The Last Seduction - Scene Analysis

Using the final scenes from The Last Seduction (1994) detail how through macro and micro elements how this is both typical and untypical of the genre. 

The film holds the typical character narrative with the 'Fall Guy' (Mike) and the femme fatale (Bridget) both being the main protagonists of the film. However, this film is slightly different in it's narrative as the main protagonist of The Last Seduction is Bridget, the Villain. As the Hays Production Code was abolished in 1967, this film has deliberately tried to make the audience appeal to the villain, despite the factor that there is no redeeming featuring about her - a character structure that would never of been shown in 1940's Film Noir. The empowered woman and the innocent man is very typical of Film Noir. In this particular scene, the dominance of Bridget is clear when she over-towers Clay and how every shot looks up at Bridget to make her appear more powerful. This is different to Double Indemnity as the dominance of the femme fatale, Phyllis, is far more subtle. Phyllis never kills her husband, she tricks Walter into doing it, and despite the control Phyllis has on him, Walter still devised the entire plan to kill Mr Dietrichson. In The Last Seduction, Mike has completely fallen into the spider woman's trap and is actually framed for the murder as Bridget is the one who kills Clay.

A big difference seen between The Last Seduction and Double Indemnity is the fact you actually see the killing in this scene and also in the final scene when you see the killer get away with it and the fall guy is left in prison. A narrative like that would never have passed the Hays Code when it was in use. The explicit nature of the dialogue is particular apparent in Last Seduction whereas in Double Indemnity, far more subtle and suggestive language had to of been used. Therefore, the nature of the writing and explicit nature of the film, it doesn't fit into the typical subtle writing of film noir, as there was no hays code to restrict what could and couldn't be shown.

Location is fairly typical of film noir as it's set in Beston and also New York. By using Beston it shows that even humble small town America can have a dark and twisted underbelly and by using New York, it follows the typical urban and mean-street idea of Film Noir. In Double Indemnity, the location is the sunny streets of LA, similarly to Beston, showing how even the happiest of places have a dark side.

The Last Seduction (1995) Film Response

Despite some rather shocking scenes and language, i thought it was a great film! A brilliant example of film noir, a genre that i'm beginning to really enjoy. However, i feel i enjoyed Double Indemnity far more. As someone that's always been quite interested in writing, the subtle language used in Double Indemnity is very clever as opposed to the quite explicit language and obvious intentions of the femme-fatale in Last Seduction. Having said that, the Last Seduction focus' a lot more on mise-en-scene elements to tell the story of the characters.

Thoroughly enjoyed the film and love the genre!

Double Indemnity - Scene Analysis

How Fast Was I Going, Officer? - Double Indemnity

The scene opens with a mid-shot of Phyllis looking towards Walter. As a genre convention of film noir, lighting is often used to create meaning. In the opening shot the shadow of Phyllis makes it appear as if there is two of her, the real life her wearing white and acting innocent through figure expression and the shadow her, a dark and sinister binary opposition. As Phyllis sits in the chair, she appears to look relaxed and has very open body language, however, as she looks at her hands, she appears to look disinterested, another fake attribute of Phyllis' personality. Walter's body language is completely the opposite, it is confident and natural. In the shot of both of them talking to each other, via body language, it seems that Walter should be the main and dominant character of the relationship between them, however, with the way that Phyllis sits on the chair, appearing disinterested, it's clear that she has a lot of control over Walter - and also a generally very controlling character. As Phyllis' ankle is in the center of the frame, her anklet is the center of the audience's and Walters attention. The ankle bracelet in film noir films signify a woman with lose morals and someone with a fake personality.

As Walter begins to leave, Phyllis and Walter begin to talk about speed limits of the city. As Double Indemnity was in the film era of the Hayes code, Raymond Chandler had to create clever metaphors to give the impression that both characters are "driven" by their sexual desire towards each other. As Walter walks away, the bars of light created by the venetian blinds across Walters back signify prison bars. About how Walter is trapped by his desire for Phyllis and how he's already under her vindictive spell.

As the scene changes to Walter in his car with an over dubbed narration, he compares the smell of honeysuckle of murder. This could be a metaphor for Phyllis, something that appears so sweet and innocent that actually had a sinister undertone. It could also act as a metaphor for the setting. Despite the film's sunny LA setting and how pretty the honeysuckle seems, the idea of murder can come from anywhere - and can come from anyone.