Double Indemnity

Femme Fatale is a signature characteristic of Film Noir's. Phyllis, the powerful, manipulative female character in Double Indemnity is the reason Walter commits the actions he does, in the end leading him to taking part in a murder. The power of this female character in this, and other Noir films, is to take advantage of what appears at the beginning to be an innocent man. Specifically in this film, she uses her sexuality to trap him, only in the end to admit she had no feelings for him at all. It was merely a way to snag him into her scheme.

In this still above, Neff and Phyllis are in the grocery store, as they are planning the murder of her husband. Her attitude and appearance reminded me of Lynn Bracken in LA Confidential, specifically in this still of Bracken, below. 

They both look very done up and fake looking. While Bracken is covering herself up in a white hood, Phyllis is wearing sunglasses to help hide her face. They are also both wearing a fair amount of lipstick,  which stands out in both shots, and you can tell their hair has been done up.

The other dominant female character in this film is Lola, Phyllis’s stepdaughter. I think that she is used to contrast Phyllis, and shows the extremes of Phyllis’s character. Lola is what appears to be a sweet and innocent daughter who can see through Phyllis’s plans. She is also key in Walter finding out about Phyllis’s past murders, and tattles on her step mom.

At the beginning of the film during the first interaction of Phyllis and Walter, which is shown above, her appearance and the way the shot is filmed portrays her overpowering personality, but for me, I did not catch that during my first time seeing the scene. She appears in all white, wrapped in just a towel, and you can tell even from this shot that she has a plan, and knows what the future holds. She seems very confident in what she is doing, and this is a typical stereotype of femme fatale characters in film noir. They tend to have a hidden plan that will become apparent later in the film, just as Phyllis did.

Specifically in this film, the femme fatale character does not extend past the sexual part, because that is how she traps Walter. Even outside of the film noir era of film,  women  have always been stereotyped to use their sexuality to their advantage in films. This is an excellent example of this, because her character uses her beauty to convince other men to help her with her plans of murder.