Whilst the audience is already being told the fate of Neff in Double Indemnity (1944), Nicholas Ray showed a classic characteristic of noir films – complex narrative in his film In a Lonely Place (1950). Here is where Neff is trapped by the narrative in which he exists in, the film then plays off a kind of existential fatalism, which is the belief that all events are predetermined and therefore inevitable. As Rick Altman (1999) argues that genre gives the audience a ‘set of pleasures’, from Double Indemnity (1944), audience receives intellectual pleasure from the character, Neff so that they understand the plot of the film a lot more. From this point, every scene in the film is building to a conclusion that the audience already knows. In this scene, Billy Wilder used flashbacks to tell the story, so that the audience knows the fate of the main character. Dietrichson for Phyllis for money, but he ended up not getting the money nor the woman. This could be seen from the opening scenes from Double Indemnity (1944) when Neff was telling the audience that he killed Mr. Noir films have similar characteristics on their narratives, the ‘feelings of fear, mistrust, bleakness, loss of innocence, despair and paranoia were readily evident in noir films, reflecting the ‘chilly’ Cold War period when the threat of nuclear annihilation was ever-present.’ Therefore, narratives were frequently complex and convoluted, and typically told with threatening orchestral score at the background, flashbacks, witty and sharp dialogue, first-person voiceover narration. Elements that will be covered are the narrative, style and form, themes and the behaviour of the characters. Unfortunately, everything doesn’t go to plan. Dietrichson for life insurance money so that Phyllis can receive twice the amount based on a double indemnity clause. Neff and Phyllis were soon becoming lovers, they prepared a scheme to murder Mr. She asked to buy accident insurance for her husband without his knowledge.
Double Indemnity (1944) is about an insurance salesman Walter Neff meets Phyllis Dietrichson when he was asked to renew her husband’s automobile policy.
Laurel then suffers her love affair towards Dixon as she was wondering if he murdered Mildred. In a Lonely Place (1950) was based on a Hollywood screenwriter Dixon Steele and Laurel are just getting to know each other but Dixon was involved in the murder of a girl he met once, Mildred. Throughout this essay, I will be discussing the characteristic styles and themes of film noir, they will be demonstrated through the films ‘In a Lonely Place’ (1950) directed by Nicholas Ray and ‘Double Indemnity’ (1944) directed by Billy Wilder. ‘Film noir has usually been talked about in terms of its historical resonances, its treatment of gender and its uses of style, and these three trends in noir criticism continue to inform criticism on and of noir, contributing to the long, unfinished, and arguably unfinishable, process of its discursive formations.’ It is a term coined by French critics after the end of World War II and new Hollywood products flooded the market, films under this term are often associated with black and white cinematography.
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