Classic film noir developed during and after World War II, taking advantage of the post-war ambience of anxiety, pessimism, and suspicion, and possibly reflecting male fears of female liberation and independence during the war years. Film noirs first evolved in the 1940s, became prominent in the post-war era, and lasted in a classic "Golden Age" period until about 1960. A film noir story was often developed around a cynical, hard-hearted, disillusioned male character [e.g., Robert Mitchum, Fred MacMurray, or Humphrey Bogart] who encountered a beautiful but promiscuous, amoral, double-dealing and seductive femme fatale [e.g., Mary Astor, Veronica Lake, Jane Greer, Barbara Stanwyck, Joan Bennett or Lana Turner were the most prominent]. Femme fatale literally means "killer (or deadly) woman."
The females in film noir were either of two types (or archetypes) - dutiful, reliable, trustworthy and loving women; or femmes fatales - mysterious, duplicitous, subversive, double-crossing, gorgeous, unloving, predatory, tough-sweet, unreliable, irresponsible, manipulative and desperate women. Usually, the male protagonist in film noir wished to elude his mysterious past, and had to choose what path to take (or have the fateful choice made for him).
Invariably, the choice would be an overly ambitious one, to follow the dangerous but desirable wishes of these dames. It would be to follow the goadings of the traitorous, self-destructive femme fatale who would lead the struggling, disillusioned, and doomed hero into committing murder or some other crime of passion coupled with twisted love. When the major character was a detective or private eye, he would become embroiled and trapped in an increasingly-complex, convoluted case that would lead to fatalistic, suffocating evidences of corruption, irresistible love and death. The femme fatale, who had also transgressed societal norms with her independent and smart, menacing actions, would bring both of them to a downfall. link
Barbara Stanwyck starred as Phyllis Dietrichson in Double Indemnity (1944). Directed by Billy Wilder, it "a cynical, witty, and sleazy thriller about adultery, corruption and murder." Stanwyck's character was based on the true story of murderer Ruth Snyder. Photo credit: Filmsnoir.net.
|
|
Why aren't more such movies being made in recent years? This article in The Independent (U.K.) newspaper looked at the reasons
Sultry, smouldering temptresses lit up the screen in cinema's golden age -- but where are they now?
They came prowling out of the shadows, wreathed in smoke, wisecracks and stolen mink; women no better than they should be, with only trouble in mind. They never needed to diet, displayed but a flickering interest in men for money, power and meaningless sex, and were more likely to accessorise with a gun than a Chihuahua...
Woman wield power now in more direct -- but perhaps more mundane -- ways. "Maybe you could argue that it's a good thing there aren't so many femmes fatales, because they are so much defined by their relationship to men," Billson says. "Their entire raison d'etre is to seduce and destroy them. I know one whose whole life was based on making erotic conquests. Because she was so beautiful, she never needed to work on her skills, or personality, or interests, or independence." Still, Billson agrees, the world is a less exciting place without such seductresses.
Rita Hayworth in Gilda (1946), a black-and-white film noir directed by Charles Vidor, in which Hayworth performed a legendary one-glove striptease that made her into a cultural icon as the ultimate femme fatale. Article and Photo credit: The Independent, U.K.
In addition to the classic femme fatale movies from the 1940's and 1950's, I have also included several made in later decades. In no particular order, here are some of the better-known movies in this genre: Double Indemnity (1944), Body Heat (1981), The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946), Chinatown (1974) ...
Body Heat (1981) is a dramatic, modern day film noir, set in the hot atmosphere of Miranda Beach, Florida.
The alluring, crafty, and sultry femme fatale "Matty Walker" (Kathleen Turner, who spoofed her own role in The Man With Two Brains (1983)) seduces corruptible, dim-witted, naive, and incompetent attorney Ned Racine (William Hurt), to convince him to kill her husband Edmund (Richard Crenna). She is interested in Ned because he isn't very intelligent:
You're not too smart, are you? I like that in a man.
She uses everything as an instrument of seduction, including incredibly sweaty and sexy love-making and lewd suggestive dialogue, to manipulate his emotions so that he will help plot the murder: "Do it!" "I need you so badly." "I want you right now more than I ever have!" "I'd kill myself if I thought this thing would destroy us." He complains: "I'm red; I'm sore." "You shouldn't wear that body!" link
Body Heat was Kathleen Turner's film debut. Her voice was described by an interviewer as "filled with the low timbre of temptation that it could... drive a bishop to kick out a stained-glass window". Photo credit: The Independent, U.K.
|
|
The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) is one of the best film noirs of all time - and one of the earliest prototypes of today's 'erotic thrillers.' The screenplay (by Harry Ruskin and Niven Busch) was based on the controversial first novel/pot-boiler (1934) of the same name by notorious writer James M. Cain. Cain was known for novels with forbidden lust, love triangles, brutal, raw sexiness, and adultery-motivated murder. Two previous, sexually-charged classic film noirs adapted from Cain's novels had met with both critical and box-office success: MGM's Double Indemnity (1944) and Warner Bros.' Mildred Pierce (1945).
This fatalistic film from director Tay Garnett is best known for one of the hottest portrayals of a sultry and seductive femme fatale - it is one of Lana Turner's finest performances. The film was advertised with posters that described the illicit passion between a drifter (Garfield) and a married-unsatisfied waitress (Turner) in a roadside cafe: "Their Love was a Flame that Destroyed!" Their killing of the woman's husband ultimately leads to their mutual destruction in unexpected ways. This great and sexy film noir, however, received not even one Academy Award nomination. link
|
|
Chinatown (1974) is a superb, private eye mystery and modern-day film noir thriller. Its original, award-winning screenplay by Robert Towne is a throwback that pays homage to the best Hollywood film noirs from the pens of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler in the 30s and 40s. The film declined to provide a tagline, instead choosing imagery over words on its poster, which featured in 40's art deco, the detective - his back facing the viewer, smoking a cigarette, with the smoke emanating from it forming the visage of the heroine, signifying the setting, the mood, and symbolism of the film without uttering a single phrase...
The film marked French-born Polish director Roman Polanski's return to Hollywood five years after the gruesome 1969 Manson murders that took the life of his actress wife Sharon Tate. Polanski opted to use a bleak ending rather than the more hopeful finale in the original screenplay, presumably because of his life's tragedies. Only a few years later, in 1978, he would be indicted and convicted with the 1977 statutory rape (and drugging) of a 13 year-old girl (later identified as Samantha Geimer) while at the home of star/actor Jack Nicholson (absent at the time), and had to flee to Europe as a fugitive. This was Polanski's last film made on location in the US. link
|
|
... Fatal Attraction (1987), Vertigo (1958), American Beauty (1999), Maltese Falcon (1941), Body Double (1984), Gilda (1946), To Die For (1995), Play Misty for Me (1971), The Last Seduction (1994), and The Paradine Case (1947).
A Note About the Diary Poll
The movies I have selected are not necessarily the best of such movies. If your favorite movie is not included in the diary poll, discuss it in comments and why you liked that particular movie.
You can read more about Femme Fatale movies at these websites:
1. Femme Fatale.
2. Greatest Femmes Fatales in Classic Film Noir.
3. Fabulous Forgotten Forties Femme Fatales.
4. Top Ten Femme Fatales.
5. Best Femme Fatale Movies.