In 1927, there was a sensational murder in New York. The housewife Ruth bought her husband an accident insurance with a double compensation clause for $48,000, and then instigated her lover Gray to murder her husband. The case was quickly solved and the two were sentenced to capital punishment. A reporter secretly took a photo of Ruth's death on the electric chair, which was posted on the front page of the newspaper, which caused great controversy, and even made it into the movie "Sneak Camera" (1933). In 1935, writer James Kane wrote the case as a novel "Double Compensation", serialized in "Freedom" magazine. He voted for the novel in Hollywood. Just as the five major studios were bidding for copyrights, Brin, the examiner of the Hayes office, issued a letter warning that it was unacceptable for audiences to present such themes of adultery and murder, and the five major studios withdrew their bids. In 1943, Kane officially published a collection of novels containing "Double Compensation." Paramount executives believed that the subject matter was suitable for Wilder, so they bought the copyright for $15,000, but Brin still replied with the same warning. The company and Wilder responded by revising the script. Finally, Brin put forward a few revisions and released the film: the heroine must cover her body with a bath towel when she debuts; the corpse is not allowed to be displayed; the gas chamber scene is removed, etc. The screenwriter of the film wanted to choose Kane, but because he had been hired by another studio, he finally chose to write by Wilder and detective novelist Chandler. Although the creation of this film is subject to many constraints from the "Hays Code", the theme and expression of the film are quite innovative. After the release, it was highly praised and was nominated for 7 Oscars including Best Picture. However, it was ultimately negatively affected by the subject matter. And got nothing.
In 1946, the first Cannes Film Festival after the war screened four Hollywood films, including this one. French film critic Frank Nino and others discovered that these films have a noir style in terms of content and image expression, and named them FilmNoir. Since then, another film genre has been added to the world's film history. French people who are good at rational thinking can summarize film noir from this film, which shows that its noir style is very typical. In fact, this film is also one of the sources of film noir.
The noir style of the film can be interpreted from both content and form. In content, it must be a crime subject, highlighting the dark side of human nature and society, but this darkness is different from the usual crime movies with a clear distinction between good and evil. American movie characters can be divided into four categories: good guys, bad guys, good guys, bad guys, and bad guys. The male protagonists of film noir are usually good or bad people. They have personality defects or life stains of this kind, loneliness and lack of family warmth. The heroines are mostly bad people, namely femmefatale (femmefatale), they are good at using beauty to seduce. , Manipulate men to work for their own interests.
In this film, Naif and Phyllis are such good and bad people and femme fatales. Naif was a shrewd, disciplined, and law-abiding man, but he was still solitary at the age of 35, and his desire for the opposite sex made him fascinated. Phyllis provoked his strong desires; after careful dressing, when she went downstairs, the feminine makeup made him want to go wrong again; she was sitting on an armchair, her bare legs and ankle bracelets attracted His greedy eyes. He couldn't help but bring the topic to her, but she tried to catch it and pretended to be reserved. In a dialogue full of metaphors, she asked him to slow down; when he said that he wanted to lean his head on her shoulder, she replied that he would lean on her husband's shoulder. Afterwards, he couldn't stop thinking about her sexiness and words. When she visited the door for the second time, she was so affectionate that she even sat on the sofa with him close to each other-she was going to use him. Once he realized that she was buying accident insurance for her husband behind her back, he immediately refused, because he knew everything inside. So far he is still a bad and good person, able to abide by the law when tempted. Phyllis, who knows how to capture her prey, rushes to Naif's apartment alone on a rainy night. The name is to eliminate misunderstandings, but she actually uses sexual seduction. Naif's heart was overwhelmed. He understood that this was a "hot tongs", but when faced with the sexy young woman with a scent in front of him, he wanted to attack his heart. When she wanted to leave, the reality of the beauty about to disappear and the fear of loneliness finally knocked him down, and his defenses completely collapsed. His greed for beauty and money eventually made him get on a thief ship and kill people, and he also transformed from a bad guy into a bad guy. Once he fell under the pomegranate skirt and his feelings were captured by Phyllis, he used his talents and actively planned to kill her husband.
