Double Indemnity is a classic film noir, with suspense and murder. Released in 1944 it stars Fred MacMurray as our main protagonist, Barbara Stanwyck as the femme fatale, and Edward G Robinson as the claim adjustor who untangles the murder. This film portrays women in a very strange and twisted way, as Phyllis is the sinful and murderous main female character and Lola is the helpless, lost, and heartbroken young girl.
This movie does not pass the Bechdel Test. It does feature two female characters, Lola and Phyllis, that do briefly speak to one another. However, the conversation also includes Mr. Dietrichson and is about Lola’s boyfriend Nino. There is a notable lack of female characters in the movie-- especially in the scenes showing the insurance company. This is because in the 1940’s women would not have worked in an office except perhaps as a secretary.
The contradiction and strange part of this movie is that Phyllis definitely shows women in a negative light. She is murderous, manipulative and an evil person all around. However, that is the point of the movie and we have decided to investigate if Phyllis’ evil nature is shown in a sexist way. She also needs to be compared to Neff, because he is also a murderous character.
At the beginning of the movie we see Neff confessing to a murder on a dictaphone. Then we are transported back in time to when Neff first meets Phyllis. It is a normal insurance call until appears at the top of the stairs.
This movie does not pass the Bechdel Test. It does feature two female characters, Lola and Phyllis, that do briefly speak to one another. However, the conversation also includes Mr. Dietrichson and is about Lola’s boyfriend Nino. There is a notable lack of female characters in the movie-- especially in the scenes showing the insurance company. This is because in the 1940’s women would not have worked in an office except perhaps as a secretary.
The contradiction and strange part of this movie is that Phyllis definitely shows women in a negative light. She is murderous, manipulative and an evil person all around. However, that is the point of the movie and we have decided to investigate if Phyllis’ evil nature is shown in a sexist way. She also needs to be compared to Neff, because he is also a murderous character.
At the beginning of the movie we see Neff confessing to a murder on a dictaphone. Then we are transported back in time to when Neff first meets Phyllis. It is a normal insurance call until appears at the top of the stairs.
She is the seductive temptress in nothing but a towel. She comes down the stairs and immediately flirts with Neff. The camera angle is also to be noted because they very clearly make the choice to do a close up on her feet and calves walking down the stairs, yet another sexual frame. What we thought was interesting is that being seductive and flirty is associated with an evil and manipulative nature. Clearly cheating on your husband is bad, but this movie ties female sexuality with moral degradation. The way she dresses and her hairstyle is supposed to signify her fake personality and loose sexuality. This is very upsetting in many ways because Phyllis’ character is nothing more than her body, looks and manipulative ways.
Neff and Phyllis talk and then turn to her husband’s insurance policy. She begins to inquire about how to take a life insurance policy, particularly without her husband’s knowledge. Neff quickly deduces that she is planning on killing her husband. He yells at her, refuses to help and leaves. However, he is entranced by her and when she returns he decides to begin an affair with her when she comes to his apartment. This is problematic because he is only attracted to her looks, and sees her as nothing more than a beautiful object to acquire once he gets rid of the husband. There is also a sense that Neff is the helpless man lured in by the evil seductress-- making him less culpable and placing all the blame on Phyllis.
What’s interesting is that we had sympathy for Neff but hated Phyllis. Clearly it is evil that she wants to kill her husband, but for some reason the film gets the audience to believe that Neff was somehow a good person deep down-- despite the fact that he decided to kill a man to be with their wife. We identify with him because he is our narrator and can hear his inner monologue and he paints himself as a victim.
Later, when Phyllis dies she is shot in the dark and we never see her face. She is hidden from view, making it impossible for the audience to sympathize with her pain. What’s more, we are not supposed to fault Neff for killing her because she tried to kill him first. Neff is given a much more sentimental death scene. He lights up one last cigarette next to his friend and is able to explain all his decisions and apologize to his friend.
What’s interesting is that we had sympathy for Neff but hated Phyllis. Clearly it is evil that she wants to kill her husband, but for some reason the film gets the audience to believe that Neff was somehow a good person deep down-- despite the fact that he decided to kill a man to be with their wife. We identify with him because he is our narrator and can hear his inner monologue and he paints himself as a victim.
Later, when Phyllis dies she is shot in the dark and we never see her face. She is hidden from view, making it impossible for the audience to sympathize with her pain. What’s more, we are not supposed to fault Neff for killing her because she tried to kill him first. Neff is given a much more sentimental death scene. He lights up one last cigarette next to his friend and is able to explain all his decisions and apologize to his friend.
