Review of Double Indemnity (1973) by Millo T — 10 Dec 2011

Double Indemnity seemed quick in its pace, but that was what made it worthwhile in the first place. The elements in it - the performances, the music, the dialogue, and even those little hints of alternating homosexuality AND heterosexuality in Walter Neff's mind - were, to say in the least, greatly depicted by Billy Wilder's brilliant direction.

But above all else, what really stood out from all others was Barbara Stanwyck's chilling part as Phyllis Dietrichson. I could see at once why she is considered even today as being the iciest femme fatale in film history.

She isn't just icy and scheming - she's simply too dangerous and murderous even for a femme fatale. The way she hooks on Neff to her schemes, and then dumps him, struck me as horrifying, as though she were a sort of Oriental seductress-courtesan entrancing Neff to kill her fat and oafish Sultan.

Her words and dialogue seem to provide a brief key to her real character, but her beauty strips away all that. Ultimately, thus, that is what made Double Indemnity a really chilling noir. The other chilling part of it is, of course, how both Neff and Stanwyck react to the eventual downfall of their schemes and plans, and how the once collaborating lovers become murderous enemies.

Dietrichson may have got what she deserved in the end, but her death signifies that Neff too must go down. That part of the film takes place after the ending. What we really want from it is what we get - the schemes, the plots, and their eventual collapse.