As a typical femme fatale, Phyllis is not only charming and skillful, emotionally flexible, but also a man who is very good at manipulating and manipulating. She wanted to kill her husband and grab a high amount of compensation, but she didn't know how to pretend to be a pitiful face of a battered housewife, so that the "smart" Neve realized what he should do for his beloved woman. As she later said: "I only want him to die, and you planned everything!" This kind of manipulation and calculation that does not leave traces and blames others, highlights its viciousness and deceit.
After Naif was murdered with a knife, there was a moment of gratification, but when Laura told his mother the cause of death, how Phyllis replaced her and her father’s behavior of stealing black gauze before his death, he was shocked in a cold sweat: this beauty turned out to be a vice. Femme-hearted! He gradually realized that she was mysterious and unpredictable, the city was deep, and he had been used. His love was gone, replaced by fear and regret. As the case became more and more exposed, he was in panic all day long. Suddenly knowing that Nino and Phyllis had a close relationship and were suspected of being murderers, he suddenly felt that he had found a life-saving straw. So drew up an action plan: enter Feilisi's house at night, get rid of her before Nino arrives, and then blame Nino and get out by herself. The old and spicy Phyllis also prepared a gun early, and waited for him to come and die. In the place where they first met, the two finally showdown. Recognizing that the other party is about to die, the conversation was very frank. When he realized that she would use Nino to take care of himself, he decided to take care of her first. In the dark, Phyllis shot first, but only wounded his left shoulder, and finally gave him a chance to destroy the viper.
In addition to the main line of Naif becoming a murderer, there are also two plot lines that show the other side of his personality. One is the association with Laura. At first she thought she was getting in the way, but innocent Laura regarded him as the most trustworthy person, telling everything that this father-daughter relationship sublimated his emotions. After he was seriously injured, he was unable to hide, so he changed his original intention of blaming Nino and instead urged the two to reconcile for her happiness. The other line is the relationship with Case. The two bachelors have established a father-son friendship during their long-term work together. Case, who is in charge of the compensation, revealed a lot of judgments about the case, letting Naif know his situation. Especially Case guaranteed that he was fine and pointed the suspect to Nino, so that he could see the hope of getting out. The injury forced him to change his plan. Before fleeing to Mexico, he returned to the company and used the recording to inform Case of the truth to show his gratitude. This shows that although Neff has fallen and killed, but his conscience is not diminished, so he should be classified as a good or bad person.
Usually the protagonists of movies are good people, and most of them are heroes. But film noir protagonists like this film have serious flaws and even crimes. They are often called anti-heroes, which has become a major feature of film noir.
Felice has become a model for femme fatale in film noir. The image of a slut who seduce and destroy men with beauty has long existed in American movies (the earliest was Seda Barra in silent films). The typical meaning of Phyllis is "working in scheming": she is not slutty, her dress and demeanor have some charm; but her speech and action are hidden in calculations, especially good at grasping the weakness and strength of men and controlling them, which ultimately leads to the destruction of men. Of course, the model of femme fatale that destroys men created in this film is only one of the genres of film noir, and it has broader connotations.
In order to deepen the black theme, Wilder has a lot of ink on the construction of images, which later generations call the black visual style. He is from Germany and Austria. He was influenced by German expressionism, and he has no shortage of innovations in image composition and lighting. This film uses a lot of low-key photography in portraying key scenes such as crimes and negative characters. The black tone of the screen and the theme of the film are perfectly matched, making an important contribution to the formation of film noir.
At the beginning of the film, in the bright background of the subtitles, a silhouette of a man wearing a bowler hat and crutches walks towards the camera from small to large, and finally the black shadow engulfed the entire screen, which implies that the flawed male protagonist finally walks towards the camera. destroy. Immediately afterwards, the injured Nef drove up quickly in the street late at night, and the forbidden sign was raised at the intersection. He did not slow down and almost collided with a normal truck. This meant that he flouted the law and posed a threat to society. The living room of Dietrichson's home is the main place where crimes bred, and Wilder used a lot of black tricks to describe it. When Naif first arrived in the living room, the sunlight came in through the blinds. The indoor lighting was dim, and the black and white raster metaphors that he would be in prison (this kind of blinds was illuminated by many noir films to emulate). This messy living room exudes the smell of smoke from last night. There are photos of the father and daughter in the frame. Felice is the only one missing, suggesting that she has no equal status in this family. The climax of the film was the final shooting in the living room. In order to create an atmosphere, Wilder took great pains in the layout and lighting. Phyllis turned off all the lights, Neff pushed open the door, and the figure projected by the street light was reflected on the wall, terrifying. After closing the door, the streetlights shone into the dim light through the blinds; before starting, Neff closed the window and drew the curtains, the hall suddenly appeared dark, forming a claustrophobic murderous space. Another crime scene in the film is also late at night. From the moment Neff sneaked into the garage, the car strangled Dietrichson, boarded the train on crutches, talked to the passengers at the back of the car, jumped off the train, and finally abandoned the corpse on the railroad tracks, all under the cover of night.