As the plot moves along we learn more about Phyllis’ background and former life. It is clear that her husband is uncaring and only sees her for her looks as well. Phyllis is barely older than her husband’s daughter and clearly hates her life. She wants to escape so badly that she is willing to kill to get there. As she comes up with the plan along with Neff to kill her husband it is clear that she is desperate to escape. She’s got both the motive and the resentment necessary to make her a heartless killer.
In some ways we are able to sympathize with and understand Phyllis. She seems to be the result and the victim of a twisted system that favors men. However, this perception changes as we learn more about Phyllis’ past and the audience is supposed to believe Phyllis completely to be at fault.
The next part of the movie was the actual murder itself. Essentially the plan was to kill Mr. Dietrichson and then have Neff pretend to be him. What we found interesting about that scene was that Neff strangled him and then Phyllis drives. All we see is her face as her husband dies, showing her uncaring face as her husband dies.
The next part of the movie was the actual murder itself. Essentially the plan was to kill Mr. Dietrichson and then have Neff pretend to be him. What we found interesting about that scene was that Neff strangled him and then Phyllis drives. All we see is her face as her husband dies, showing her uncaring face as her husband dies.
After the murder we come to see Phyllis as more and more evil as she begins to reveal her true colors. Neff’s coworker Keyes figured out that this was a murder and that Phyllis and a lover was probably involved. Keyes has no idea that it’s Neff, but Neff is worried that his involvement would be exposed at a potential trial. Additionally, Neff learns that Phyllis has a very dark past when he talks to Lola. It turns out that Phyllis killed the mother to get married to Mr. Dietrichson. It’s as if Phyllis has this unending evil nature used to manipulate men and get riches.
We thought that the relationship between Lola and Neff was very strange. She is very young and there are a lot of romantic overtones with Neff. This is so bizarre and wrong, especially because he is in a relationship with her stepmother. Nothing ended up happening between them, but we often thought something was about to. It was clear that Neff took a liking to her and they seemed very drawn to one another. There is something disturbing about allowing the male lead to have romantic tension between the two female leads-- it’s as if men have this unending access to romance with women.
Phyllis later threatens to expose Neff if he gives her up. She says that they committed this crime to be together and they will work together “straight down the line.” She is not going to give up her freedom just because a romantic relationship with Neff wouldn’t work out. She has actually manipulated Neff the entire time, and is not going to stop now.
At this point in the movie the dramatic ending scene begins. Neff comes to Phyllis’ house and is prepared to kill her as a way to get out of this situation. He would put the blame on Nino. However, Phyllis is also prepared and shoots Neff in the shoulder.
Phyllis later threatens to expose Neff if he gives her up. She says that they committed this crime to be together and they will work together “straight down the line.” She is not going to give up her freedom just because a romantic relationship with Neff wouldn’t work out. She has actually manipulated Neff the entire time, and is not going to stop now.
At this point in the movie the dramatic ending scene begins. Neff comes to Phyllis’ house and is prepared to kill her as a way to get out of this situation. He would put the blame on Nino. However, Phyllis is also prepared and shoots Neff in the shoulder.
He dares her to shoot her again, but suddenly she says that she cannot. She confesses that she never loved him “until a minute ago, when I couldn't fire that second shot.” This felt very strange and forced, and we don’t know why Phyllis needed to be redeemed this way. It’s as if her love for Neff would somehow make her a better person, showing how women define themselves around relationships with men. Neff shoots her again and now she lays dying.
Then Ned stumbles along to his office and confesses his crime to Keyes. It turns out that Keyes has been standing at the door listening to him for quite some time now. Keyes comes in to the office and Neff says that he is going to escape to Mexico. Unfortunately for Neff, he collapses as he’s exiting the office building and he waits with Keyes for an ambulance and the police. We can assume that Neff will either die or be imprisoned for murder.
As we said before, we don’t think that this movie portrays women in a good way. Phyllis is often sexualized and only seen for her physical features. In many ways her looks are also a punishment. The relationship between Neff and Phyllis is based on his physical attraction to her. She is seen as morally wrong because of her looks and is immediately judged as evil because of how she chooses dress. Besides that, her choices and actions are manipulative and devious and that paints a bad impression of a scorned wife.
