Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Trust as a fatal flaw in Double Indemnity
I find it interesting that in Double Indemnity, Walter Neff is a middle class, decently well-off character who falls in love within an instance and is willing to commit the "perfect crime" to be with Phyllis, his "soul mate." Neff definitely has an issue with trust because he falls victim to Phyllis's manipulative and deadly ways. Women aren't really damsels in distress after all because they have a lot of power in these films, even if it seems to be just an act of luring men in with their seductiveness. Men in noirs fall into a trance within minutes of meeting a woman, even when things seem a little sketchy. (Did Neff never question why Phyllis didn't like Lola?) It seems kind of hard to jump conclusions and murder a man when only being in lust for several days. Phyllis says she is on a lease with her husband, but in the end, Walter is on Phyllis's lease. They both end up losing and for fortunately, nothing.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
(1) It could also be argued that this issue of 'trust' - or 'love' - as a fatal flaw is also found in the relationship between Neff and Keyes, as I think this exchange between the two exemplifies:
ReplyDeleteNEFF: You know why you didn't figure this one, Keyes? Let me tell you. The guy you were looking for was too close. He was right across the desk from you.
KEYES: Closer than that, Walter.
NEFF: I love you, too.
Given the cynicism and alienation that grounds and frames films noir, Neff's inability to truly connect with the people that he loves extends into all of his relationships. Even in his relationship with Lola - the only person he around whom he could "relax and let go a little" - Neff remains closed off to her (i.e., cannot be truly open with her, cannot tell her that he helped Phyllis kill Lola's father) for fear that their connection would inevitably be destroyed upon opening up.
(2) I'm not sure I totally agree with the claim that "Neff...falls victim to Phyllis's manipulative and deadly ways." While I think there are differences in the ways in which [the] men and women in this film relate to themselves/each other, I don't think that the film (ultimately) portrays Phyllis as having an uncomplicated and/or purely conscious relationship to herself and the things that she does. I think that this only comes out in a recognizable form at the end of the film, when Phyllis and Walter have this exchange:
PHYLLIS: No. I never loved you, Walter. Not you, or anybody else. I'm rotten to the heart. I used you, just as you said. That's all you ever meant to me -- until a minute ago. I didn't think anything like that could ever happen to me.
NEFF: I'm sorry, baby. I'm not buying.
PHYLLIS: I'm not asking you to buy. Just hold me close.
While I am certainly not trying to argue that the film 'exonerates' Phyllis in this exchange, I do think that it shows that the 'evil', 'manipulative' Phyllis that we have come to know throughout the film is a representation arising out of a person who is alienated and conflicted, a person whose hard shell is a mask and a barrier that simultaneously creates a distance from and shelters parts of herself that she denies and represses.
On the one hand, I don't want to suggest that the film presents Walter as a hapless victim of the femme fatale; on the other, I don't know how convinced we're meant to be (or can be, to get rid of that pesky idea of intention in "meant") by Phyllis's change of heart at the end, when we have every reason to believe that she has to say what she says for the purpose of self-preservation, once her other plots have unraveled. Remember too that everything we see outside of the office is Walter's narrative, and he has an egocentric interest in presenting her as a completely ruthless psychopathic type.
ReplyDeleteI find the amount of trust between the male and female characters is kind of unrealistic. In both Double Indemnity and Postman, Phyllis and Cora let Walter and Frank, respectively, into their personal lives without much hesitation. They don't even know each other yet after a couple flirty exchanges both parties are swept off their feet. It seems like both the male and females leads are hapless victims of seduction.
ReplyDelete