Usually night scenes are taken, in order to make the scene clear, they are taken during the day, and only a dark filter is required in front of the lens. In order to highlight the black elements, Wilder implemented real shots of night scenes, adding direct light or contour light to the scenes that need to be emphasized, which intensified the atmosphere of crime. In the portrayal of characters, the use of light is also very particular. Usually in order to show the beauty of women, there is little difference between the main and auxiliary lights when lighting, so that the grayscale is rich and easy to depict the femininity. However, in order to highlight the sinister and viciousness of femme fatale, Felice sometimes increases the contrast between the main and auxiliary lights, enhances the contrast, and forms a tough and mysterious texture. In the scene of breaking into Naif's apartment alone on a rainy night, Phyllis shrinks from the corner of the sofa and talks about her plight of abuse. The strong light from the gauze of the lamp next to her illuminates her lips, and the rest of her face is in the diffuse dark light, and the eye socket on the opposite side is almost invisible. This kind of scene scheduling and exhaustion highlights her hypocrisy. In contrast to this is the use of light for Laura, even in the night scene of the Hollywood Hills, her face is bright and beautiful. Such a stark difference highlights the good and evil natures of the two women.
What Wilder originally filmed for the film was another ending: Case watched Neff die in the gas chamber. He thought that this was the best ending for the interpretation of Plato's friendship between good and evil (or loyalty), but it was called too cruel and was rejected by the censor.
Due to the restraint of the Code of Hayes, not only did the film fail to fully reproduce the creative intentions of the director, but even many pictures and plots were puzzling for first-time viewers. For example, violent and pornographic scenes such as blood, corpses, and nudity are not allowed. So Neff’s gunshot wound only manifested as a bleeding spot on the left shoulder at the beginning, and when the wound fell to the ground, only the blood spots were a little bigger; the two men’s adultery only manifested in hugging and kissing; the scene of Dietrichson’s murder This "clean" picture, which is completely based on the imagination of the audience, greatly weakens the tension and credibility of the plot. The vicious Phyllis was willing to die in the arms of her lover without firing a second shot. It is said that the censor opposes the two deaths in carnage, and one must be left to accept justice. Limited to the background of the times, it was generally the case in American movies that year, so the film should not be exacting.
Another feature of this film is its flashback structure. After Neff was seriously injured, he flashed back to the plot through the narrative, and he was in a position of omniscience. Through the friendship with Case and Lola's trust in him, the whole story of the case can also be known. The most important suspense of the film is reflected in his interaction with Phyllis. By peeling the cocoon layer by layer, he gradually recognized her true face until he was almost killed by the gun. The significance of this structure is that the audience first sees the cost of the crime—seriously injured and gaining nothing, and then the crime process. Its distinctive moral warning gave noir films a positive meaning, so many films in later generations also imitated this narrative mode.
The film has many innovations in both content and form, making an important contribution to the advent of film noir. The industry's awareness of the film "Double Compensation" is also gradually deepening. The Oscar awards were annihilated that year, and then their value was gradually explored, and the status of film history also gradually increased. In 1998, when the AFI (American Film Institute) selected the 100-year-old film in the United States, the film ranked 38th, and in 2007, it had risen to 29th when it was re-evaluated. When AFI selected the Hundred Years of Good and Bad People in 2003, Phyllis ranked 8th among the bad guys.
With the improvement of historical status, many films in modern times have also indirectly or directly paid tribute to the film in some way. For example, "Body Heat" (1981) basically replicated the plot of the film, while "Femmaneuvers" (2003) played the clip at the beginning to hint at the source of the film's title.
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