However, in other strange ways we admire Phyllis. She wants a different life for herself and uses the way men naturally treat her to her advantage. This actually paints her to be rather intelligent in her own right. She gets a husband using her charms and then disposes of him when he doesn’t treat her well. We don’t think that this is a moral decision, but in some ways her manipulative nature is admirable. Neff thought that he was in control of her, but all along Phyllis was in control of him. She has a certain confidence about her which, besides her being over sexualized, can be empowering to see a woman embrace that. Although it is upsetting that Phyllis’ only character traits are evil and sexy, in many ways she creates that identity for herself and in a strange way we admire that.
The movie is set in 1938 which was a very difficult time for women. During the Great Depression 26 states had laws that prohibited married women from working. This changed during the World War Two, but it is one example of the discrimination women faced in the 1930’s. After the 19th Amendment was passed in 1920, feminism was divided in many ways and there was a conservative backlash. Women were still seen as belonging in the home, and not belonging in the workplace. A lot of protective legislation was passed about women in the workplace that actually was harmful to women.
This began to change in the 1940’s as men went off to war and women took over their jobs. The poster Rosie the Riveter is a perfect example of this new feminist idea. However women were still stuck in roles of housewife and mother. Their possibilities for advancement were limited. Phyllis felt that to change her life she had to murder. Film noir films, “contain no prescription for how women should act and few balancing examples of happy marriages, and their images of conventional women are often bland to the point of parody. It is the image of the powerful, fearless, and independent femme fatale that sticks in our minds when these movies end, perhaps because she — unlike powerful women in other Hollywood films of the '30s and '40s — remains true to her destructive nature and refuses to be converted or captured, even if it means that she must die” (Film Noir’s Progressive Representation of Women, filmnoirstudies.com).
In his review of the film, Robert Ebert noted how in depth the screenwriters went with Phyllis and Neffs relationship and how this helped thicken the plot. We agree with this observation because the relationship between the two really drives the plot forward. It’s the reason Neff is telling the story, what Neff is always questioning, it’s what captures the audience’s attention. Robert Ebert also points it out that “he always calls her "baby,” as if she's a brand, not a woman.” We were so happy that Ebert pointed this out because while watching the film it really bothered us how he always called her “baby.” It was always very possessive and even aggressive at times and it wasn’t done as a term of endearment as much as a way of making her his object.
When discussing Phyllis specifically, The New York Times writer Bosley Crowther describes her as a “wicked woman” who is “destructively lurid.” Crowther also isn’t buying the authenticity between the characters and how they fell for eachother. “One look at the lady's ankles and he's cooked” is how he described it, and we can say we agree. However when you watch a movie you do need to suspend your disbelief to an extent, so although their relationship escalated quickly it still worked.
Variety thought that overall Phyllis could have been seen as stronger towards the end “had not the scripters sought to reflect some sense of human understanding for her.” Before she was shot she was very consistent in her manipulative, heartless ways. By having her beg for mercy it weakened her character and made her appear more pathetic and defenseless than she was throughout the rest of the film.
Overall, we really enjoyed Double Indemnity. Though it’s portrayal of women isn’t as strong as other films we’ve watched, it was interesting to have more to dispute than to compliment. The film is a classic film noir that is well written and well acted. Double Indemnity gives you a lot of food for thought and we highly recommend watching it.
However, in other strange ways we admire Phyllis. She wants a different life for herself and uses the way men naturally treat her to her advantage. This actually paints her to be rather intelligent in her own right. She gets a husband using her charms and then disposes of him when he doesn’t treat her well. We don’t think that this is a moral decision, but in some ways her manipulative nature is admirable. Neff thought that he was in control of her, but all along Phyllis was in control of him. She has a certain confidence about her which, besides her being over sexualized, can be empowering to see a woman embrace that. Although it is upsetting that Phyllis’ only character traits are evil and sexy, in many ways she creates that identity for herself and in a strange way we admire that.
The movie is set in 1938 which was a very difficult time for women. During the Great Depression 26 states had laws that prohibited married women from working. This changed during the World War Two, but it is one example of the discrimination women faced in the 1930’s. After the 19th Amendment was passed in 1920, feminism was divided in many ways and there was a conservative backlash. Women were still seen as belonging in the home, and not belonging in the workplace. A lot of protective legislation was passed about women in the workplace that actually was harmful to women.
This began to change in the 1940’s as men went off to war and women took over their jobs. The poster Rosie the Riveter is a perfect example of this new feminist idea. However women were still stuck in roles of housewife and mother. Their possibilities for advancement were limited. Phyllis felt that to change her life she had to murder. Film noir films, “contain no prescription for how women should act and few balancing examples of happy marriages, and their images of conventional women are often bland to the point of parody. It is the image of the powerful, fearless, and independent femme fatale that sticks in our minds when these movies end, perhaps because she — unlike powerful women in other Hollywood films of the '30s and '40s — remains true to her destructive nature and refuses to be converted or captured, even if it means that she must die” (Film Noir’s Progressive Representation of Women, filmnoirstudies.com).
