Double Indemnity Film Noir

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This film noir analysis will define the iconography, narrative devices, and character tropes in the “femme fatale” roles that are depicted in Mildred Pierce (1945) and Double Indemnity (1943). The main character of Michael Curtiz’s film Mildred Pierce, Mildred (Joan Crawford), is a determined social climber that will do anything to appease the avarice of her selfish daughter, Veda (Ann Blyth). In Double Indemnity, Phyllis Dietrichson (Barbara Stanwyck) is also a housewife who uses her beauty and charm to convince an insurance salesman, Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray), to take out a life insurance policy on her husband (Tom Powers) and then murder him to collect the money. The iconography of the nightclub dresses and business suits defines the …show more content…
Veda a selfish young woman that seeks a life of glamor and wealth, and she does not care how she gets what she wants. To support Veda’s lifestyle, Mildred becomes a waitress to work outside of the home in order to dispel the shame her daughter constantly imposes on her for not being wealthy. But this job is not glamorous enough for Veda. After being ashamed of being a waitress, Mildred opens a chain of restaurants to appease the wealthy lifestyle of her daughter. The restaurant chain is a success and soon after, Mildred uses her beauty and intelligence to lure a wealthy man, Monte Beragon (Zachary Scott), to marry her in order to present the veneer of a wealthy woman (expensive dresses, glamorous appeal, jewelry, etc.) for her greedy daughter. These are the important aspects of a femme fatale. She is manipulative and also manipulated by the other characters. She attains the symbols of an upper class lifestyle, but only by through the ruthless determination. For Mildred, noting matters as long as she gains the love of her daughter. Tragically, she learns that anything she does is not …show more content…
In one scene, she is being interviewed by an insurance company executive. When she says she did not know that her husband had taken out a “double indemnity” policy, he suspects the policy of being part of the murder plot. She replies with: “No, I remember some talk around the house, but he didn’t seem to want it” (Wilder 1:01:34). This deceptive response is part of Phyllis’s role as a femme fatale, as she applies an unassuming role of a beautiful, innocent housewife of a dead husband. However, the insurance executive is attempting to trick Phyllis into admitting that the murder was, in fact, a suicide, which he knows not to be true. In this manner, Phyllis hides her guilt behind her beauty, charisma, and a glamorous demeanor. Just as Mildred seduced Monte to achieve a prominent social position, Phyllis seduces Walter to kill her husband. This type of seductive quality is a part of the femme fatale’s allure, since Phyllis is an attractive woman capable of luring men to commit murder in the hopes of gaining wealth and power. Walter, much like Monte, end up becoming criminals or victims of homicide due to the seductive powers of women, such as Mildred, Veda, and Phyllis. These are the important ways in which the femme fatale is a major character trope in Mildred Pierce and Double
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