eye-esque of it.

Double Indemnity has a pretty dark storyline as well. Mrs. Dietrichson essentially wants to get as much money off of her husband as she can. By taking out an accident insurance policy on her husband, if he were to die by accident, she would be the beneficiary of the policy. The money would then be hers. All along, she had been thinking about how she would take out this policy. But in the beginning, Walter truly sought to only renew the Dietrichson's automobile insurance. As the story goes on, it ends up being Walter who comes up with the entire plan to kill Mr. Dietrichson and stage his death to look like he accidentally fell off of the train. All of the dark acts actually take place in the dark. Literally. It all happens at night. Not to mention the film is in black and white. Which makes it extra dark. 

So with all of the dark-dark-ness, the murder, the sneakiness of the plot, and the cold, uncaring femme fatale, Double Indemnity is a classic French noir "black" film.