FILM NOIR

Chinese International School

Y11 MYP
2009/10
What is Film Noir?
 French for ‘black film’
 Genre that peaked in the 1944-1955
period
Origins

 Detective novels of Dashiell Hammett

1929-34
 Detective novels of Raymond Chandler
1933-43
 Femme fatale novels of James Cain 1934-
42
Themes
 Contemporary world that has lost its moral
certainty.
 Prevailing cynicism of characters
 Reaction to: Atomic bomb, Cold War,
totalitarianism, propaganda, Hollywood
blacklist, corrupting power of government
& press, men returning from WW2, crisis
of liberal movement.
Protagonist
 Not the traditional ‘hero’; Average and
conventional.
 Often a war veteran or detective
 A loner
 Introverted
 Troubled
 Hard-boiled
 Pessimistic
Antagonist

 Femme Fatale
 Lures, tempts, seduces the hero
 Usually already possesses another man
e.g. an older, proprietary husband.
The Good Woman

 The opposite to the femme fatale

 Wife or girlfriend associated with home /
nurturing / rehabilitation.
Characteristics
 The seeker-hero is on a quest
 Repeatedly tested, interrogated, attacked,
persecuted
 Either emerge safely, uncorrupted or killed.
 Things are not what they seem
 People change identities
 Plot has unforeseen twists and turns.
 Usually a first-person voice-over
The Noir World
 External
- Exteriors settings: Dark, mean streets of the big
city, or a too perfect Los Angeles, with its
beaches, apartments, palm-lined trees;
- Interior settings: Nightclubs, cafes, police
stations, haunts of the underworld
 Internal

- Violence / trauma / nightmares of the hero’s

mind
Cinematography
 Hard / undiffused look
 Looks like a tabloid newspaper
 Cluttered, dark, claustrophobic interiors framed or restricted by
camera frame
 Many night scenes
 Dutch angle and deep focus shots
 Stark light / dark contrasts
 Low key lighting
 Bleak, fatalistic overtones of despair / madness
 ‘Heightened’ expressionistic scenes with elements distorted /
nightmarish / grotesque / exaggerated
Iconography
 Telephones
 Voice recorders
 Newspapers
 Dark sidewalks
 Rain-drenched streets
 Flashing neon signs
 Fairgrounds & Carnivals
 The city as a villain / dangerous / hostile
 The border town or casino
 Imagery of water and alcohol that represent merging and
release
General Principles
 World of film noir is where protagonist is ‘out of his
depth’
 Film noir recognizes people’s inherent capacity for
disaster
 Actions of the protagonist leave the viewer with a sense
of moral ambiguity and a sense of ‘the lesser of two
evils’
 Protagonist is isolated; he fights alone yet must be part
of society
 Protagonist earns his own damnation / redemption
 Film noir often ends with a sense of futility /
meaninglessness.
Plot Structure
 Set up
- Protagonist on the edge of a world of dubious values
- Protagonist has maintained integrity and is in control of his situation.
- Protagonist uneasily accepts the status quo.
Plot Structure
 Conflict
- Protagonist drawn into a situation for ambiguous motives (sexuality,
money)
- Protagonist acts according to experience, but without complete
knowledge.
- Opposing forces manipulate protagonist, usually without him
knowing.
- Protagonist’s flaws emerge. Goes through process of moral self-
discovery as hidden elements of his situation are revealed.
- Protagonist provokes others to take action against him.
- Clash for power / shift in balance of power occurs.
- Movement continues towards catastrophe
Plot Structure
 Resolution
- Recognized defeat: protagonist aware of error and longs for a
simpler time when life was less complicated.
- Defeat occurs due to a character flaw.
Neo-noir
 Crime thrillers of Don Siegel e.g. ‘Dirty
Harry’ (1971)
 Science fiction of Ridley Scott e.g. ‘Blade
Runner’ (1982)
 Predatory women of Adrian Lyne e.g.
‘Fatal Attraction’ (1987)
 Hard boiled cops of Curtis Hanson e.g.
‘L.A. Confidential’ (1997)
Film Noir
"Double indemnity" (Billy Wilder,1944)
Criterion B Dialogue scene

 Heat (Michael Mann, 1995)

Criterion B Dialogue scene
 Infernal Affairs, (Andrew Lau & Alan Mak
, 2002)