In his review of the film, Robert Ebert noted how in depth the screenwriters went with Phyllis and Neffs relationship and how this helped thicken the plot. We agree with this observation because the relationship between the two really drives the plot forward. It’s the reason Neff is telling the story, what Neff is always questioning, it’s what captures the audience’s attention. Robert Ebert also points it out that “he always calls her "baby,” as if she's a brand, not a woman.” We were so happy that Ebert pointed this out because while watching the film it really bothered us how he always called her “baby.” It was always very possessive and even aggressive at times and it wasn’t done as a term of endearment as much as a way of making her his object.
When discussing Phyllis specifically, The New York Times writer Bosley Crowther describes her as a “wicked woman” who is “destructively lurid.” Crowther also isn’t buying the authenticity between the characters and how they fell for eachother. “One look at the lady's ankles and he's cooked” is how he described it, and we can say we agree. However when you watch a movie you do need to suspend your disbelief to an extent, so although their relationship escalated quickly it still worked.
Variety thought that overall Phyllis could have been seen as stronger towards the end “had not the scripters sought to reflect some sense of human understanding for her.” Before she was shot she was very consistent in her manipulative, heartless ways. By having her beg for mercy it weakened her character and made her appear more pathetic and defenseless than she was throughout the rest of the film.
Overall, we really enjoyed Double Indemnity. Though it’s portrayal of women isn’t as strong as other films we’ve watched, it was interesting to have more to dispute than to compliment. The film is a classic film noir that is well written and well acted. Double Indemnity gives you a lot of food for thought and we highly recommend watching it.
Sources
Blakeney, K. (2009). "An Analysis of Billy Wilder's 'Double Indemnity'." Student Pulse, 1(12). Retrieved from http://www.studentpulse.com/a?id=88
Crowther, Bosley. "Double Indemnity (1944)." The New York Times. The New York Times, 7 Sept. 1944. Web. 31 Oct. 2015.
"Double Indemnity." Variety. Variety, 26 Apr. 1944. Web. 31 Oct. 2015.
Ebert, Robert. "Double Indemnity Movie Review (1944) | Roger Ebert." All Content. N.p., 20 Dec. 1998. Web. 31 Oct. 2015.
"Film Noir's Progressive Portrayal of Women – A Film Noir Studies Essay."Film Noir's Progressive Portrayal of Women – A Film Noir Studies Essay. Ed. John J. Blaser and Stephanie LM Blaser. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 May 2015. <http://www.filmnoirstudies.com/essays/progressive.asp>.
Moran, Mickey. "1930s, America - Feminist Void?" 1930s, America - Feminist Void? N.p., n.d. Web. 29 May 2015. <http://www.loyno.edu/~history/journal/1988-9/moran.htm>.
"Women and Work." Women and Work. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 May 2015. <http://www.westga.edu/~hgoodson/Women%20and%20Work.htm>.
Blakeney, K. (2009). "An Analysis of Billy Wilder's 'Double Indemnity'." Student Pulse, 1(12). Retrieved from http://www.studentpulse.com/a?id=88
Crowther, Bosley. "Double Indemnity (1944)." The New York Times. The New York Times, 7 Sept. 1944. Web. 31 Oct. 2015.
"Double Indemnity." Variety. Variety, 26 Apr. 1944. Web. 31 Oct. 2015.
Ebert, Robert. "Double Indemnity Movie Review (1944) | Roger Ebert." All Content. N.p., 20 Dec. 1998. Web. 31 Oct. 2015.
"Film Noir's Progressive Portrayal of Women – A Film Noir Studies Essay."Film Noir's Progressive Portrayal of Women – A Film Noir Studies Essay. Ed. John J. Blaser and Stephanie LM Blaser. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 May 2015. <http://www.filmnoirstudies.com/essays/progressive.asp>.
Moran, Mickey. "1930s, America - Feminist Void?" 1930s, America - Feminist Void? N.p., n.d. Web. 29 May 2015. <http://www.loyno.edu/~history/journal/1988-9/moran.htm>.
"Women and Work." Women and Work. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 May 2015. <http://www.westga.edu/~hgoodson/Women%20and%20Work.htm>.